College Football: A taste of 7-on-7 workouts

College Baseball: One is the loneliest number

Four players from Texas State were selected in the 2009 MLB First-Year Players Draft, but a year later, that number was dwindled to one.

With several Bobcats expecting to hear their names called on draft day, only Jason Martinson answered his cell phone with a scout from an MLB team on the other end. Martinson was chosen with the first pick of the fifth round by the Washington Nationals (click for the story).

"I had an idea I would be picked between the third and eighth rounds from talking with some scouts, but I didn’t know exactly when," Martinson said. "This is amazing though. It feels as if a lot of pressure and weight has been lifted off my chest."

As for Garret Carruth, Kyle Livingstone and Laurn Randell, they're going to need to wait for a team to sign them to a free-agent contract.

It was an especially hard pill to swallow for Carruth.

"I talked with four teams (Giants, Mets, Orioles and Pirates) and was told I'd be selected in the teens to early 20s, so I waited and waited and waited," Carruth said. "That call never came. It was really disappointing to wait that long and right now, I'm feeling if they wanted me, they would have drafted me, but if someone wanted to pick me up, I’ll probably go play but if not, I still have my options open."

Opening up the Cats' Cradle mailbag

Beginning this week, I'll be fielding questions sent to me and answering them in a lump sum either in the San Marcos Daily Record or here on the blog. It completely depends on the response from you — the fans.

So you can either post a question here in the comments or e-mail me at tmayforth@sanmarcosrecord.com.

Please keep them centered around Texas State athletics, but an occasional odd-ball question will be answered too. Thanks a lot.

College Football: Possible RB transfer to Texas State?

Got a few e-mails regarding a possible transfer to Texas State from the United State Naval Academy.

Marcus Curry, who was a standout slotback for the Midshipmen, recently left the USNA and declared his intent to transfer to Texas State (according to this report on USNavySeals.com).

Curry appeared in 11 games for Navy in 2009, rushing 80 times for 585 yards and five touchdowns. He was the team's leading receiver, catching 10 passes for 287 yards and three touchdowns.

There are a few contradicting reports out about why Curry left the Midshipmen. According to one, Curry was kicked off the team after failing to comply with school rules. According to another, Curry left on his own accord.

Keep checking back for more as the situation unfolds.

College Athletics: Texas State expressing interest in four conferences

According to a high source within the Texas State Department of Athletics, the Bobcats have expressed high interest in joining four Football Bowl Subdivision conferences when the NCAA moratorium is lifted in 2011.

Texas State has talked with Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and the Western Athletic Conference about joining once movement is allowed.

This is on the heels of a report published by the Las Cruces Sun-News about a possible realignment in the WAC. WAC Commissioner Karl Benson was quoted as to saying "four or five schools" asked about joining the conference — Cal Davis, Cal Poly, Montana, Portland State, Sacramento State and Texas State.

"You can rest assured those conferences know our intentions," the source said. "We've had people in contact with them for the better part of a year, showing them pictures of improvements we've made to facilities and trying to convince them we'd be a good fit."

Dominoes could start to fall for the Bobcats once conferences begin holding their annual summer meetings.

College Baseball: J-Mart steals home

Baseball is usually a game of intricate signs and technical, lingo-based conversations.

While that may be true, it wasn't the case in the bottom of the fifth inning of Tuesday's games between Texas State and Prairie View A&M.

With Jason Martinson standing 90 feet from scoring the go-ahead run, Bobcats third-base coach Jeremy Fikac pulled Martinson aside. Fikac, a former pitcher in the MLB, had timed Panthers pitcher Benjamin Blackburn's delivery and noticed a hitch.

"Fikac pulled out his stopwatch and turned to me after the first pitch and was like, 'Three seconds. You think you can make it home?'," Martinson said. "I was like, 'Yeah. Do you want me to?' He told me, 'If you get a big enough lead, just take off.'"

Martinson began to inch off third base and once Blackburn began his ensuing delivery, the junior broke for home.

"I got a pretty good jump and had a pretty good lead to start with," Martinson said, "so I knew I was going to make it."

It was Martinson's eighth stolen base of the season.

College Football: More on the Soza transfer

In case you didn't get to see Friday's edition of the San Marcos Daily Record, here's the story that ran in the print edition about Eric Soza's decision to transfer from Texas State.

I spoke with Soza's father, Chris (who is the head football coach at Alice High School), this morning.

He told me, "This was a difficult decision for Eric to make because he always wanted to go to Texas State and was happy with the opportunity he got both academically and athletically, but at the end of the day, college athletics are a business. Eric felt, and after he spoke with us about it, that he'd be better suited transferring to a different school."

When I asked if Eric had relayed how impressed the coaches were with his performance in spring practice, Chris told me, "Yes and we got the impression from the coaches that he'd be in the running to earn the starting job, but he decided that he'd have a better opportunity elsewhere. Eric is a 19-year-old kid and I told him I'd support his decision no matter what, but he'd need to be absolutely sure it's what he wanted."

Soza has yet to make a decision as to where he wants to transfer, but his father said contacts have been made to several schools that he didn't want to name.