San Marcos, Texas – Texas State and No. 20 Rice will meet up for the second time this season for a 6:30 p.m. game at Bobcat Ballpark Tuesday night. The Bobcats fell in the last meeting, 4-3, in 12 innings. With a 3-2 lead in the ninth, Texas State walked in the tying run so the Bobcats will be looking for vengeance.
Rice was ranked as high as No. 17 last week but after two of three losses to Memphis, the Owls fell out of nearly every poll, but the National College Baseball Writers Association, ranking them 17
th.
This matchup pits two experienced coaches against each other with Texas State Head Coach
Ty Harrington in his 14
th season at the helm and Wayne Graham in the midst of his 22
nd season at Rice.
Harrington's record against Rice started out at .500 over his first eight games against the Owls, but now he stands at 7-22. The Bobcats, however, only lost by one run in extra innings in the last meeting, and won the meeting before that, 3-2, on March 6, 2012.
Fans will be able to follow along with all of the action live on video at
www.txstatebobcats.com/showcase or audio at
www.txstatebobcats.com/radio. 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 (25-26) vs. Rice (33-17)
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Tuesday, May 14
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Probable Pitching Matchups
#36 RHP
Scott Grist (5-2, 4.48 ERA) vs. TBA
Live Coverage
Video: www.txstatebobcats.com/showcase
Radio: www.txstatebobcats.com/radio
Live Stats: www.txstatebobcats.com/live_stats
Twitter: www.twitter.com/txstatebaseball
Complete Game Notes
Bobcat Bits
SPITTING SEEDS
Texas State clinched a berth in the Western Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament this past weekend, but the Bobcats lost the battle for sole possession of second place against UT Arlington. With the Mavericks winning the series, the Bobcats drop to a third place tie with Sacramento State, but they would be seeded fourth if the WAC Tournament started today due to tiebreakers. With only one more weekend of conference baseball until the WAC Tournament, Texas State will have to finish strong against Dallas Baptist.
GOING STREAKING
Garrett Mattlage is the hottest streaker for the Bobcats with 27 consecutive games in which he has reached base. That is the longest streak on the team this season.
Kevin Sah is behind him with a 20-game active streak and
Nick Smelser reached base in 15 consecutive games. The longest current hitting streak belongs to
Cody Lovejoy at nine consecutive games, tying him with
Austin O'Neal for the longest hitting streak of the year, just in front of Sah and
Andrew Stumph's eight.
Young Arm Moving Up
Lucas Humpal is making his bid for Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year with the work he has done on the mound this season. The freshman just moved into the Texas State record books now that he passed 50 innings pitched. His 3.00 earned run average puts him 12th all-time in lowest ERA in a season. He started the season as a middle reliever, but made a rapid ascent to midweek starter and now is Texas State's series opener starter. For the season, he is 4-2 in 23 appearances, six starts and 51.0 innings pitched. He has struck out 35 and walked 13 with an opponents' batting average of .255. He has been even more impressive in conference play with a 1.88 ERA and a 2-1 record in seven appearances, three starts and 24.0 innings pitched. He's struck out 16 and walked seven in the WAC and is allowing opponents a .228 batting average.
CLOSING 'EM OUT
Texas State found two reliable arms to close out games with right-handed
Hunter Lemke and left-handed
Donnie Hart, both sidearm throwers. Lemke was untouchable in an extra-inning game against UTSA. He retired 10 consecutive batters, seven by strikeout, to propel Texas State to victory, picking up his first win of the season. He owns a 2.40 earned run average and has been a part of three shutouts. He has eight saves, tying him for second most all-time in a season, with 42 strikeouts in 41.1 innings. Hart owns a 2.48 ERA in 36.1 innings with 32 strikeouts. The duo has combined for 68 appearances, putting them both in the Texas State record books for most appearances in a season. Hart is first with 36 and Lemke is tied for third with 32. Head Coach
Ty Harrington has taken to playing them back to back with Hart taking the first of the last two innings and Lemke closing it out.
CLIMBING UP THE RECORD BOOKS
Andrew Stumph is making his way up the Texas State record books this season. He is fourth all-time in games played (203) and third in at bats (740). He is fifth in RBI (138) and sits tied for fifth in hits (213) and seventh in doubles (35). He is ninth in total bases (296).
Stumph isn't alone though as other Bobcats march into the record books.
Morgan Mickan made his way in recently and now is tied for 12th all-time with 29 stolen bases. Quickly charging behind him is
Kevin Sah who is tied for second all-time in steals in a season with 24 so far in 2013.
Mitchell Pitts, like Stumph, is all over the record books. He is sixth in appearances (65) and is seventh in innings pitched (229.2) and 13th in strikeouts (166) while
Hunter Lemke is tied for fourth all-time in saves with eight, all eight of which came this season, putting him tied for the second most saves in a season with
Stephen Smith, and just one save away from
Jeff McVaney. As mentioned above, Lemke is third in appearances in a season (32) while Hart leads the way with 36.
Lucas Humpal is also making his move into the record books now that he has pitched more than 50 innings. His current earned run average of 3.00 puts him 12th all-time for lowest ERA in a season with at least 50 innings pitched.
Hot at Home
Texas State has worked to a 19-7 record at home this season while going 6-19 on the road. The disparity is even more pronounced lately as the Bobcats are 14-1 at Bobcat Ballpark in the last 16 home games. Below are some comparisons in statistics at home vs. away.
Statistic Home Away
Batting Average .281 .275
Slugging Percentage .379 .360
On Base Percentage .398 .361
Fielding Percentage .965 .955
Earned Run Average 3.13 5.51
AUSTIN BURST 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 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 .385 with 20 hits, seven for extra bases, and a team high 18 RBI. He also went on a nine-game hitting streak. His feats earned him recognition as the Western Athletic Conference's Player of the Week for the week of April 15, his first such award.
STUMPH IS BACK
Senior designated hitter
Andrew Stumph returned to the lineup Sacramento State after missing a number of games to injury. He showed he was all the way back against Texas. He was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI against the Longhorns and followed that with an impressive weekend against Louisiana Tech. He hit his first home run of 2013 against WAC leader CSU Bakersfield. Since Texas, Stumph is 28-for-79 (.354), and knocked a team high 21 RBI in the stretch. For the season, Stumph is averaging .313 (second on the team) with 45 hits and 31 RBI.
PLAYING POWERBALL
Texas State struggled to hit home runs early, knocking just four in the first 33 games. Since then, however, the Bobcats have blasted 10 long balls since. Led by
Austin O'Neal and
Morgan Mickan, both hitting the first three home runs of their career.
Cody Lovejoy knocked his first career home run during the stretch while
Andrew Stumph went yard for the first time of 2013 and the 14th time of his career. Mickan added his second home run at UTSA and his third Wednesday night while
Nick Smelser jumped in the home run derby with the second of his career and first of the season against the Roadrunners. For the season, Texas State is slugging .369, but since the homers have started coming, the Bobcats have put together a slugging percentage of .438.
