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SAN MARCOS – Coming off an impressive sweep of UT Arlington to open Sun Belt Conference play, Texas State is looking to keep the momentum going against No. 11 Rice Tuesday night. The game will be able to be seen on ESPN3 and locally on KBVO. It can also be heard on 89.9 KTSW and at www.txstatebobcats.com.
 
Game Info: Texas State (13-6) vs. No. 11 Rice (15-6)
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Tuesday, March 18
Time: 6:35 p.m.
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
Tuesday: #30 LHP Chad Young (0-0, 2.70) vs. #14 RHP Caleb Smith (0-0, 7.20)
 
The Series                                                                                                  
Texas State and Rice have a long-standing series, one in which the Owls are victorious more often with a 48-13 record against the Bobcats. Head Coach Ty Harrington is 7-24 against Rice and last beat the Owls in San Marcos on March 6, 2012, a 3-2 victory.
 
In the last meeting between the teams earlier this season, the Bobcats jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning thanks to Rice errors. After that, Texas State went toe-to-toe with the Owls, not allowing a run until the eighth inning. In the eighth, Rice tied it, but the Bobcats went ahead in the 11^th inning trying to get a win. Rice, however, prevailed with a walk-off hit to score two runs in the bottom of the 11^th to earn Head Coach Wayne Graham his 1,000^th victory.
 
On the Owls
Rice continues to prove it's one of the better programs in the country. Entering Tuesday's game ranked 11^th nationally, the Owls have won five games in a row and built a 15-6 record.
 
Over the weekend Rice traveled for a series against former Sun Belt Conference member Florida International. The Owls swept FIU with a 3-2 victory on Friday and impressive scores of 10-2 and 11-7 on Saturday and Sunday. Before that Rice won two home games against TCU and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
John Clay Reeves is the leading hitter on the squad at .416 with 32 hits, six doubles, a home run and 14 RBI. He's scored 13 runs and owns a .532 slugging percentage and a .478 on-base percentage. Behind him is Skyler Ewing, batting .314 with a team-high three home runs. No other Owl is batting above .300 other than Chase McDowell in limited action (25 at bats).
 
The pitching staff has compiled a 2.55 ERA on the season with two shutouts on the year. The leading closers are Matt Ditman (1.04) and Zech Lemond (1.40) with three saves each this season.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State catcher Tyler Pearson was leading the Bobcats in all the major categories until freshman outfielder Granger Studdard put together an impressive weekend against UT Arlington. He leads the team in batting average (.345), runs (14) and on-base percentage (.455). Pearson is still slugging the most at .508 and leads the team in home runs with three despite two roundtrippers from Studdard over the weekend, one of which was for a walk-off victory in the 11^th inning.
 
Garrett Mattlage and David Paiz lead the team in hits with 21 each but Pearson has 20 and Studdard has 19.
 
Bobcat pitchers are holding opponents to a .246 batting average and own a 3.33 ERA for the season. Hunter Lemke leads the group with four victories and six saves.
 
The Bobcats swept UT Arlington over the weekend to bounce back from a midweek loss to No. 15 Texas. Texas State was able to sweep UTA in a variety of ways: showing their bats in a 10-5 victory on Friday, coming through in the clutch for a 7-5 walk-off win in 11 innings Saturday, and outlasting the Mavericks in a defensive battle Sunday, 3-1.
 
A Look Ahead
After Rice, Texas State travels to Western Kentucky for the team's second SBC series of the season, to be played at 6 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday. After that, the Bobcats will face Texas in Austin at 6 p.m. next Tuesday.