Texas State baseball’s latest ventures have seen them play a series with the defending Big Ten champions in Illinois and the number one team in the country in Texas A&M. The Bobcats came out of that four-game stretch with a 2-2 record and a victory over the Aggies.
Here are three takeaways from Bobcat baseball’s recent games:
Jesus Tovar deserves a weekend rotation spot
In his first two starts as a Bobcat, which were his first two at the Division 1 level in general, Jesus Tovar had to deal with the Oklahoma State Cowboys, at the time ranked No. 17, and the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies.
In those two starts, Tovar surrendered a total of two runs, both of which came in the first inning against the Aggies. Aside from the two solo home runs, Tovar has been lights out against two of the best teams in the nation.
Boasting a 2.08 ERA and 13 Ks through the 8 ⅓ innings he’s worked, Tovar has certainly opened the eyes of those who have seen him throw. If Tovar continues on the trend he’s on, there is no reason he shouldn’t get at least a chance to be a weekend guy when conference play rolls around.
The team is resilient
When it comes to resilience, a team either has it or they don’t. It appears that the 2025 Texas State baseball team has it.
After sweeping Binghamton, picking up a top-25 win over Oklahoma State and seemingly having all the momentum in the world, the Bobcats were throttled by Illinois in the series opener by a score of 15-3. That kind of beating might be enough to ruin a whole weekend if a team let it, but Texas State came back the next day and evened up the series with a convincing 5-2 win over the Illini.
Despite dropping the series finale to Illinois, the Bobcats played a much more competitive brand of baseball against the Illini after the ugly game one. Texas State then proceeded to bounce back from the series loss in emphatic fashion, going on the road and beating the number one team in the country, rather handily at that.
In a long drawn out season, resilience is a quality any good team must have, and the Bobcats seem to understand that well.
Bobcat baseball is back(?)
While it’s early and conference play still looms large, there is a feeling about the 2025 team that’s hard to quantify. The numbers aren’t all that flashy, but Texas State baseball appears to have its confidence and swagger back.
From Alex Valentin going viral for his antics on the mound against Texas A&M to Austin Eaton being San Marcos’ own version of Shohei Ohtani, pitching on Sundays and already having three home runs, there are a lot of good things going on in the Bobcat baseball program at the moment.
Beating the No. 1 team in the country isn’t everything, but the last Bobcat squad to beat a No. 1 ranked, in-state opponent on the road ended up three outs away from hosting a super regional in the NCAA tournament.
