The Bobcats (9-12) found their groove in Friday evening’s 6-2 victory over the Red Wolves (10-11) at Bobcat Ballpark, marking their first conference win of the season.
Left-handed pitcher Alex Valentin left the game after the sixth inning, totaling seven strikeouts, allowing three hits and giving up only one run. This marked Valentin’s fourth win of the season and his fourth game with five or more strikeouts.
Carson Laws pitched the final three innings, ending his night with four strikeouts, one hit and one run.
“Alex Valentin, really good night for him, didn’t have his best stuff tonight but just really competed and made pitches when he needed to,” said Texas State head coach Steven Trout. “Really good job by Carson Laws, we were trying to extend him out instead of a one-inning guy, make him a two-three inning guy and obviously three innings tonight.”
Texas State scored only in the first three innings, two runs in the first and four in the third. The team had 11 hits, with Ryne Farber and Ian Collier each collecting three and Chase Mora getting two.
Collier hit a two-RBI double to left-center to drive in Farber and Mora in the first inning. Alan Shibley drove in Mora on an RBI triple in the third, followed by RBI singles from Farber and Coy DeFury, respectively. A throwing error from the Red Wolves second baseman after DeFury’s hit made the score 6-0.
Arkansas State’s only runs happened in the fifth on an RBI single from Cross Jumper and in the seventh after Texas State turned a double play on a groundout from Cross.
Arkansas State had four pitchers who played the entire game compared to Texas State’s two. Texas State ended with 11 strikeouts, and the Red Wolves finished with 10.
Despite the win, the Bobcats must adjust to new changes for the rest of the season.
“Ethan [Farris] and Sam [Hall] will be out for the year [and] Cameron [Thompson] we’re waiting to get some diagnosis on, ” said Trout.
Texas State will play game two against Arkansas State on Saturday. The first pitch is scheduled for 2:30 p.m., and the game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
