Top-Seeded Texas State Moves on After 8-2 Win vs. SFA
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - Top-seeded Texas State moved on in the Southland Conference Baseball Tournament with a workmanlike 8-2 victory over No. 4 seed Stephen F. Austin in an elimination game Thursday at Whataburger Field.
Bobcat starter Michael Russo allowed two runs on five hits in eight innings, but after giving up hits to the first two batters of the ninth, his day was done. Reliever Garret Carruth got a ground out and a pair of strikeouts to end the game. Russo earned the win to get to 5-2 on the year after allowing the two runs on seven hits. He struck out eight and walked three on 130 pitches.
He seemed to be picked up by his offense early on, which sprinted out to a 4-0 lead through 1.5 innings. SFA second baseman Michael Haynes took Russo deep to left for two runs in the bottom of the second, but that was all the scoring for the Lumberjacks.
Texas State (35-21) added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings before adding its final two runs in the top of the ninth. Each team stranded seven.
Jason Martinson led the Bobcats in going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBI. The first five players in the Texas State lineup accounted for all but two of the team's 13 hits. Tyler Sibley, Bret Atwood, Kyle Kubitza, Kyle Livingstone each had two hits. Atwood and Kubitza also drove in two runs.
SFA starter Brad Oates lasted just 1.2 innings after allowing four runs on six hits and a walk. He fell to 3-3 with the loss. The Lumberjacks ended their season at 34-20, tying the school record for wins.
Texas State will face the loser of Thursday night's Nicholls vs. UT Arlington game Thursday at noon.
Texas State coach Ty Harrington
"Michael Russo without any question he was big for us today, he'd hit some bad luck at times this season but today Russo was solid for us today. In addition we played tremendous defense which gave us a chance to win which combined with timely hitting helped us out against SFA.
"Kyle Kubitza also came up with huge hits for us, one at the beginning then one at the end which gave us confidence."
On Russo starting the ninth
"Realistically, I didn't want him to go out in the ninth inning because we thought he'd done enough for us but credit his competiveness for going back out there. Sometimes though you have to let a guy go back out he's a senior and gave us a good outing."
Texas State pitcher Michael Russo
"There was a ton of motivation for us today since it could have been our final game of the season and I didn't want that to happen so I gave it all I had. I left everything on the field for us and came up huge."
"It felt amazing to get those runs early on the board and I knew when we got them that we'd have an amazing day. When your defense is playing well it raises your confidence on the mound it's easier to throw strikes and you don't have to paint the corners as much."
Stephen F. Austin coach Johnny Cardenas
"They got some momentum early in the first couple of innings, our pitcher left some up today and we paid the price but Texas State did what they had to do. Russo pitched a good game for them mixing it up and understanding the strike zone and it's been one of the better performances against us this season."
On the team's success this season
"The kids did a good job and we had one of the better if not the best season in school history, you know the season can end this way and unfortunately that's what happened today against a good opponent."