Steven Hill knew his teammates had a rally in them.
The Penn State baseball team had lost its last four games by a total of 44 runs, but Hill exited Sunday's game with his team trailing by only two runs.
The Nittany Lions tied the game in the eighth inning, but Texas State won, 5-4, on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning off junior pitcher Jesse Alfreno.
"We haven't been in many ball games. The last couple of them, we tipped our cap early and bowed out," Hill said.
"We were in it for all nine innings today. I would take the loss as a positive just because we got a lot of confidence in our abilities as a team."
Sunday's loss was the Lions' seventh straight, capping a road trip in which they went 2-7 overall.
The Lions (4-8) were swept in their games against Texas A&M, Texas State and Lamar and defeated Dallas Baptist and McNeese State.
Freshman outfielder Steve Snyder tied the game for the Lions on an infield single in the eighth inning Sunday, scoring sophomore Sean Deegan.
Texas State's Shaun Garcia hit a fly ball to center field in the last inning, which gave Texas State its third-straight victory over the Lions.
"That's one thing over the week -- that we didn't get the feeling that any of our guys quit by any means," pitching coach Jason Bell said.
"Everyone still battled and competed. The results weren't there, but the effort was."
Hill gave up two runs in six innings pitched Sunday, putting his season ERA at 2.47.
The freshman said he threw strikes early in the count, which allowed him to get in control of the lineup.
Aside from Sunday's game, the pitching staff submitted lackluster performances in its last five games. The Lions dropped two games apiece to Texas A&M, 17-3 and 7-0, and Texas State, 15-6 and 20-6.
Bell said the biggest disappointment was the amount of walks given up by his staff.
In Friday's 20-6 defeat, the staff surrendered 15 walks to Texas State.
"We have to stay aggressive and continue to attack the strike zone," Bell said. "Make the other team put the ball in play and let our defense make plays."
Snyder and junior Heath Johnson both had two hits for the Lions on Sunday. Johnson said he focused on swinging down because he had been getting underneath the ball prior to Sunday.
Despite another disappointing loss, Johnson said it's "go-time" for the Lions right now. He said the team needs to get right back to work Monday.
Hill hopes Sunday's effort will help the Lions to get off their losing slide.
"This team has a lot of fight in it," Hill said.
"We're not going to get down. If we're losing by three or two, it doesn't matter. We're still trying hard to come back."
