Texas State turns back Lamar, 5-1
Published 5:41 pm Saturday, May 5, 2012
Eric Harrington tossed his league-leading fifth complete game of
the season Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Park, but Lamar University couldn’t provide enough run support in dropping a Southland Conference baseball game to Texas State by a 5-1 score.
After winning Friday’s opener 10-6, the Bobcats (27-17 overall, 15-11 in the Southland) have locked up the series win for the fourth straight year over Lamar. The Cardinals, who fell to 18-26 on the year and 10-16 in league action, will look to get the final game Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m.
Harrington fell to 3-7 on the year despite throwing all eight innings for the Cardinals. The redshirt junior gave up five runs on 10 hits with three
strikeouts. Lamar committed three errors in the game, contributing to a pair of unearned runs for Texas State.
Already trailing 5-0, Lamar finally got on the board with a run in the eighth inning. Second baseman V.J. Bunner doubled with two outs and moved to third on a wild pitch by Colton Turner. David Harris, who entered the game as a pinch runner in the sixth and stayed in to play shortstop, delivered a single to left to plate the Cardinals only run.
Turner matched Harrington with a complete game of his own. The left hander scattered nine hits over nine innings with five strikeouts to improve to 5-2 on the season.
Texas State plated a pair of runs in the fourth inning that would prove to be all the support Turner would need. Center fielder Morgan Mickan, who finished 2-for-2 with a run and a RBI, led off the inning with a walk and moved to second on a one out single by Casey Kalenkosky.
Andrew Stumph reached on an error by shortstop Wayne Stanley that allowed the first run of the game to come home. Designated hitter Colby Targun singled for one of his three hits in the game to drive home Kalenkosky with the second run of the game.
The Bobcats added two more runs in the fifth as Mickan delivered a run-scoring single and Kalenkosky added a sacrifice fly in the inning.
Second baseman Tyler Sibley scored the final run for the Bobcats in the seventh inning on a double steal. Sibley reached on a Jude Vidrine error and scored from third as LU catcher Tommy Henk threw out Jeff McVaney at second.
One night after tying a school record with three home runs, Vidrine finished 1-for-4 in the game with a leadoff single in the top of the first inning to extend his hitting streak to seven games. First baseman Brad Picha also has a seven game hitting streak after going 2-for-4. Third baseman Darian Johnson also had two of Lamar’s nine hits in the game.