Bevo the Longhorn could not best Boko the Bobcat as Texas lost to Texas State Wednesday night 2-1 at McCombs Field.
In a mid-week game sandwiched between last week’s Mary Nutter Classic and this upcoming weekend’s series with No. 6 Arizona, Texas came out with a strong defensive and pitching performance that did not result in a win.
The game opened with a two-run home run by Texas State junior Ariel Ortiz, putting the Longhorns in an early deficit. The team fought back but came up short in the comeback attempt. While the team has been successful in the last few weeks, head coach Connie Clark has been adamant that being consistent is the key to long-term success.
“Consistency really is just about the mental side of the game,” Clark said. “Our game beats you up a little bit and you’re going to fail a lot more times than you’re going to succeed. You hear that from everyone you’re going to talk to. It’s about competing on the next pitch.”
The Bobcats started staff ace junior Randi Rupp, who sported a 0.99 ERA and 6-1 record coming into the game. According to senior and starting pitcher Tiarra Davis, who was just named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, Texas State provided a regional challenge.
“Texas State comes in and plays us really hard and always gives us good competition,” Davis said. “They’re going to put up a good fight and it’s something that regionally is important for us especially in RPI.”
Clark said it’s important to take advantage of home games. The Longhorns have to go on the road to take on No. 6 Arizona in a three-game series this weekend.
“This has implications as you get down the stretch for potentially hosting and when you’re getting these regional matchups,” Clark said. “It’s important to us to go at them with our best and I’m glad that its on our turf with as much travel as we have going on on the weekends.”
The loss drops the Longhorns to a record of 11-6 while the Bobcats improve to 10-3.
While the team has a quick turnaround before traveling to Arizona, Clark said they will make the most of it.
“We’ll just take it one day at a time,” Clark said. “We get one day of practice this week so we’re excited to get after it. I have some good things scheduled, mostly focused on the things that we need to do better as opposed to any one opponent that we’re going to face.”
