Game 1: TXST 8, Troy 5
The Texas State Bobcats (24-10, 9-4 SBC) were victorious in dramatic fashion versus the Troy Trojans (16-18, 6-7 SBC) at a rain-soaked Irvine-Rasmussen Ballpark Friday Night.
Before the bat was put to the ball, honors were in order for senior third baseman Chase Mora. Just last week, Mora became the Bobcats’ new all-time Home Run King with a career mark of 37 longballs. In keeping with Alumni weekend, Mora received his flowers from the man he eclipsed, seven-time MLB All-Star and Texas State Legend Paul Goldschmidt.
“Really cool with Goldy in the video congratulating him. Anytime someone breaks a Goldy record, you’ve got to celebrate that in front of Bobcat Nation,” head coach Steven Trout said.
Game-wise, the Bobcats struggled to find their footing. Senior starting pitcher Kyle Froehlich was uncharacteristically shaky. Three innings of work- his shortest start in a month- resulted in surrendering three runs off three hits.
The offense was sputtering as well. Outside of a first-inning RBI single by Park, the Bobcats would notch just a single hit for the next four innings and not a single baserunner got past first. By the top of the third inning, Troy held a 3-1 lead.
Then, the rains fell.
Play was suspended with two outs and Park on first base via a walk. The rain poured for a solid hour and a half, and it would be another hour and change before play could resume.
“You can’t control it, the messed-up weather,” Trout said. “All you can do is get after it once they say, ‘play ball’.”
By 9:45 p.m., play resumed and Bobcat relief pitching held firm, with standout appearances by senior Alizaeh Gutierrez and sophomore Cade Smith. Both combined to allow one unearned run off four hits with five strikeouts in six innings of work. Smith would go on to notch the eventual win, making him 3-0 on the season.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the bats came alive as junior left fielder Jaquae Stewart went opposite field with power to knock home three runs and knot the game at four apiece.
Troy would retake the lead shortly after, but after a Jackson Cotton single tied the game once again in the bottom of the ninth, Park left no doubt and smacked a three-run bomb to walk off the Trojans with just eight minutes before midnight.
“Going in, we knew it was going to be a tough weekend,” Trout said. “Obviously [Troy] is a great team, big arms and good offense. But with the weather and everything we were going through, and for Dawson [Park] with the big-time swing going opposite field and winning the game.”
Game 2: TXST 2, Troy 15
With impending weather issues facing the San Marcos area, the weekend slate of games was merged into a doubleheader, starting with the first game with a first pitch of 12:05 p.m., while the second started at 3:27 p.m.
The quick turnaround from Friday night’s walk-off thriller was not kind to the Bobcats. The men of Troy, Ala., throttled and pitched their way to a seven-inning shortened win.
Junior pitcher Jesus Tovar (6-3, 5.11 ERA), in a rare start outside Sunday afternoons where he’s proved dominant, was shaky yet resilient through four and 2/3 innings. After dispatching the first six Trojans he faced in order, Tovar gave up a single to Sophomore shortstop Nolan Book. Then, freshman catcher Caden Reeves took Tovar to deep left field for a two-run blast, his first surrendered home run of the season.
By the time his afternoon was done in the fifth inning, Tovar would be responsible for nine earned runs over eight hits with four walks, all season highs for the veteran. Despite the troubles Troy gave him, Tovar did match his season high in strikeouts with seven.
The pitching woes didn’t stop for the Bobcats with Tovar’s exit, with three senior pitchers, Alex Yearwood, Cameron O’Banan and Braylen Timmins, giving up six earned runs on five hits and giving up two more homers in two and one-third innings of relief.
Along with the dreadful Bobcat pitching, hitting was equally nonexistent. Trojan senior starting pitcher Tommy Egan (4-1, 4.34 ERA) tossed a run-ruled, seven-inning complete game, blanking the Bobcats in several offensive categories. Egan scattered two runs on four hits (only one extra-base knock) with eight strikeouts while facing three batters over the minimum. The hero of Friday night, sophomore Dawson Park, was the lone Bobcat to score multiple hits off Egan, also driving in the first run of the game for the home side in the fourth inning.
Game 3: TXST 11, Troy 12 (11 innings)
Texas State had about 90 minutes to regroup and refocus for the second leg of their doubleheader, trying to salvage a series clincher.
Unfortunately, this mid-afternoon sequel began much like the first: with unsteady pitching. The game’s starter, junior Sam Hall was only four pitches into his outing when Trojan senior Aaron Piasecki jumped all over a fastball for a solo home run.
After a walk, freshman catcher Clayton Namken made a fielding error to advance the runner to second. Sophomore Jimmy Janicki then connected on a two-run yard job to make it 3-0 with only one out. Namken’s was the first of three errors committed by Texas State, contributing to five runs for Troy down the stretch. Another walk spelled an early exit for Hall, who threw 27 pitches to five Trojan batters.
Hall was relieved by freshman Wade Cooper, who settled in and quietly ended the hellscape first inning for the Bobcats. Cooper would go on to play the long-reliever role, going four and two-thirds innings, giving up another three runs on six hits.
A break from the script of the first game was Texas State’s offense, which got as quickly and deadly a start as Troy’s did. Freshman Jackson Cotton electrified the demoralized crowd with a lead-off triple. He would come home for the first score for the Bobcats in a wild first inning of play that lasted almost an hour.
The bats would not cool off all game long, most notably for rising junior left fielder Jaquae Stewart.
Coming into this weekend, not leading any team offensive categories, Stewart ended it as the starting lineup’s leader in home runs, OPS and slugging. In the second inning, after a series of base hits loaded the bases in front of him, with the game tied 3-3, Stewart launched the baseball into orbit towards deep center, resulting in a grand slam and a momentous 7-3 lead for the Bobcats. Stewart left the yard again in both the fourth and sixth innings, for a total of eight RBI, the bulk of the run production for the Bobcats.
While the Texas State Bobcats enjoyed the lead, which got as high as 4 runs through the middle into the later innings, the Trojans refused to go away, taking chunks out of that lead with each passing inning.
Slowly, the lead the Bobcats had accumulated evaporated as the game approached the ninth inning. With the Bobcats just two defensive outs from victory, Trojan sophomore Houston Markham singled toward senior third baseman Chase Mora, who wildly missed the first baseman’s glove, resulting in an error. That error allowed Markham to reach second, representing the tying run in scoring position. The next batter, Piasecki, slapped a single to right-center, scoring Markham and tying the game. Piasecki bookended the dreadful afternoon and evening for the Bobcats.
In extras, Texas State’s hopes were shattered by a foul pole-hugging home run by Troy’s senior third baseman Josh Pyne off senior pitcher Ryan Markwardt, scoring what would become the winning run in the 11th inning.
All in all, it was a Saturday to forget for Texas State Baseball, who will only get two days of rest before getting back at it at 6 p.m. on April 14 against the Houston Christian Huskies. The game will be available to stream on ESPN+.
