Texas States sweep of Nicholls earns Bobcats 2009 Southland Conference Title
This past weekend Texas State Bobcat fans found the Texas summer heat setting in as they took in a three-game set but it would be a safe bet most fans would brave the Texas heat anytime for what happened at Bobcat Stadium. Not only did the Bobcats sweep Nicholls State, they claimed the SLC regular season title in the process.
Friday the Bobcats got the series off to an exciting start with a rally in the ninth to tie the game up before winning in extra innings. Trailing 9-8 going into the bottom of the ninth, Jason Martinez found his way on base with a single and then teammate Kyle Livingston put down a sacrifice bunt to put Martinez in scoring position. Ben Theriot then stepped to the plate and drove the ball to right center for a double that allowed Martinez to score the typing run.
The game moved into the eleventh inning and Michael Russo’s pitching helped hold Nicholls scoreless in the top half of the frame. The Bobcat bats got going in the bottom half of the frame when Lance Lofton led of with his third hit of the night. Then with two outs in the inning Theriot jumped on the first pitch he saw driving his sixth homerun of the over the fence giving the Bobcats the 11-9 win.
Tyler Brundidge (4-1) struck out a career high seven batters and Russo was credited with the save. The Bobcats totaled 12 hits in the game.
Saturday Brian Borski went eight innings for the Bobcats and Tyler Sibley went 4-for-5 at the plate leading the way in the 10-2 Bobcat win.
The Bobcats got off to a fast start with six runs in the first inning. Kyle Kubitza had a home run in the inning and five other Bobcats picked up hits in the inning.
Texas State pounded out 16 hits in the game with Theriot going 3-for-4. Bret Atwood and Kyle Livingston had two hits apiece while Borski moved to 6-2 with the win. Nicholls pitcher Tyler Minto picked up the loss and falls to 2-3 on the year.
The SLC title was secured on Sunday after Texas State fought their way back to take the win with a ninth inning rally in which they scored two runs. The was the Bobcat’s first outright conference title. Texas State improved their record to an impressive 37-12 overall while posting a 23-6 conference record as they enter next weekends postseason tournament as the number one seed.
The Bobcat’s Tyler Sibley got things going the ninth inning when he scorched a pitch back to the mound that Nicholl’s reliever Ross Larson was unable to field. Paul Goldschmidt later sent a one out double down the left field line to tie the game. Spenser Dennis then stepped to the plate a delivered the tail end of back to back doubles to chase home Goldschmidt for the win.
Nicholl’s used some hot bats to turn in a 17-hit attack on the day which allowed them to build a 4-1 lead by the top of the sixth inning. Jason Dennis went 4-for-5 for Nicholls while teammates Josh Swenson and Keith Kulbeth both had three hits on the day.
Michael Russo came on in the relief to move his record to 3-2 after his 1 1/3 innings resulted in just one Colonels hit.
