After a Rice victory on Wednesday, Texas State baseball took the road to face fellow Houston team University of Houston over the weekend, going 2-1 to win the series.
The Texas State Bobcats took a quick two and a half-hour drive down IH-10 to Houston for the Texas baseball battle.
The ‘Cats record rose to 8-4 overall as they continued their success against the Cougars. Texas State is now 13-7 all-time against UH as the Cougars dropped to a porous 3-7 season start.
SUNDAY
The Bobcats recovered from a Saturday loss with bats in full swing, racking up 14 hits for a 12-4 win on Sunday to take the series win.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bobcats’ junior infielder Dalton Shuffield sent a double down the left field foul line and scored the team’s first run off a single by Faison. Pitching errors landed two more runners with a hit-by-pitch and walk, and junior infielder Cameron Gibbons sent the pair of runners home with a double for a 3-0 Bobcat lead.
UH took the lead in the fourth inning, but the final innings were all Bobcats as they piled on nine more runs to take the victory.
Junior infielder Wesley Faison led the team offensively with a three-run homer and went 4-4 with four RBI in the game, while Shuffield went 4-5 and stole two bases in the game.
Sophomore Reece Gould took his first career win on the mound, allowing three hits, one run and four strikeouts in 3.1 innings pitched. Redshirt senior Wes Engle pitched three innings of his own, allowing three runs off one hit and three strikeouts.
SATURDAY
The game came after a struggling offensive performance on Saturday as the Bobcats took a 5-1 loss.
Despite a home run from Faison in the fifth inning, the ‘Cats were unable to get going as the Cougars scored three runs in the first inning alone.
Senior infielder Jaxon Williams attempted a comeback in the seventh with a single, followed by two-hit-by-pitches to load the bases. The Bobcats pressured the Cougars through two relief pitchers as UH successfully got the next three batters out and crushed the comeback attempt.
Junior Trevis Sundgren took the loss on the mound, allowing six hits, four runs and three strikeouts in five innings pitched. Redshirt freshman Cameron Bush closed out the last three innings, allowing three hits, one run and four strikeouts.
FRIDAY
The Bobcats kicked off their series in a much different fashion, gaining up to an eight-run lead in the eighth inning and stopping a seven-run Cougar comeback to clinch an 11-10 victory on Friday.
The scoring output for the Bobcats started quickly as they jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning.  Shuffield hit a 2-RBI triple in the first inning to set up the deuce-0 score, with Texas State picking up where they left off in the 3rd inning by racking up three more runs.
Texas State continued their success through eight innings but nearly blew an eight-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning as U of H almost pulled off a major college baseball upset with seven straight runs. With four singles, a double, a walk and a home run, the Cougars were down by just one on two outs, but redshirt senior Brent Hebert stopped them cold by striking out UH’s Derrick Cherry swinging.
PREVIEW
Next up for the Bobcats is fellow Texas foe Baylor as they travel down to Waco at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The Bobats are 12-21 overall against the Bears, with their last matchup resulting in a 5-4 loss in 2019. Baylor is currently 7-3 overall and defeated No. 11 LSU 6-4 to add to their current three-game win streak.