| Sophomore Ryan Rummel was 3-for-3 and he reached base in all five of his plate appearances on Saturday. |
SAN MARCOS ? Lance Loftin went 4-for-5, including a pair of home runs for the second time in the last three games, to lead Texas State to a 10-8 victory against UTSA in the regular season finale for both teams on Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Field.
Loftin, who also drove in four runs and finished the three-game series with 10, launched a three-run shot in the with two out in the fifth to give the Bobcats a 5-3 lead. It was his third three-run shot of the series. He then connected off Roadrunners sophomore closer Zach Calhoon with two out in the eighth to extend the Texas State advantage to 10-8.
UTSA finished one of its most successful regular seasons in school history with a 38-17 overall record and 22-8 mark in Southland Conference play.
The Roadrunners will enter next week's conference tournament in Huntsville as the No. 1 seed and will play in Wednesday's 4 p.m. contest against either Texas A&M-Corpus Christi or Southeastern Louisiana. The Lions are playing a doubleheader at Nicholls State on Saturday night and need only to win one game to clinch the No. 7 seed to avoid the Birds.
Zack Boles (2-4) was the winning pitcher for the Bobcats. Boles gave up a pair of runs on two hits and walked a batter in 1.2 innings of work. Josh Walter blanked UTSA over the final 1.2 frames and fanned three to notch his fifth save of the season. Walter was the only pitcher in the contest to not allow a run.
Senior right-hander Mark Ruffin (3-2) was charged with the loss after giving up two runs on four hits in one inning in relief of junior left-handed starter Kris Ruepke.
Adam Witek's two-out double to right center plated Paul Goldschmidt and Loftin to give Texas State a 2-0 edge in the fourth.
The Roadrunners responded with a three-spot one inning later on RBI singles by senior first baseman Trent Lockwood, sophomore third baseman Ryan Rummel and junior left fielder Jose Hernandez for their first lead of the contest.
After Loftin's first long ball of the afternoon put the Bobcats back in front, junior outfielder Aaron Powell delivered a three-run shot, his fourth of the season, with two down in the sixth to put the Birds back in the lead.
Texas State scored twice in the bottom of the frame to reclaim the advantage and added two more in the seventh to extend the lead to 9-6.
UTSA kept fighting, as a run-scoring two-bagger by Rummel and Hernandez' second RBI single of the day pulled the Roadrunners within one in the eighth.
Trailing by two in the ninth, the Birds got the tying run to the plate in the form of Lockwood, but the team's leading run producer struck out looking to end the wild affair.
Rummel was 3-for-3 with two walks and Keithley added a pair of hits, including his third double of the series, scored twice and stole his team-leading 14th base.
Ruepke, who was in search of his sixth win in a row, surrendered five runs on four hits and issued five free pases in 4.2 innings.
Senior right-hander Bradley Chovanec (9-3, 4.82 ERA) will start the tournament opener for the Roadrunners on Wednesday.