Left-handed pitcher Jesus Tovar threw a gem in his first appearance since 2023, and a wild three-run eighth inning unfolded as Texas State (4-0) defeated No. 19 Oklahoma State (1-3) 4-2 on Tuesday night at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers, in Arlington.
Tovar, who made his first Division I appearance, collected six strikeouts in 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
“[Tovar] doesn’t get too high or too low,” Texas State head coach Steven Trout said. “He’s a calm, mild-mannered kid, and he doesn’t change out there on the mound.”
Oklahoma State starting pitcher Sean Youngerman gave up one run on two hits with five strikeouts in five innings.
Ethan Farris, who collected three hits, started the scoring in the first inning by hitting a sharp ground ball just past second baseman Brock Thompson, allowing Ryne Farber to cross the plate.
Texas State led 1-0 until Garret Shull tied the game in the sixth on an RBI single up the middle.
Samson Pugh hit a leadoff single in the eighth off Drew Blake, and Dawson Park followed with a sac-bunt. Blake then intentionally walked Theo Kummer to bring Farber up to bat as a righty.
“I know Ryne Farber better than anybody, and I’m never pitching to that guy if I don’t have to,” Trout said. “So, I was thrilled when [Kummer was intentionally walked] because I know [Farber] is clutch.”
Farber made Oklahoma State pay by hitting a sharp infield single that ricocheted off the mound, loading the bases. Oklahoma State head coach Josh Holliday then decided to pull Blake in favor of freshman Stormy Rhodes.
Two wild pitches, one from Rhodes and one from fellow freshman Ethan Lund, allowed two runs to score before Farber managed to cause a catcher’s balk from Lund while attempting to steal home, increasing the Bobcats’ lead to 4-1.
“It’s two outs, two strikes on Gingrich, left-on-left. I didn’t really like how he was looking in the box,” Trout said. “We saw a couple of things in [Lund’s] setup that we kind of went, ‘you know what, [Farber] can probably [steal home] here.’ Farber always tries to steal home. I have to stop him every time he gets over there, so finally I was like, if you feel it, go. He took off a little later than I thought he was going to and actually created the catcher’s balk there.”
Bryson Dudley struck out seven and allowed one run in 2 â…” innings out of the bullpen. Matthew Tippie pitched the eighth and struck out two, and Carson Laws pitched the ninth and collected the save.
The save didn’t come easy for Laws. After entering the game, the junior fireballer immediately allowed the tying run to come to the plate by walking Avery Ortiz and giving up a double to Aidan Meola. Laws then struck out top MLB draft prospect Nolan Schubart looking and induced an RBI groundout from Jayson Jones, respectively. Colin Brueggemann barely made it on base with an infield single before Laws closed the game by striking out Ian Daugherty.
Next, Texas State heads back to San Marcos to face the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-1) in a three-game set. The Illini are coming off a 2-1 series win against Abilene Christian (1-3).
“[Illinois] hits a lot of home runs, they’re a veteran team and had a lot of success last year, so same thing [as tonight], we’re going to have to pitch really well and play really well to beat them,” Trout said.
The three-game series between Texas State and Illinois starts at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. The series will conclude with a doubleheader starting at noon on Sunday.
