Left-handed pitcher Jesus Tovar hurled seven shutout innings en route to the Texas State Bobcats (12-14, 4-4 SBC) defeating the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (19-8, 5-3 SBC) 1-0 to even the series 1-1 on Saturday at Bobcat Ballpark.
“Shutting out that team is really tough to do, so a phenomenal job by Jesus Tovar, [Matthew] Tippie and [Carson] Laws, really good job,” said Texas State head coach Steven Trout. “Some big defensive plays as well, but those guys just battled all day long.”
Tovar finished with six strikeouts and allowed three hits and three walks. However, he wasn’t presented with the win. He played seven innings, and the Bobcats got the game’s only score in the bottom of the eighth.
In the bottom of the eighth, with a 1-2 count and one out remaining, Chase Mora hit a single up the middle, allowing Dawson Park to score the game’s only run.
“We faced that guy last night, I knew he was going to spam a lot of sliders, ” said Mora. “So after the first, I went to a two-strike approach and stayed in the middle of the field, and eventually, he would slip to the heater, and sure enough, he did.”
In the top of the fourth, Tovar allowed two walks and one hit-by-pitch to load the bases with no outs. Tovar ended the inning by striking out two players back to back and inducing a flyout.
“Bases loaded nobody out, you’re there just looking to maybe minimize one,” said Trout. “Weak contacts, obviously swings and misses as well, so I mean, people will remember Mora’s hit, but that inning was probably the inning that won the game for us.”
Senior right-hand pitcher Matthew Tippie was awarded the win where he pitched in the eighth, coming away with no hits, no runs and two strikeouts. Right-handed pitcher Carson Laws came into the game in the top of the ninth where he earned his sixth save of the season.
“[We stayed] even the whole time, you lose you just have to come back tomorrow and [got to] win,” said Laws. “And now we put ourselves in a position where we can go win a series.”
Right handed-pitcher Cameron Flukey suffered the loss, collected eight strikeouts and gave up five hits and one earned run.
Texas State looks to win its second conference series of the season when it plays its final game of the series against Coastal Carolina tomorrow. The first pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will be available to stream on ESPN+.
