Baseball | 3/19/2015 10:20:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State has won four consecutive games coming into the weekend and the team is looking for more against the 13-8 South Alabama Jaguars.
 
Series Info: Texas State (9-10-1, 5-1 SBC) vs. South Alabama (13-8, 3-3 SBC)
Site: Stanky Field – Mobile, Ala.
Dates: Friday – Sunday, March 20-22
Times: Friday – 6:30 p.m. | Saturday – 6:30 p.m. | Sunday – 12 p.m.
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: #21 RHP Lucas Humpal (3-1, 4.58 ERA) vs. #30 RHP Kevin Hill (1-0, 1.50 ERA)
Saturday: #36 RHP Scott Grist (1-1, 2.51 ERA) vs. #44 RHP Ryne Long (1-2, 3.28 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs. #42 LHP Jared Gates (1-0, 3.50 ERA)
 
The Series
Texas State and South Alabama met for the first time ever last season, Texas State's first season in the Sun Belt Conference. The Jaguars came to San Marcos and took two of three at Bobcat Ballpark to gain a slight edge early in the all-time series between these two teams.
 
In the Friday game, the Bobcats held a 4-2 advantage with two runs each in the fourth and fifth inning. South Alabama, however, scored one in the sixth and one in the ninth to force extra innings. Both teams battled back and forth from there until a 13^th inning Drew LaBounty single through the left side plated the winning run. It was LaBounty's RBI in the ninth that tied the game.
 
The Bobcats bounced back on Saturday behind the pitching of Austen Williams, winning 2-0. Colby Targun knocked an RBI single in the third and Garrett Mattlage hit one in the fifth for the two Texas State runs. In the Sunday game, South Alabama took control early with a 3-0 lead and added a run in the sixth and closed out with three runs in the ninth to secure a 7-2 victory.
 
On the Jaguars
South Alabama is coming off a 9-2 non-conference victory over Alabama State on Tuesday, but dropped two last weekend on the road in a three-game series against UT Arlington. The weekend previous, the Jaguars won two at home against UALR. South Alabama is a strong 11-6 at home this season so the Bobcats will have to play well to knock off the Jaguars at Stanky Field.
 
Cole Billingsley leads the Jaguars in hitting with a .333 batting average. He has a home run, two ripples, 24 hits and 11 RBI on the season. The top RBI-hitter, though, is Adam Ballew with 19 for the season on 19 hits, five of which were for extra bases. Bud Collura leads the team in hits with 28 on the season. Three Jaguars have 23 hits or more and seven are hitting .302 or better.
 
As a team, South Alabama has 13 more hits than opponents and 17 more RBI. The Jaguars have outscored their opponents 118-88 so far this season and are batting a healthy .282 as a team.
 
On the mound, South Alabama's pitching staff owns a 3.40 ERA with 152 strikeouts to 72 walks. The best starter the Bobcats will face will likely be Kevin Hill on Friday who has a 1.50 ERA. He has 11 strikeouts to six walks and opponents are only hitting .154 against in him in 12 innings. Ryne Long, Saturday's starter, owns a 3.28 ERA with 14 strikeouts and 11 walks in 24.2 innings pitched. Opponents are doing a little better against him with a .278 batting average while they hit .242 against Sunday starter Jared Gates. Gates has a 3.50 ERA in 18 innings pitched with 18 strikeouts and eight walks.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State comes into the series hot. The Bobcats started conference play with a 2-1 weekend at home against UL Monroe then traveled to Appalachian State to take three more victories. At 5-1 in Sun Belt Conference action, the Bobcats also played well in the midweek, coming back from a 7-2 deficit with a seven-run seventh inning to win the game, 11-7. The Bobcats scored nine of their 11 runs with two outs.
 
Against Appalachian State, the Bobcats hit .278 as a squad with seven players hitting .300 or better and three in the .400s. Texas State knocked two home runs, one of which came from Cedric Vallieres. The senior is on a streak of four games in which he has scored at least two runs and knocked at least two RBI. He leads the squad with four home runs and 13 RBI. David Paiz also has 13 RBI and hit .417 against App State last weekend.
 
The Bobcats played their first errorless game of the year against the Mountaineers and pitched just a 3.33 ERA. Blake Whitter was dynamite in the closer's role yet again with a win and a save in 2.2 innings of work, only allowing App State hitters a .111 average. He earned another save against UTSA, his third of the season. The pitching staff combined for 17 strikeouts last weekend and struck 12 more out against UTSA Tuesday night with seven from Jeremy Hallonquist.
 
A Look Ahead
After South Alabama, the Bobcats return home to host Texas at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Then Texas State will welcome Georgia Southern to San Marcos for a three-game conference set before taking to the road for a rematch against UTSA.