By Thomas Mejia
Sports Reporter
In a game that went through 16 pitching changes, Texas State held the short end of the stick at the end of the night by losing to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 12-5. The loss places the Bobcat’s overall record at 5-3 and erased the team’s three-game winning streak heading into the matchup.
Texas State got off to a hot start offensively by scoring the game’s first runs in the bottom of the second inning. Junior right fielder Chase Evans launched a two-run homer over the right field wall to give the Bobcats the early lead.
Starting junior pitcher Garrett Herrmann experienced his first jam of the game in the third inning when the Islanders had runners on second and first base with no outs. Two routine ground balls and a strikeout helped Herrmann get out of the inning keeping the Bobcats at a 2-0 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, A&M-Corpus Christi was able to cut the Texas State lead by hitting a solo home run to make the game 2-1. Senior center fielder Skyler Valentine was able to answer back for the Bobcats in the bottom of the fourth inning by hitting a solo home run of his own and extending the Bobcats’ lead back to 3-1. Valentine would finish the game by going three for four with two RBIs and scoring a run of his own.
Like the Avengers, Texas State entered their “Endgame” in the fifth inning. Pitcher Anthony Pagano came in as Herrmann’s relief, but the senior struggled. With bases loaded, Pagano drew a walk and gave up a single to left field to drive in three runs for the Islanders. This gave A&M-Corpus Christi a 4-3 lead. Sophomore pitcher Alex Klitsas came in for the relief of Pagano, but Klitsas had his own struggles. With bases loaded again, the Islanders scored one run off a sacrifice hit to first base and scored two more runs off a double to right field. A routine ground ball ended the inning, but the damage had been done. The Bobcats were down 7-3 going into the bottom of the fifth inning.
The Bobcats were able to cut the Islanders’ lead by scoring two runs in the fifth inning to make it 7-5. Texas State failed to score the rest of the game, however, that did not stop A&M-Corpus Christi from adding fuel to the fire.
The Islanders offense erupted and added five more runs to their lead making the final 12-5.
Texas State will be traveling to Houston this weekend to take part in the 19th annual Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic. Their first game will be against the Rice Owls. The first pitch will be on Friday at 11 a.m. Tune into the action by following KTSW 89.9.
Featured image by Kaylise Irizarry
