Texas State won its first Southland Conference baseball title since 2000 on Saturday. With the win, Texas State secured the No. 2 seed in Austin’s double-elimination NCAA regional. The Bobcats (40-21) will have a first-round matchup against the No. 3 seed Kent State Golden Flashes (43-15) on Friday at 1 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. (Photo Courtesy of Texas State University)
STAFF REPORTS
In his first career start, senior pitcher Joseph Dvorsky fired a four-hit shutout in the Southland Conference Tournament championship game to lead the Bobcats to a 9-0 victory over Stephen F. Austin for the program’s fourth-ever SLC Tournament title and first since 2000.
With the win, Texas State secured the No. 2 seed in Austin’s double-elimination NCAA regional. The Bobcats (40-21) will have a first-round matchup against the No. 3 seed Kent State Golden Flashes (43-15) on Friday at 1 p.m. at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Also in the Austin Regional will be the top-seeded Longhorns (43-15), who earned a No. 7 national seed for the tournament, and No. 4 seed Princeton (23-22). Those two teams will square off in the nightcap on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The winner of the Texas State/Kent State game will face the winner of the Texas/Princeton game at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, while the losers of both games will meet in an elimination game on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The regular season and tournament champion Bobcats became just the second No. 1 seed to win the Southland Conference Tournament and the first team to come back and win five games in the tournament after losing an opening-round game since the tournament was changed to an eight-team format.
It’s also the team’s second 40-win season in the program’s history. The Bobcats need one more win to tie their all-time high of 41 wins set in 2009.
Dvorsky, who began the season as the Bobcats’ closer and made 22 appearances out of the bullpen before tonight, was given the opportunity to start the first game of his career and came through impressively. The righty limited Stephen F. Austin to only four hits on the night while needing just over 100 pitches to get through all nine innings. He tied his career high as he struck out five Lumberjacks without issuing a walk. Dvorsky improved to 3-0 on the season after picking up the win.
Dvorsky was one of many stars for the Bobcats both on the night and for the tournament. Also shining for Texas State in the championship game were Andrew Stumph, Bret Atwood and Kyle Kubitza. Stumph finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs scored, three RBIs and a homer, while Atwood contributed a 2-for-5 day at the plate and an extra-base-robbing diving catch in center field in the ninth inning. Kubitza finished 1-for-2 with two walks, two runs scored, two RBIs and a home run.
At the conclusion of Saturday’s championship game, the Southland Conference also presented five Bobcats with SLC All-Tournament Team accolades. Dvorsky, Atwood, Gallegos, Kalenkosky and Tyler Sibley all earned SLC All-Tournament Team honors, while Kalenkosky was also named the tournament MVP after going 11-for-24 (.458) with three home runs, nine RBIs and five runs scored during the four-day tournament. In the process, the slugging first baseman also set a new Texas State single-season home runs record, which now stands at 21.
The Austin regional is one of 16 around the country featuring four teams playing a double-elimination format. All regionals will take place from Friday, June 3 to Monday, June 6 (if necessary) with the winner moving on to super regionals.
