Senior utility Rashawn Galloway smacked two three-run home runs as the Texas State Bobcats dominated the No.25 Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns 11-4 Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark.
After a rough stretch which included being swept by Louisiana-Monroe to open conference play from March 13-15, the Bobcats (14-8, 2-3 SBC) bounced back with a major weekend series victory as the offense delivered, in large part thanks to Galloway.
The pitching staff also came through as well, with junior Sam Hall tossing 4 1/3 innings as the new Saturday starter and sophomore Cade Smith pitching the rest of the way. Smith limited the Ragin’ Cajuns (16-7, 2-3 SBC) to just two hits and no earned runs as he struck out seven and acquired the win.
While a seemingly strong day with the bats from both squads, Louisiana-Lafayette had trouble producing runs in general, leaving 10 baserunners on despite amassing nine total hits, even with Texas State committing three errors to allow more baserunners.
The Ragin’ Cajuns opened the scoring in the first three innings as an RBI single from senior second basemen Rigoberto Hernandez in the first and a two-run home run into left field by junior third basemen Drew Markle in the third gave them a 3-0 advantage.
With two outs, Galloway delivered a game-tying blast into left to even the score at three-all.
Louisiana re-took a 4-3 lead in the top of the fifth as freshman centerfielder Jackson Cotton was unable to snag a flyball, resulting in a run scoring from third.
In the bottom half, after graduate catcher Austin Munguia got on with a double and Cotton forced a full-count walk, Galloway once again put the team on his back and pounced on a no doubter into deep left center, giving Texas State a 6-4 lead.
From there, the Bobcats offense extended their lead in the subsequent innings, with junior designated hitter Manny Salas adding the cherry on top with a two-run blast that hit the left field foul pole to give Texas State double-digit runs, ultimately finishing with an 11-4 victory.
Texas State will look to potentially complete a sweep of the Ragin’ Cajuns at 1 p.m. on Sunday, March 22 at Bobcat Ballpark. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
