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MOBILE, Ala. – Texas State Baseball will play in the team's first ever Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament this week, and the Bobcats will get the week started with the first game of the tournament at 9 a.m. Wednesday against Western Kentucky.
 
The Bobcats are the fourth seed and will face WKU, the fifth seed. The winner of that matchup will go on to face the winner between No. 1 UL Lafayette and No. 8 UL Monroe at 4 p.m. Thursday. The losers will also face each other, at 9 a.m. Thursday, as each team tries to climb its way through a double-elimination tournament.
 
Game Info: Texas State (28-26, 16-14 SBC) vs. Western Kentucky (29-26, 15-15 SBC)
Site: Stanky Field – Mobile, Ala.
Date: Wednesday-Sunday, May 21-25
Time: First Round: Wednesday – 9 a.m. | Second Round: Thursday – TBA | Friday-Saturday – TBA
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
Wednesday: #32 RHP Taylor Black (6-4, 2.84) vs. #31 RHP Justin Hageman (6-2, 2.87)
 
The Series
The Bobcats have won the two most recent games against Western Kentucky, the back two games of this season's series. In the Saturday game, Garrett Mattlage knocked a career-high seven RBI while Granger Studdard, Tanner Hill and Ben McElroy teamed up for three home runs in the Sunday game to help the Bobcats cruise past WKU.
 
On the Hilltoppers
Western Kentucky will throw the team's best arm against Texas State in Justin Hageman, an All-Sun Belt First Teamer. He has a 2.87 ERA with a 6-2 record but his conference ERA is up to 3.41. He pitched a complete game against Texas State, picking up a 4-1 victory. He was the only WKU pitcher to earn a win in the series.
 
The Hilltoppers have struggled coming into the tournament, dropping five of the team's last seven games.
 
The team's top hitter is David Simmons at .359 for the year, but Regan Flaherty leads the team I hits with 70. Ryan Church is the leading RBI-hitter with 38 on the season along with his team-high seven home runs. In the series between these teams, Church was able to light a fire under the Bobcats.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State will make its Sun Belt Championship Tournament debut against Western Kentucky, and Taylor Black will be on the mound. He has the lowest ERA of the three regular starters at 2.84 on the season and he has been even better in conference play with a 2.60 ERA against SBC opponents.
 
He'll look for some support from his bats, but the Bobcats have struggled there lately. Texas State hit .228 at UT Arlington as a team and an even worse .146 the series before against a UALR team that finished the season strong.
 
The good news is that the Bobcats are hitting .263 in conference play and knocked in 20 RBI with eight extra-base hits in the series against WKU.
 
A Look Ahead
The future is a bit murky for the Bobcats. They will either play at 9 a.m. or 4 p.m. Thursday. If they beat WKU, Texas State will face the winner of UL Lafayette and UL Monroe at 4 p.m. Thursday and that game would determine what comes next for the Bobcats. If they drop to WKU, they'll be facing the loser between ULL and ULM at 9 a.m. Thursday.