Texas State dominates Northwestern for Opening Day win

Texas State kicked off the 2023 season in style with a shellacking of Northwestern in the Bobcats 12-4 win over the Wildcats.

As the Bobcats offensive attack was on point, starting pitcher Levi Wells also had a phenomenal night as the senior pitcher threw for five innings while allowing just two hits, no runs, and struck out nine batters.

“Our offense did a really good job and they have been working really hard this year while putting in the hours just like us,” Wells said. “It feels good to have that first one underneath our belt and I bet the offense feels good putting up that 12 on their spot.”

Head coach Steven Trout was happy to kickoff the 2023 season with a complete win as the Bobcats look to continue on from there success last year which saw Texas State win the Sun Belt regular season title and a berth in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

“Anytime you win on opening night it’s a good night,” Trout said. “Levi Wells was really good. We wanted five out of him and that’s what he gave us with nine strikeouts. Offensively, there were a lot of good swings in there and we took advantage of mistakes. I thought we had a lot of good at-bats and did a little bit over everything tonight. Overall, it was a great win and I am excited to wake up tomorrow and do it again.”

But the baseball team wasn’t the only ones rocking as opening night saw 2,049 fans attend the game making it the 7th largest crowd to see Texas State season opener at Bobcat Ballpark.

“The crowd was outstanding tonight,” Trout said. “That was one of the best opening crowds we have in a long time. The energy was off the charts.”

As Texas State opened up the game with a 12-0 lead, the pitching staff was able to relax a bit with such a large cushion.

“It helps me out a lot,” Wells said. “It allows me to pitch with a little bit more contact and save my pitch count to allow myself to go deeper in games. I was definitely thankful for my teammates to get a jump on those guys.”

With the start of the season being hard on the jitters, Wells always tries to focus on his routine.

“The beginning of the year is always tough,” Wells said. “The nerves are really bad but it sure felt good to break the ice. When my nerves get bad I just try to stick with my routine.”

After making a Sportscenter-esque Top Play in the first inning, sophomore Ryan Leary put up the first runs of the game with a two-run home run as the Bobcats took an early 2-0 lead.

“It puts them on their heels,” Trout said. “All of a sudden we can be a little bit more aggressive and play how we want to. When you play from behind, you have a different mindset so it was important especially when we ended up scoring in three innings in a row.”

As Leary saw the second pitch coming, the sophomore went back to the meetings for hitting practice remembering the strategy the opposing pitcher likes to use.

“Going back to our hitters meeting coaches, they pointed out the pitcher likes to go with a slider away and a fastball in,” Leary said. “He threw a slider away from the ball then left a sinker over the heart of the plate. I stuck to my approach and got the hit out.”

The homerun proceeded to spark 12 unanswered runs for the Bobcats on route to the victory.

Texas State returns to play Saturday at 2:30 for the second game against Northwestern before press release.

cmcwilliams @sanmarcosrecord.com Twitter: @ColtonBMc