San Marcos, Texas – The Bobcats have won two in a row and would like to make it five against the Western Athletic Conference leader, CSU Bakersfield. Texas State is just two games behind the Roadrunners and a sweep of the series could be huge.
 
The Bobcats clearly understand the importance as they are making a change to the weekend pitching rotation with freshman Lucas Humpal taking over Saturday and senior stalwart Mitchell Pitts sliding into the Sunday slot. Both pitchers have had impressive outings recently.
 
Pitts only gave up two hits and a walk while striking out three over four innings last Sunday while Humpal picked up the win against Texas A&M in the midweek with three effective innings.
 
CSU Bakersfield does not have a powerful offense, only knocking four home runs on the year. Still, the Roadrunners have scored 238 runs to Texas State's 212 and have an advantage in hits, 417-348. While CSUB has played two more games than the Bobcats, it's clear the Roadrunners are finding ways to score.
 
Bakersfield, however, leans on its strength: pitching. The Roadrunners own just a 2.64 team earned run average and have five complete games from their starters and all five of the team's 10 saves going to closer Dylan Christensen.
 
The Roadrunners will start two lefties over the weekend, but Texas State is hitting .281 against lefties this year as opposed to .259 vs. righties.
 
Garrett Mattlage also has a streak of 16 consecutive games in which he's reached base that he'll put on the line against the strong pitching of CSU Bakersfield.
 
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 (18-22, 9-6 WAC) vs. CSU Bakersfield (28-14, 11-4 WAC)

Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Friday-Sunday, April 26-28
Time: 6:30 p.m. | 2 p.m. | 12 p.m.

Probable Pitching Matchups
#32 RHP Taylor Black (3-5, 3.94 ERA) vs. #3 LHP Jeff McKenzie (9-1, 1.78 ERA)
#21 RHP Lucas Humpal (3-1, 3.18 ERA) vs. #51 RHP Scott Brattvet (7-1, 1.89 ERA)
#17 RHP Mitchell Pitts (2-3, 4.74 ERA) vs. #19 LHP Jonathan Montoya (3-2, 2.65 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
Changing it Up: Texas State has had a regular rotation of weekend pitchers. The season started with Kyle Finnegan on Friday, Taylor Black on Saturday and Scott Grist on Sunday. The only change up until this past weekend was Finnegan moving to Sunday and the other two Bobcats sliding up a day. This past weekend, however, Jeremy Hallonquist earned a Saturday start and was relieved by Grist. This weekend, the probably rotation looks to be even more different wth Lucas Humpal taking over Saturday and senior stalwart Mitchell Pitts sliding into the Sunday slot. Both players have had impressive showings in the midweek games. Pitts also had a strong Sunday last weekend pitching in relief and only giving up two hits and a walk in four innings while striking out three. Humpal went three effective innings in his last outing against Texas A&M.
 
Playing Powerball: Texas State struggled to hit home runs early this season, but the Bobcat bats have come alive in the past seven games. After hitting just four home runs in the first 33 games, Texas State has blasted five long balls since. 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 .353, but the Bobcats have put together a slugging percentage of .470 with nine Bobcats slugging .370 or higher. To date, the Roadrunners have only knocked four home runs, but are winning games on their pitching.
 
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 a 3-for-4 day, adding a three-run homer to stake his claim on a Sunday start. That 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. After taking a seat in the midweek game, he may be back in action against two lefty starters this weekend.
 
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-36 (.389) with 10 RBI in the past nine games. For the season, Stumph is averaging .307 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. He is fifth all-time in games played (192) and at bats (697). 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 tied for third all-time in steals in a season with 21 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) while Hunter Lemke is tied for fifth all-time in saves with six, all six of which came this season, putting him tied for third 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 against San Jose State. Nonetheless, his ERA stands at just 0.35 in 26.0 innings pitched, only giving up 14 hits while striking out 21 batters and walking just eight, holding opponents to a mere .156 batting average. Meanwhile, Lemke has seven saves (tied for third all-time in a season) and a 2.83 ERA in 28.2 innings pitched. He's struck out 27 batters and is holding opponents to a .240 batting average. The duo has combined for 52 appearances, and Head Coach Ty Harrington has taken to playing them back to back with Hart taking the first of the last two innings and Lemke shutting it down at the end.
 
Going Streaking: Texas State has a few streaks alive. Andrew Stumph and Kevin Sah have the longest hitting streaks of the season at eight. Garrett Mattlage, meanwhile, is putting together an impressive streak of games in which he's reached base 16 consecutive times.
 
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 could see a Saturday start this weekend. Humpal with 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. Humpal, Black and Williams all own sub 4.00 ERAs while the other two arms have had some pretty impressive innings.