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SAN MARCOS – Texas State will be looking to move above .500 with this weekend's series against UC Riverside. The Bobcats started hot with a come-from-behind victory against Michigan in the home opener and dominated Air Force for the second win of the season. After a heartbreaking 11^th-inning loss to No. 11 Rice on Tuesday, Texas State will look to upset 3-1 UC Riverside.
 
GAME INFO: Texas State (2-2) vs. UC Riverside (3-1)
SITE: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
DATE: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 21-23
TIME: Friday – 6:30 p.m. | Saturday – 3 p.m. | Sunday – 1 p.m.
 
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
#21 RHP Lucas Humpal (0-0, 9.82) vs. #33 RHP Jacob Smigelski (1-0, 3.00)
#32 RHP Taylor Black (0-1, 3.24) vs. #26 LHP Ben Doucette (0-1, 10.38)
#31 RHP Austen Williams (1-0, 0.00) vs. #15 LHP Antonio Gonzales (0-0, 3.86)
 
THE SERIES
This will be the first meeting between Texas State and UC Riverside. The Highlanders have played Washington State, a 12-7 UC Riverside victory, this season. The Bobcats will play a series at Washington State March 7-9.
 
ON THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside has jumped out to a 3-1 record this season with a 2-1 opening weekend series against San Francisco and a 12-7 victory over Washington State on Monday.
 
All four games were played at home where the Highlanders have been especially dangerous, but on the road UC Riverside was just 5-22 last season and 6-25 away from the team's home field. Dating back to the end of last year, UC Riverside has lost 15 straight road games.
 
The Highlanders have sported a powerful offense so far, belting 17 hits in their last game. Six batters are hitting .375 or higher and UCR is hitting .365 as a team. They've scored 33 runs on 54 hits with nine doubles, three home runs and 30 RBI in the young season.
 
UC Riverside also looks to be tough to strikeout as the team has 10 less strikeouts than Texas State with 10 more at-bats on the year. The Highlanders are also aggressive around the bases, already with 12 steals this season.
 
The good news is that Texas State may have an opportunity for some offense against UCR with the team's Saturday and Sunday starters giving up a combined 18 hits and eight runs with two walks and just four strikeouts in a combined nine innings. Opponents are batting .500 against the Saturday starter Ben Doucette and .409 against Antonio Gonzales. Friday's starter Jacob Smigelski is holding opponents to just a .150 in his six innings pitched.
 
ON THE BOBCATS
Texas State will be looking to bounce back after a tough midweek loss to a highly ranked squad in Rice. Head Coach Ty Harrington will notch his 480^th victory with the next one.
 
David Paiz is leading the squad in both batting average (.500) and on-base percentage (.579). He's knocked eight hits, three more than the closes Bobcats. He's receiving plenty of support from sophomore Tanner Hill, who leads the team in RBI with four. He is hitting .364.
 
The duo along with freshman Granger Studdard are the only three Bobcats above .300 on the season. Senior catcher Tyler Pearson isn't far behind at .394 with three RBI of his own. Also having knocked three RBI are Garrett Mattlage and Cody Lovejoy.
 
The Bobcat bats will have to pop against the strong UCR offense, but Riverside might get its first glance at top level pitching this weekend. Juniors Taylor Black and Austen Williams, the Saturday and Sunday starters, each notched eight strikeouts in their 2014 debuts. Williams walked away with a 0.00 ERA while Black was dealing well enough to go 8.1 innings. Friday starter Lucas Humpal will look to regain his 2013 form when he was named a Freshman All-American.
 
A LOOK AHEAD
After the weekend, Texas State will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and then welcome Wagner for the next weekend series. The Bobcats will play Wagner at 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and then finish up at 1 p.m. Sunday.