John Wuthrich was just looking for Troy pitcher Sadler Goodwin to make a mistake on the mound.
Texas State’s sophomore right fielder ripped a slider from Goodwin through the infield with redshirt senior right fielder Travon Benton on third and the game knotted at 7-7 in the 10th inning.
Benton strolled home and the Bobcats raced out to mob Wuthrich in celebration. Texas State secured the 8-7 victory over Troy on Sunday inside Bobcat Ballpark.
“The last pitch there, I had some help from the dugout. They told me to see it up a little bit and I knew what pitch was coming,” Wuthrich said. “I just got it and once I saw it go off the bat I knew that we had won. So, it was just unreal.”
Texas State (20-12, 7-5 Sun Belt) and Troy (16-15, 5-7) began the series finale on Saturday night. The Trojans raced out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. But the Bobcats slowly inched back into the game and went on top 4-3 with two runs in the third inning before the game was suspended due to inclement weather.
After pouring rain and hail Saturday night and Sunday morning, the game resumed with Texas State still at bat with runners on the corners and two outs at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Benton restarted the game with a 3-run home run to extend the Bobcat advantage to 7-3.
Troy answered with a 3-run homer of its own from freshman shortstop Logan Cerny in the fifth inning.
The Trojans loaded the bases in the sixth inning and scored a run to tie the game. With the bases still full of Trojans, Texas State turned to redshirt junior pitcher Brent Hebert to get the Bobcats out of the jam.
Hebert induced two infield flyouts and prevented Troy from taking the lead. Head coach Ty Harrington credited Hebert's command on the mound for helping him work through the bases-loaded situation.
“Brent Hebert came into a total mess and got us out of it,” Harrington said. “That probably, if you start playing the game backwards, that probably won the game for us ... But that moment when there were bases loaded and one run in and nobody out and (Hebert) puts up a zero probably won the game for us.”
Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard in the final three innings and the game went into extras.
Troy had an opportunity to grab its first lead of the game since the third inning but a double play ended the Trojan threat in the 10th.
Benton led off the bottom of the 10th with a walk. Senior catcher Felipe Rodriguez moved Benton to second with a sacrifice bunt and a wild pitch advanced him to third.
Wuthrich came up with the game-winning single to secure the 8-7 victory.
“It’s hard to win this league and we had a good win (Sunday),” Harrington said. “It was a big win for us.”
Sunday’s win kept Texas State a game out of first place in the Sun Belt west division. Following two losses Friday, the Bobcats needed Sunday’s win as they head to College Station to take on Texas A&M on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.
“(Winning Sunday’s game) was big,” Wuthrich said. “You can’t get swept at home. We know that. It gets a little momentum going into Tuesday going against (Texas) A&M and the rest of conference.”
