By Jerry Briggs
Special for The JB Replay
Freshman Clayton Namkin from New Braunfels High School belted a two-run homer and had four hits Tuesday night as the Texas State Bobcats recorded a 7-2 victory, snapping a season-opening, seven-game winning streak by the UTSA Roadrunners.
In the game attended by 2,315 fans at Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, Texas State pitching also flustered UTSA, striking out 14, as the home team broke a three-game losing streak to its Interstate 35 rival.
With the victory, Texas State improved to 64-42 against UTSA in the all-time series.
Drew Detlefsen launched a solo home run in the sixth and Caden Miller scored on a wild pitch in the eighth for the Roadrunners, who were held to seven hits. UTSA had scored 81 runs on 91 hits in its first seven games, all at home.
Texas State scored two runs in the first inning. In the second, they added two more on Namkin’s blast over the right field wall, ending the night for UTSA starter Christian Okerholm.
UTSA had a chance to get back into the game in the top of the fourth, but a Texas State defensive gem stopped the uprising.
With two runners aboard via base hit, Roadrunners slugger Josh Arquette hit a sinking liner into right center. The Bobcats, somewhat miraculously, turned it into a double play.
Texas State center fielder Jackson Cotton made a running catch and fired to shortstop Dawson Park, who whirled and thew a strike to third baseman Chase Mora. Mora tagged out a sliding Lane Haworth for the second out of the inning.
As it turned out, UTSA did not score in the inning. At the same time, Bobcats pitching was in high gear. Starter Sam Hall struck out four over the first two innings. Freshman lefty Titan Targac followed Hall and fanned six more.
Targac (1-1) pitched three innings, gave up one run on four hits and fanned six, including three straight in the fifth. Okerholm (0-1) took the loss.
Freshmen played a major role in the victory for the Bobcats. Namkin homered and roped three singles. Cotton made the defensive play in the fourth and reached base three times, with a single, a double and a walk.
Others included outfielder Tanner Carson from Southlake who roped a two-run double to left field in the fifth. In the pitching department, freshman Wade Cooper from Del Rio yielded one run while fanning four in the last two innings.
Records
UTSA 7-1
Texas State 6-2
Coming up
UTSA vs. Ohio State, Friday, 11:05 a.m., at Daikin Park, in Houston, at the Bruce Bolt College Classic
UTSA vs. Coastal Carolina, Saturday, 3:05 p.m., at Daikin Park in Houston
UTSA vs. Baylor, Sunday, 6:05 p.m., at Daikin Park in Houston
(Daikin Park is the home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros)
Notable
Cade Smith, a Texas State sophomore from San Antonio Churchill, pitched two scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh.
Entering in relief with a runner at second base in the sixth, he retired three straight to end the threat. He retired another three straight in the seventh.
It was the first win for the Bobcats in the I-35 rivalry since March of 2024 when they won 14-13 in San Marcos. In the wake of that game, the Roadrunners had won three straight in the series.
UTSA won 11-9 in San Antonio in April of 2024 and then swept both meetings last season.
In 2025, the Roadrunners beat the Bobcats 12-9 in San Antonio and then 18-13 in San Marcos en route to a 47-15 record and their first-ever berth in the NCAA Super Regionals.
Both coaches Pat Hallmark at UTSA and Steve Trout at Texas State started with their respective programs in the 2020 season. Since then, the Roadrunners and the Bobcats are 5-5 in head-to-head matchups.