University Star

Texas State baseball extended its winning streak against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to six games, dating back to the 2010 season, before losing the last contest of the three-game set.

The Bobcats won 6-1 and 2-0, but lost the final game 4-3 on a walk-off win by the Islanders.
The first game featured a rare 25-minute sun delay because of limited visibility for the umpires. The Bobcats came out after the delay and scored three runs in the third inning.

Andrew Stumph, junior catcher, Tyler Sibley, senior second basemen, and Joey Fuda, senior outfielder, all recorded an RBI. Fuda hit his first career triple.

A two-out rally in the fifth inning pushed the bases loaded as senior Isaac Nuti stepped to the plate and hit a two-run double to extend the lead to 5-0.

Travis Ballew, junior pitcher, threw for a career-high 12 strikeouts and his second complete game of the season to collect the win, improving his record to 6-2 and dropping his season ERA to 1.61.

The great pitching continued in the second game as Colton Turner, junior pitcher, went eight innings and fanned 12. He allowed five hits without surrendering a walk and collected the win.

“I try to go out there and just throw strikes and keep the ball in the bottom of the zone,” Turner said. “I ended up getting a lot of groundouts and I think that pounding the zone and keeping it low was why I had success.”

Jeff McVaney, senior outfielder, led off the sixth inning with a triple to give the Bobcats a chance to put a run on the board. Casey Kalenkosky, senior first baseman, brought McVaney home with a deep fly ball to centerfield.

The Bobcats next and final run came in the eighth when they managed to draw four walks.
McVaney came in for the final inning to shut the Islanders down and collect his sixth save of the season and extend his career save record to 15.

With the win, Turner possesses a 3-1 record and 1.36 ERA in seven appearances over 46 and a third innings of work.

Game three brought out pink socks and hats for the Islanders in honor of breast cancer awareness. Kyle Finnegan, sophomore pitcher, limited the Islanders to two runs on four hits in his eight innings on the mound.

Finnegan never trailed on the scoreboard and left the game in position to collect the win. However, McVaney could not close the game down, allowing two runs on three hits in the ninth inning.

One hit that could have changed the complexion of the game came when the sun blocked shortstop Garrett Mattlage’s eyes and he was unable to make the routine play, allowing the Islanders’ rally to continue and leading to the eventual walk-off loss for Texas State.

“McVaney has been so tough for us and he always finds a way to get out of jam,” said Coach Ty Harrington.  “That bleeder over the shortstop’s head hurt us. He never saw it. That would have given us two out and maybe even change the way things turned out, or maybe it doesn’t. The game is just crazy.”

Finnegan, who struck out nine batters and allowed two walks, took the no decision.

After the series, the Bobcats possess a 20-11 record and are 8-7 in conference play. They are currently five games out of first place and will continue to chase Sam Houston State for the conference lead.

McVaney will look to continue his team-best 15-game hitting streak in Texas State’s next game in Houston against Rice Tuesday, April 10.