San Marcos, Texas – Texas State bounced back from a tough start against San Jose State this past weekend with a big 11-5 Sunday victory, knocking 19 hits in the win. Meanwhile, Texas A&M jumped out to a fast start against No. 10 Arkansas with a 5-3 Friday win, but dropped the back two games of the series, 12-2 and 2-1.
 
It'll likely be two young players starting on the mound Tuesday as freshman Lucas Humpal is slated to start for the Bobcats and sophomore righty Corey Ray for the Aggies. Ray has a 3-1 record but owns a 5.35 earned run average. Humpal, meanwhile, has put together a respectable 3.19 ERA in his initial season in college baseball.
 
The Bobcats have a couple of hot hitters headed into the midweek. Cody Lovejoy, Kevin Sah, Andrew Stumph, Nick Smelser and Morgan Mickan all hit .308 or better over the weekend with Lovejoy topping the list at an impressive .615.
 
The last time the Bobcats hosted Texas A&M, the two played an exciting game that led to a walk off victory for Texas State. Tied at 4 runs apiece, the teams went into extra inning, and the Aggies struck first in the 11^th inning. Texas A&M put up one run, but Kyle Kubitza erased the deficit with a solo home run in the bottom of the inning. Jeff McVaney followed with a double. Colton Burnett came in to pinch run for McVaney and scored three batters later when Laurn Randell knocked the winning RBI on a single to right field.
 
Fans better prepare for another exciting one at Bobcat Ballpark at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday night.
 
Fans will be able to follow along with all of the action live on video at www.txstatebobcats.com/showcase or through live audio at www.txstatebobcats.com/radio or 89.9 KTSW. As always, fans can also follow online through live stats here and frequent updates provided throughout the game on the baseball Twitter account - @TxStateBaseball.
 
Game Info
Texas State (17-22, 8-4 WAC) vs. Texas A&M (22-19, 7-11 SEC)

Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Tuesday, April 23
Time: 6:30 p.m.

Probable Pitching Matchups
#21 RHP Lucas Humpal (2-1, 3.19 ERA) vs. #22 RHP Corey Ray (3-1, 5.35 ERA)
 
Live Coverage
Video: www.txstatebobcats.com/showcase
Radio: www.txstatebobcats.com/radio and 89.9 KTSW
Live Stats: www.txstatebobcats.com/live_stats
Twitter: www.twitter.com/txstatebaseball
                          
Complete Game Notes
 
Bobcat Bits
Playing Powerball: Texas State struggled to hit home runs early this season, but the Bobcat bats have come alive in the past six games. After hitting just four home runs in the first 33 games, Texas State has blasted five long balls in the past six outings. Led by Austin O'Neal's first three home runs of his career, Texas State has shown an ability to hit for power. Morgan Mickan and Cody Lovejoy each knocked their first career home runs in the stretch. For the season, Texas State is slugging .355, but the Bobcats have put together a slugging percentage of .498 with nine Bobcats slugging .381 or higher.
 
Austin Bursts onto the scene: Austin O'Neal was seeing limited time earlier this season, only starting when Texas State faced a left-handed pitcher. Against Louisiana Tech, however, he used the opportunity to burst onto the scene with 3-for-4 day, adding a three-run homer to stake his claim on a Sunday start. Sunday, he knocked his second home run en route to a 3-for-5, four-RBI day. Before that weekend, he was batting .229 with 11 hits and six RBI, but since, O'Neal is hitting .346 with nine hits, five extra-base hits and a team high 11 RBI. His feats earned him recognition as the Western Athletic Conference's Player of the Week last week, his first such award of the season.
 
Stumph is back: Senior designated hitter Andrew Stumph made his return to the lineup for the Bobcats against Sacramento State, but he didn't show he was all the way back until the midweek game against Texas. He was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI against the Longhorns and followed that with an impressive weekend against Louisiana Tech. Since getting just one hit in 12 at bats against Sacramento State, Stumph has exploded to go 14-for-32 (.438) with 10 RBI in the past eight games. For the season, Stumph is averaging .320 with 31 hits and 20 RBI.
 
Climbing up the record books: Speaking of Andrew Stumph, he is making his way up the Texas State record books this season. After this past weekend, he is fifth all-time in games played (191) and at bats (693). He is fifth in RBI (127). Stumph sits seventh in hits (199) and 9th in total bases (279).
 
Stumph isn't alone though as other Bobcats march into the record books. Morgan Mickan made his way in recently and now is 15th all-time with 27 stolen bases. Quickly charging behind him is Kevin Sah who is eighth all-time in steals in a season with 19 so far in 2013.
 
Mitchell Pitts, like Stumph, is all over the record books. He is seventh in appearances (62), eighth in innings pitched (215.2) and 13th in strikeouts (163). Meanwhile, Hunter Lemke is tied for 10th all-time in saves with six, all six of which came this season, putting him tied for sixth for most saves in a season.
 
Closing 'Em Out: Texas State has found two reliable arms to close out games with left-handed Donnie Hart and right-handed Hunter Lemke, both sidearm throwers. Hart has been on fire, owning a 0.00 ERA throughout most of the season, but he did let in his first earned run of the year this past weekend. Nonetheless, his ERA stands at just 0.36 in 24.2 innings pitched, only giving up 13 hits while striking out 20 batters and walking just eight, holding opponents to a mere .153 batting average.
 
Meanwhile, Lemke has six saves (sixth all-time in a season) and a 2.93 ERA in 27.2 innings pitched. He has struck out 25 batters and is holding opponents to a .248 batting average. The duo has combined for 50 appearances, and Head Coach Ty Harrington has taken to playing them back to back with Hart taking the seventh or eighth inning and Lemke shutting it down in the eighth or ninth.
 
Going Streaking: Texas State has a few streaks alive. Currently, Andrew Stumph had the longest hitting streak of the season at eight. Cody Lovejoy isn't far behind with six. Garrett Mattlage, meanwhile, is putting together an impressive streak of games in which he's reached base at 15. The nearest Bobcat is Lovejoy with 11.
 
Young Arms Stepping up: Texas State has a strong bullpen this season that is winning games for the team. The bulk of the pitchers in it, though, are young guys. Sophomore Taylor Black has been a weekend starter all season while freshman Lucas Humpal, redshirt freshmen Jeremy Hallonquist and Andrew Boes along with sophomore Austen Williams have been some of the first guys up for the Bobcats. Humpal, Hallonquist and Boes have each earned midweek starts while Hallonquist is coming off his first weekend start at San Jose State. As young players will do, the group has taken some knocks early in the season, but they have settled in to string some good innings together. Both Humpal and Black own sub 4.00 ERAs while the other three arms have had some pretty impressive innings.