After dropping two tightly contested games against Troy on Friday and Saturday, the Texas State offense exploded on Sunday afternoon. An 11-run fifth inning that featured home runs off the bats of Ryne Farber, Coy DeFury and Chase Mora helped lead the Bobcats to a 14-3 run-rule victory in seven innings over the Trojans at Riddle-Pace field.
Troy took the early lead with a pair of RBI base hits to go on top 3-0 at the end of the second inning. Unfortunately for the Trojans, their lead wouldn’t last much longer. Texas State scored two in the third on an Alan Shibley home run to cut the lead to 3-2. The Bobcats then tied it in the fourth courtesy of an Ian Collier RBI double.
With the score knotted at 3-3 in the fifth, Texas State turned the game on its head. Back-to-back walks to start the inning put two Bobcats on base with no outs, bringing Farber to the plate. Farber made the Trojans pay for their walks, blasting a three-run homer to right, giving the Bobcats the lead for the first time all day. Another walk after the home run brought DeFury to the plate, who followed suit from Farber and left the yard himself, giving the Bobcat an 8-3 lead.
Troy retired the next two batters Texas Stat sent up, hoping to limit the Bobcats big inning to where it was at. Fortunately for the Bobcats, the Trojans pitching could not find the strike zone, issuing four straight free passes before giving up an RBI single to Farber that put Texas State ahead 10-3. With the bases loaded, Mora stepped to the plate and continued to punish the Trojans’ pitching staff for the free passes, belting a grand slam to the deepest part of the park, ballooning the Bobcats’ lead to 14-3.
Mora would be the final batter to cross the plate for the rest of the game as neither side scored again, leading to the Bobcats salvaging the series finale with a run-rule victory in seven innings.
On the mound, Bryson Dudley picked up his fourth win on the year, improving his record to 4-1. Dudley’s final line read zero runs on two hits and four strikeouts.
Texas State will return to action Tuesday and look to avenge their loss earlier this season to UTSA (33-10). The first meeting between the two squads took place in San Antonio and culminated in a 12-9 victory in favor of the Roadrunners.
First pitch between the Bobcats and Roadrunners is scheduled for 6:05 p.m. on Tuesday at Bobcat Ballpark. The game will be streaming on ESPN+.
