Tournament Info
Site: San Marcos, Texas (Bobcat Ballpark)
Dates: Wednesday, May 23 - Saturday, May 26
Teams:
No. 1 Sam Houston State
No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana
No. 3 Texas State
No. 4 UT Arlington
No. 5 McNeese State
No. 6 Stephen F. Austin
No. 7 Central Arkansas
No. 8 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Tickets: www.TxStateBobcats.com/tickets
Texas State Game 1 Info
No. 3 Texas State (31-22, 19-14 SLC) vs. No. 6 Stephen F. Austin (23-31, 16-17 SLC)
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Live Coverage
Video: www.southland.org
Championship Game Video: ESPN3
Radio: www.txstatebobcats.com/radio
Live Stats: www.southland.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/TxStateBaseball
Texas State Probable Starters
Game 1 - Travis Ballew (RHP, Jr., 10-4, 2.83)
Game 2 - Colton Turner (LHP, Jr., 5-2, 2.26)
Game 3 - Kyle Finnegan (RHP, So., 5-6, 3.28)
OR Taylor Black (RHP, RS-Fr., 2-3, 3.37)
Game Notes (PDF) | Tournament Bracket (PDF)
San Marcos, Texas – Texas State has earned the No. 3 seed in the 2012 Southland Conference Tournament that begins on Wednesday at Bobcat Ballpark when the Bobcats will look to defend their crown from a season ago. The team will face off against No. 6 seed Stephen F. Austin in a rematch of last year's tournament championship game in the first round beginning at 4 p.m.
The double-elimination tournament will span from Wednesday through Saturday with the championship game set to take place at either 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. The winner of the tournament will receive the Southland Conference's automatic bid to the 2012 NCAA Regionals.
With a win on Wednesday, Texas State will move on to the 7 p.m. game on Thursday to play the winner of the No. 2 Southeastern Louisiana and No. 7 Central Arkansas game. With a loss, the Bobcats will fall into the losers bracket where they will play the loser of the SLU and UCA game at noon on Thursday.
Texas State will look to win the Southland Conference Tournament for the fifth time in school history. The Bobcats have captured the tournament crown in 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2011.
Starting for the Bobcats on Wednesday will be the newly-named Southland Conference Pitcher of the Year, Travis Ballew. The junior leads the Southland Conference in both wins (10) and strikeouts (114) this season. Ballew limited the Lumberjacks to just one run over 7 2/3 innings in a start against SFA earlier this season en route to the victory.
Tickets for the 2012 Southland Conference Tournament can be purchased in advance at www.TxStateBobcats.com/tickets or at the gates of Bobcat Ballpark.
Live coverage of the tournament will also be available through www.southland.org, while the championship game will be broadcast on ESPN3. For Twitter users, frequent in-game updates will be provided by the Texas State baseball account - @TxStateBaseball.
Quick Hits
• Texas State has a five-game winning streak during SLC Tournament games entering Wednesday
• Morgan Mickan has reached base safely in 11 straight games entering the tournament
• The Bobcats are hitting .283 at home compared to .230 on the road
• Texas State is averaging 1,308 fans per home game, its highest season attendance average ever
• Four Bobcats have hitting streaks of at least 10 games this season (McVaney, Stumph, Kalenkosky, Orton)
• Jeff McVaney hit .538 (7 for 13) with four doubles, six RBIs and two runs scored in last weekend's series
• Jeff McVaney is hitting .410 in day games with a slugging percentage of .667 and five home runs
• Reliever Louis Head has allowed just one earned run over his last 11 appearances (13 1/3 innings)
• Reliever Hunter Lemke has not allowed a run over his last eight appearances (10 2/3 innings)
Top Storylines
Southland Conference Tournament
Texas State is marking its 16th consecutive appearance in the Southland Conference Tournament. Last season, the Bobcats came back from an opening-round loss to win the tournament for the fourth time (1997, 1999, 2000, 2011). The Bobcats have a 33-26 all-time record during Southland Conference Tournament action. This marks the fifth time since the year 2000 that the Bobcats have entered the tournament as the No. 3 seed. Texas State won the tournament as the No. 3 seed one time previously, that being the 2000 season when the team defeated Louisiana-Monroe in the championship game.
Versus Stephen F. Austin
It will be a rematch of the 2011 Southland Conference Tournament championship game when Texas State and Stephen F. Austin meet in the first round. The Bobcats and Lumberjacks have played each other in three consecutive SLC Tournaments dating back to 2009 with Texas State being victorious in all three games. Overall, Texas State has a 4-0 record against the Lumberjacks during Southland Conference Tournament play, and the Bobcats beat SFA in two of three games this season at Bobcat Ballpark.
