Texas State lost its final series of the season 2-1 against the James Madison Dukes last weekend at Bobcat Ballpark.
Here are recaps of each game.
Game 1
Chase Mora slammed his eighth home run of the season during Thursday night’s 9-4 loss against the James Madison Dukes at Bobcat Ballpark. The Bobcats took a trip to the bullpen with five pitchers stepping on the mound throughout the ballgame.
Alex Valentin started on the mound for the Bobcats, allowing six hits over ⅔ innings pitched. Bryson Dudley took to the circle to strike out four, the most for any Bobcat pitcher Thursday night, over 4 ⅓ innings pitched. Matthew Tippie (2-1) took the loss after ⅔ innings pitched.
Braylen Timmins pitched for the next 2 ⅓ innings, striking out two batters. Jackson Mayo took to the circle for the final inning.
Todd Mozoki started on the mound for the Dukes, pitching 4 ⅓ innings and obtaining five strikeouts. Tyler Muscar (2-3) struck out two batters over one inning to take the win for the Dukes. Brode Susce earned his first save of the season after pitching the final 3 ⅔ innings.
The Dukes started off strong with four runners scoring in the top of the first.
Coleman Calabrese doubled, allowing Ryan Dooley to start the Dukes scoring. A single from Kyle Langley allowed both Calabrese and Wyatt Peifer to add to the board. To close out the Dukes’ first inning scoring Langley scored on a single from Jack Cannizzaro.
The Bobcats were able to answer this in the bottom of the fifth. Travis Bragg scored after Ryne Farber reached on fielder’s choice. Mora slammed his 31st home run of the season to add three to the board, with Samson Pugh and Farber scoring.
With the ballgame tied up, the Dukes worked to extend their lead in the top of the sixth. The Dukes added five more runs to the board from Dooley, Langley, Calabrese, Reece Moody, and Cannizzaro.
The Bobcats were unable to answer back in the final innings. Despite the loss, the Bobcats have made their way into the Sun Belt Conference tournament after South Alabama’s loss to ULM.
Game 2
Coy DeFury hit a walk-off single to win the game 5-4 for the Bobcats against James Madison on Saturday at Bobcat Ballpark.
The Bobcats got hot in the second inning with a 3-0 lead. It started with Alan Shibley reaching on a fielder’s choice, causing Ian Collier to score. Then a double down the right field line by Ryne Farber brought in two runners.
The Dukes cut the Bobcats’ lead to one after a single down the middle, bringing in two runners, making the score 3-2.
The Bobcats increased their lead by one, after a fielding error, making the score 4-2 ending the third inning.
The Dukes kept fighting however, bringing in one run in the fourth and one in the fifth to tie the game 4-4.
The Dukes seemed like a threat in the ninth, loading the bases with zero outs, but they quickly got three outs and could not score before DeFury’s heroics.
The series finale is on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark and will be streamed on ESPN+.
Game 3
A disappointing end to another disappointing regular season unfolded over the course of nine innings for Texas State baseball (26-29). Despite a valiant effort by the pitching staff and ideal conditions at the plate, the Bobcat bats went silent, leaving 11 men on base and only managing one run on the way to a 3-1 defeat at the hands of James Madison (17-38) in Saturday afternoon’s regular-season finale at Bobcat Ballpark.
“I thought we threw the baseball really well and really underperformed on offense,” Texas State head coach Steven Trout said. “Just a really poor day when we’re playing for our lives to get a better [conference tournament] seed.”
JMU struck immediately in the game’s opening frame. After the Dukes’ first two batters reached base, Texas State starter Austin Eaton set the next two down. Up 0-2 in the count against JMU center fielder Reece Moody, it looked like Eaton was on the verge of working out of trouble. Unfortunately for Eaton, Moody then singled, giving JMU the early 1-0 lead. A Bobcat error on a pickoff attempt allowed a second run to score, giving the Dukes a 2-0 lead after the top of the first.
From the end of the first inning on, Eaton was as good as could be, tossing five scoreless innings before seeing his day come to an end after the sixth. Eaton’s final line read 6.0 innings and one earned run on three hits.
Unfortunately for Eaton, his offense didn’t help him out much at all. Texas State was held scoreless through three before finally cracking the zero in the fourth. An Alan Shibley single plated Sampson Pugh to cut the lead down to one run by a score of 2-1. The 2-1 score is as close as the game would get for the Bobcats, as they failed to score the rest of the afternoon.
James Madison added a run in the seventh courtesy of a solo homer off the bat of their Designated Hitter, Ike Schmidley, to run the lead to 3-1. JMU held the Bobcats off the board in the final three frames after the home run, going wire-to-wire with the lead and closing out their regular season with the win.
Despite a sub-.500 record in conference play, the Bobcats managed their way into the Sun Belt tournament as the seventh seed. Texas State’s first-round matchup pits them against #10 Appalachian State.
Texas State opened Sun Belt play with App State back in March, being swept in Boone at the time. The Bobcats will certainly be hoping for a better outcome this time around.
First pitch of the Bobcats’ tournament opener with App State is set for 3 p.m. Tuesday, May 20, at Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, Alabama. The game will be streaming on ESPN+.
