Junior infielder, Austin O'Neal hits the ball March 30 at Bobcat Baseball Field in the final match up with Seattle University.

The Rice Owls defeated Texas State baseball 4-3 Tuesday thanks to a walk-off hit in the twelfth inning, completing their comeback from a 3-2 deficit in the ninth.

Freshman reliever Andrew Boes was the sixth pitcher used and surrendered the last run of the game on a two-out single up the middle by second baseman Christian Stringer. Boes pitched the 11th inning as well and gave up three runs in addition to the one that ultimately won the game for Rice.

The Bobcats suffered a close loss to the University of Texas-Austin but are looking to get back to WAC conference action this weekend against Seattle University.

Seattle is 10-13 on the season and was victorious in its first WAC series on the road against Louisiana Tech University last weekend. The Redhawks dropped the opening game 5-2 before taking the next two games 12-8 and 7-4.

Texas State (9-15) had a similar outing last weekend while visiting New Mexico State University. After overcoming its Friday night loss, the team bounced back to take the next two games by a combined score of 22-10.

Seattle’s most notable series victory of 2013 came against Long Beach State University, winner of four College World Series. Seattle won two out of three in Long Beach, California.

Sophomore infielder, Garrett Mattlage, hits a foul ball during the University of Texas baseball game March 26 at Disch–Falk Field in Austin. Texas State was defeated 5-3 by the Longhorns.

Texas State baseball dropped its Tuesday contest with the University of Texas-Austin 5-3 after getting into an early hole and missing chances with runners on scoring position.

Freshman pitcher Jeremy Hallonquist started for the Bobcats (9-15) and pitched four and a third innings, giving up three runs on six hits. Senior Covey Morrow relieved Hallonquist. He pitched one inning and gave up one run on two hits.

The Bobcat baseball team gained their first conference series victory of the season after battling back from a Friday night loss to New Mexico State University to win the next two games with 22 total runs scored.

Texas State (9-14, 2-1) saw its offense continue to get better as the weekend ensued, getting 11, 13 and 17 hits respectively in three games. The team also hit its second home run of the season off the bat of senior left fielder Kevin Sah in a 10-3 victory over the Aggies on Saturday. The senior was 6-15 in three games with four runs and four RBI.

“Sah is a great story,” Coach Ty Harrington said. “He didn’t play too much last year, but he’s been a big-time spark plug for us thus far. He’s been a catalyst for our
offense.”

Texas State baseball will open up conference play this weekend against the New Mexico State University Aggies, who are coming off sweep of Alabama A&M University in which they scored 79 runs in four games.

The Bobcats (7-13) are fresh off their second series win of the season against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The Bobcats battled back to win the last two games of the series after losing the first 23-7, mainly due to exhaustion from a five game road trip earlier in the week, according to Coach Ty Harrington.

“It’s definitely positive momentum,” junior pitcher Kyle Finnegan said. “(We) are coming off probably the best back-to-back days we have had this year. So, we are going to use that, (plus) we hit the ball better and we pitched well. (We) are just going to use that confidence.”

The Texas State club hockey program has two full years under its belt and although the season is finished, opportunities to better the program are ongoing.

The Bobcats finished up the spring segment of their season and won four of the last five games. This cemented an improvement over last season, which ended in 12 straight losses.

“We finished the season just under .500,” said team captain Casey Savage. “Looking back, there were a lot of close games which we could have easily won. We were all satisfied with the strides we made as a team this year, but (we) are setting the bar even higher next season.”

The team is putting in most of its effort off the ice, advertising for new players and more support from the university’s club program. Fundraising is essential to the program taking the next step.
Team President T.J. Wolling said the club is focusing on organizational aspects for the spring.

Texas State baseball was able to overcome a 23-7 defeat in Friday’s series opening game against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by taking the final two games and the series against the Islanders.

The Bobcats (7-13) played five away games in six days, facing ranked Oregon State University and the University of Oregon over spring break. Against A&M-Corpus Christi, the Bobcats gave up 18 hits on their 23 runs while surrendering four errors, all issues that Coach Ty Harrington said probably stemmed from the long trip.

“To get beat like that (on Friday) and to come back and win the series was good,” Harrington said. “(On Friday) there were a lot of mistakes and a lot emotionally happening.”

Of the 23 runs, 17 of them were earned. The Islanders scored nine runs in the first two innings, putting the Bobcats in a hole. The closest differential the Bobcats were able to muster was 9-1 heading into the top of the fourth, only to have the Islanders score four more runs.