The Bobcats Complete Opening Weekend Sweep with a Run-Rule Win Against Niagara

By Sarah Bergen

KTSW Sports Reporter

SAN MARCOS, Texas—Texas State beat Niagara University 11-0 in just 7 innings to round out their opening weekend. The Bobcats outscored the Purple Eagles 35-3 in the three game series sweep.

In his first start of the season, Jesus Tovar tossed 5 innings, recording 6 strikeouts and 3 hits with only 1 walk. He closed out his outing with a 3-up-3-down Fifth inning.

At the plate, Dawson Park celebrated his birthday going 2-for-4 with a RBI triple in the First inning. Jaquae Stewart went 3-for-4, hitting two triples: once to score a runner, the other to cross home plate himself.

Manny Salas hit a solo home run to right and Chase Mora hit two singles. Rashawn Galloway scored two runners on an RBI double and Jackson Cotton stole two bases.

In the bottom of the first inning, Stewart hit is first extra base hit and made it to third on a wild pitch. Mora then hit an RBI single to put the Bobcats on the board. Salas reached base on a walk and Park brought home two more runners with an RBI triple to extend their lead 3-0.

The bottom of the Third started off with a strong hit from Stewart who reached third after the Niagara outfielders lost the ball in the sun. A groundout up the middle from Mora would bring Stewart home, making it 4-0 Bobcats.

Salas then hit his first homerun as a Bobcat which was a towering solo shot, clearing the scoreboard in right field to extend the lead to 5-0.

In the bottom of the Fourth, Texas State added three more runs to the board with an RBI double from Galloway that scored two runners and another triple from Stewart to score the final run of the inning.

Mora started the sixth with a walk and Salas reached first after he was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch placed both runners in scoring position and another walk from Park loaded the bases. A second wild pitch allowed Mora to score the only run of the inning, making it 9-0 Bobcats.

The final two runs came in the eighth when Stewart was hit by a pitch and replaced by pinch runner Samson Pugh. Mora singled and Salas drew a walk to load the bases. Park ended his birthday game with a two RBI single to right to give the Bobcats a run-ruled 11-0 win.

Despite it being his birthday, Park said all he was focused on today was playing at the standard he knows this team can play at.

“It feels great, you know, just trying to get the job done for the team,” said Park. “It’s always hard to play against teams like that, you know, try to play your brand of baseball, just keep it going.”

Head Coach Steven Trout praised his younger players ability to step up to the plate and make plays when opportunities arise.

“I think these guys, they got a lot of learning to do, but… To me, that’s why you got to feed them at bats, you got to feed them playing time to get their feet wet,” said Trout. “And as the games come along and when they get more important, when they come to conference game and things like that, hopefully they’ve got a lot of experience under their belt and they feel almost like a sophomore ready to go.”

He closed by commenting on the teams mentality before they started the final game of the weekend series.

“You’re on Sunday and we talk about energy on Sunday, but sometimes energy is not the start of the game, what you talk about, but it’s also innings five, six, seven,” said Trout. “And so that’s where you got to just stay locked in mentally and keep scoring runs.”

The Bobcats will travel to Waco on Tuesday night to take on the Baylor Bears in an in-state matchup with first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m.