In a rescheduled matchup, Texas State baseball (4-1) handled the Wichita State Shockers (0-5), 9-2, Thursday at Bobcat Ballpark on a cold and wet evening in San Marcos.
Senior pitcher Trevis Sundgren (1-0) threw five complete innings, only allowing two hits on the 18 Shockers he faced and gave up no runs. Sundgren would grab the win for the day as his team put up four runs while he was on the mound. The Shockers starting pitcher, freshman Robert Cranz (0-1) would suffer the loss after surrendering two runs in the second inning.
The first run of the evening for both teams began with a home run ball that soared over the right-field fence, hit by Bobcat sophomore catcher August “Augie” Ramirez. For the Bobcat newcomer, it was Ramirez’s second of the year in only two appearances. Bobcat Head Coach Steven Trout realizes that Ramirez is putting the coaching staff in a position where they’re going to have to play him more — which, to him, is not a bad thing.
“The guy is kinda forcing our hand to give him more at-bats,” Trout said. “That’s the thing I like about our team. We’ve got more than nine players that are really good [players], it’s hard to make up the lineup … those guys are taking care of their opportunities, so those guys are gonna get more opportunities.”
Things got quiet for both teams as nothing came from the third and fourth innings until junior outfielder Ben McClain grabbed another home run for the Bobcats. The run would be the first of his two runs of the night. While McClain wasn’t an opening day starter, Trout recognizes he has an impact on the team.
“Every time [McClain] has started he’s been in that one-hole,” Trout said. “He’s a guy that can go — he can hit for power, he can hit doubles, he can run the bases. That was a really good night on a tough night to hit. He [kinda] got us going and was another big swing from him.”
In the next inning, the Bobcats plated five more runs to bring their lead to 9-0 — one run short of the run-rule to end the game early. The Shockers then managed to recover two runs from the Bobcats in the final three innings, but nothing more as the game ended in a 9-2 victory for the Bobcats.
The Bobcats are slated for a weekend series against the Ohio State University Buckeyes on Feb. 25-27. The two teams will play at 3 p.m. on Friday, 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and at noon on Sunday at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos.
In the series against the Buckeyes, the Bobcats will look to grab their second weekend series of the season and improve their record to 7-1 before a mid-week matchup against UTRGV at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Bobcat Ballpark.