The baseball team used a three-run inning in the sixth and a group effort on the mound Tuesday night to eventually shutout its Interstate 35 rival, the University of Texas-San Antonio, 6-0. 

“For us it was an important game, whether it was UTSA or whoever it was,” said Coach Ty Harrington. “It was important for us to come out and carry over a little bit of the momentum we grabbed this past weekend. These guys have really been grinding.”

Sophomore first baseman Ben McElroy came in to pinch hit for the starting junior Austin O’Neal with bases loaded. Short stop Garrett Mattlage, designated hitter Andrew Stumph and catcher Tyler Pearson were the scoring runners on the play. 

McElroy, who has been battling a quadricep injury, knocked all three runners in on a bases-clearing double into the gap in right-center field. The sophomore was 1-1 with a walk in his limited appearance. 

The Texas State football team practiced in full pads for the first time at Bobcat Stadium Monday afternoon, its third overall practice of the spring.

The issue of leadership will be a key question as the football team enters its second year of FBS play. The team finished with a 4-8 record last season (2-4 in the WAC), and will be facing new conference opponents heading to the Sun Belt Conference in July 2013.

There will be 29 seniors competing in 2013 for Texas State, including wide receiver and punt returner Andy Erickson. Erickson said the team is in need of leaders for the next season.

“Leadership doesn’t come in one day,” Erickson said. “We’ve got to get respect and keep going by leading by example and words. I’m working on it and it’s coming. I can see it coming with me and a couple of other guys. Hopefully it will be here when the time is right.”

Jamel James, three-star running back according to Rivals, committed to Texas State Jan. 27 and comes from Cinco Ranch High School in Katy, Texas.

OE: You committed to the University of Notre Dame and the University of Arkansas before. Why’d you choose to play football for the Bobcats?

JJ: It’s just that Texas State is really close to home. It’s way closer than Arkansas (and) Notre Dame. I really wanted my mom, family and friends to be able to watch me play. I think all in all it just worked out best for me.

OE: Which coach at Texas State recruited you?

JJ: Coach (Craig) Naiver. He really didn’t try to sell me on anything. The only thing he really told me was that I should go to campus and see what’s up. It really helped too.

OE: Do you think the offense fits your running back style and personality?

Most student athletes focus their time and energy in one sport, but sophomore Colby Targun is making a difference in two.

Targun is a rare athlete who plays two sports for Texas State. He is the second baseman for the baseball team and a safety on the football team.

“Some guys have the ability, even more than Colby, but are afraid of the moment,” said baseball coach Ty Harrington. “Colby doesn’t run from the moment. He steps into the moment. He likes being in those moments and really has the ‘it’ factor.”

The team member from Scottsdale, Ariz., has been a gifted athlete his entire life. Targun was a two-time all-state performer who led his team to the championship in 2009 and 2010 at Chaparral High School in Arizona—and that was only in football.

The baseball team’s offense kicked in to take the series against Northern Kentucky University last weekend after losing the first game following a six-run ninth inning comeback.

Friday, the Bobcats used a five-run third inning to carry a lead to the top of the ninth when Northern Kentucky scored six runs to take the lead and eventually the game 6-5. Northern Kentucky scored the winning run off a Bobcat throwing error by senior third baseman Nick Smelser.

Junior pitcher Kyle Finnegan started game one and gave up three hits and no runs on six innings of work. Freshman Lucas Humpal and junior Hunter Lemke relieved Finnegan, pitching two innings total, giving up no runs on one hit and one walk.

The men’s basketball won against Seattle University 67-65 but came up short against Idaho on senior night, despite all five starters scoring in double figures against the Vandals.

The Bobcats were down two men against the Redhawks. The team played without sophomore guard Wesley Davis and junior forward Corey Stern because of violation of team policies, according to Coach Doug Davalos. Seattle used its athleticism to out-rebound the Bobcats in their first meeting 47-39 and 21 on the offensive glass.

“We were short-handed tonight,” Davalos said. “But there was no lack of heart. All the guys in the game contributed tonight. If you go down the line, you’ll see it. We actually did a better job of keeping them off the boards.”

The softball team lost four more games this weekend, bringing their loss total to 16—just one less game than they lost all of last year when they went 39-17 and won the Southland Conference Tournament.

The Bobcats (3-16) achieved their 16th win of the season more than two months earlier than last year on their way to losing four of five this weekend at the CenturyLink Classic in San Marcos.

Texas State has lost 10 of its last 11 contests but broke an eight-game losing streak at the classic with a 7-1 victory over ex-Southland foe Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Islanders went winless in the tournament, finishing fifth and leaving San Marcos with a 5-15 overall record.

“We’ve only won three games this year, and at this point it doesn’t matter if we are at home or away,” Coach Ricci Woodard said. “It is one of those deals that everyone just has to do a better job, especially at the point that we are at now in the season.”

The Texas State baseball team will look to get their offensive and defensive efforts back on track coming off three straight loses when they take on Northern Kentucky University for a three-game series this weekend.

The biggest struggle for the Bobcats (2-6) has come at the plate this year, but they were able to get their offense going against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi University Tuesday in a 7-3 loss. It was the defense that was not able to do its part against the Islanders, making three errors, two in the eighth inning.

Until the game against Corpus Christi, the Bobcats had not committed more than one error in a game all season. Coach Ty Harrington still remains confident in his defensive players and knows their performance from Tuesday is not indicative of their talents.

The Texas State softball team will try to end their six-game losing streak at the Centurylink Classic March 1-3.

The team (2-12) is coming off an 0-5 performance at home last weekend, and not been winless this long since the team endured a 10-game losing streak in the 2005 season.

The team will be without starting senior pitcher Anne Marie Taylor, who Coach Ricci Woodard hopes will be able to return “in a few weeks” after rehabilitating from a torn ACL.

Taylor said on her Twitter page she is “going to try to play the rest of the season with a torn ACL.” Taylor has not pitched since Feb. 17 when the team lost 3-2 to the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

Woodard said the team is going to try to get Taylor back as soon as possible.

The men’s basketball team will look to continue keeping themselves in games when they close their home schedule Thursday and Saturday against Seattle University and the University of Idaho, teams they have defeated in come-from-behind fashion earlier this season.

Texas State men’s basketball thrived off second-half offensive surges earlier in the season in a 78-73 victory over Idaho and an 86-83 triumph against Seattle.

Seattle is currently riding a five game losing streak but has dropped its last three by a combined 11 points, including a 6-point loss to now nationally ranked Louisiana Tech University.
Seattle leads the WAC in defensive (26.6) and offensive rebounding (14.1). The Redhawks scored 44 in the paint and collected 21 offensive rebounds, which accounted for 20 second-chance points in their first game against Texas State.