CLEBURNE, Texas – In a game that seemed eerily similar to Friday night’s matchup against Abilene Christian, the Texas State Bobcats (8-2) took down the Tarleton State Texans (6-4) enroute to a dominating 9-3 victory Saturday night at La Moderna Field in Cleburne, Texas.
Freshman starting pitcher Nolan Moore continued his excellent start to his collegiate career by earning his first official win after tossing five shutout innings that limited the Texans to just two hits and six strikeouts.
“[Moore] was really good, really efficient,” Texas State head coach Steven Trout said. “He’s got to continue working on the walks, but he’s made big pitches when it mattered and he’s really tough to square up.”
The Bobcats started the scoring in the first inning once again as sophomore shortstop Dawson Park smacked a two-out two RBI double into left field to give Texas State an early 2-0 lead.
For a good portion of the game, pitching kept both offenses off the board, even after Tarleton pulled their starter and began utilizing the bullpen in the fourth, which included seeing a former Bobcat reliever in senior Connor Doucet on the mound in the fifth.
Texas State extended their lead to 4-0 in the sixth and seventh innings, thanks to freshman leftfielder Blake Beheler’s first collegiate hit wounding up as an RBI double into left followed by junior first basemen Manny Salas bouncing a single up the middle to bring home a run.
From there, much similar to Friday night, the bullpen began to bend a little bit as the Texans chipped away at the score over the course of the seventh and eighth innings.
Tarleton State threatened to tie or take the lead in the bottom of the eighth with runners on first and second before freshman Tanner Carson, who made his first start at third base this season, made an impressive defensive play to maintain Texas State’s 4-3 advantage.
In the top of the ninth, however, the Bobcats did not want a similar ending and instead decided to drum up the score. The inning started off with a bang as freshman outfielder Jackson Cotton pulled a deep solo shot into centerfield for a lead-off home run, his team-leading third of the season.
From there, the energy matched that of a psyched-up Cotton trotting the bases as Texas State proceeded to tack on four more runs to push the game essentially out of reach with a 9-4 lead, which continued the early season trend of the offense amassing runs in the later innings.
“I’d love for those runs to come early in the game to slow the heart rate down, but this team just kind of has the thing for beginnings.” Trout said.
Senior pitcher Shane Connell, who was originally going to be unavailable in tonight’s game as he attended a wedding, pitched in the last 1 1/3 innings to earn the save.
The Bobcats, now on a four-game winning streak to end the month of February, want to keep that momentum going into the new month with Sunday afternoon’s rematch against Abilene Christian as junior Jesus Tovar is etched in to start on the mound.
The finale of the Cleburne College Baseball Series is set to begin at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 1 at La Moderna Field.
