San Marcos, Texas – Texas State heads into the final regular season series seeded fourth for the Western Athletic Conference Tournament. However, with a sweep of seventh seeded Dallas Baptist this weekend with some help from Sacramento State and UT Arlington, and the Bobcats could rise to second. Clearly, Texas State has plenty to play for starting Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with games on Friday at 4 p.m. and Saturday at 12 p.m.
 
The Bobcats will honor their six seniors: Andrew Stumph, Morgan Mickan, Mitchell Pitts, Nick Smelser, Kevin Sah and Covey Morrow before the 12 p.m. first pitch on Saturday.
 
That day, however, the Bobcats will have to face righty Cody Beam, the third leading pitcher in the WAC in opposing batting average (.224). Thursday, Texas State will face sophomore Cy Sneed (4-3, 4.80) and Friday it will be a junior righty Jak Johansen (5-6, 5.68).
 
For Texas State it will be Lucas Humpal to open the series Thursday and Mitchell Pitts to close it on Saturday. Friday's starter is to be announced.
 
The Bobcats and Dallas Baptist have split the all-time series at 3-3, all being played during Head Coach Ty Harrington's tenure. The teams have taken a break from each other for some time as they have not faced each other since April 15, 2006, a Texas State 9-7 victory.  
 
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 (25-27, 14-10 WAC) vs. Dallas Baptist (27-26, 12-12 WAC)

Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Thursday-Saturday, May 16-18
Times: 6:30 p.m. | 4 p.m. | 12 p.m.

Probable Pitching Matchups
#21 RHP Lucas Humpal (4-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. #34 RHP Cy Sneed (4-3, 4.80 ERA)
TBA vs. #27 RHP Jake Johansen (5-6, 5.68 ERA)
#17 RHP Mitchell Pitts (3-4, 5.35 ERA) vs. #13 RHP Cody Beam (5-1, 4.00 ERA)
 
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
Seniors Final Home Series
Join Texas State Baseball and Texas State Athletics for senior recognition before Saturday's game with a scheduled first pitch of 12 p.m. Six seniors will be playing their final games at Bobcat Ballpark: Andrew Stumph, Morgan Mickan, Mitchell Pitts, Nick Smelser, Kevin Sah and Covey Morrow.
 
Tournament Seeding
With such a hot race for seeding in the Western Athletic Conference Tournament, Texas State could end up anywhere between the second seed or the seventh based on this final weekend. The Bobcats head into it three games back from first, tied for third, but seeded fourth due to tiebreakers. If Texas State sweeps Dallas Baptist and UT Arlington drops two at Sacramento State, then the Bobcats will snag the second seed.
 
GOING STREAKING
Garrett Mattlage is the hottest streaker for the Bobcats with 28 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 21-game active streak. The longest current hitting streak belongs to Tyler Pearson at seven consecutive games. That puts him behind Austin O'Neal and Cody Lovejoy's longest streak of the season of nine games and Sah and Andrew Stumph's eight games.
 
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 as he will start Thursday night. 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 2.34 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 42.1 innings. Hart owns a 2.41 ERA in 37.1 innings with 32 strikeouts. The duo has combined for 70 appearances, putting them both in the Texas State record books for most appearances in a season. Hart is first with 37 and Lemke is third with 33. 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 tied for third all-time in games played (204) and third in at bats (743). He is fifth in RBI (138) and sits fifth in hits (214) and tied for seventh in doubles (35). He is ninth in total bases (297).
 
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 (33) while Hart leads the way with 37.
 
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 15-2 at Bobcat Ballpark in the last 17 home games. Below are some comparisons in statistics at home vs. away.
Statistic                                   Home        Away       
Batting Average                            .281            .275 
Slugging Percentage                     .376            .360 
On Base Percentage                      .395            .361 
Fielding Percentage                       .961            .955 
Earned Run Average                      3.12            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. However, O'Neal did not see the field in Texas State's most recent game Tuesday against Rice.
 
STUMPH IS BACK
Senior 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 29-for-82 (.354), and knocked a team high 21 RBI during the stretch. For the season, Stumph is averaging .313 (second on the team) with 46 hits and 31 RBI.