Baseball | 3/5/2015 4:59:00 PM

SAN MARCOS – It's already time for Sun Belt Conference games in the 2015 baseball season. Texas State will begin the conference season by hosting UL Monroe this weekend at Bobcat Ballpark.
 
Series Info: Texas State vs. UL Monroe
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Friday - Sunday, March 6-8
Time: Friday - 6 p.m. | Saturday – 3 p.m. | Sunday – 1 p.m.
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: #21 RHP Lucas Humpal (1-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. #16 RHP Alex Hermeling (2-1, 1.61 ERA)
Saturday: #36 RHP Scott Grist (0-1, 3.00 ERA) vs. #29 RHP Brandon Bell (2-1, 5.40 ERA)
Sunday: TBA vs. #44 LHP Trey Setzer (1-0, 1.38 ERA)
 
The Series                                                                                                  
Texas State and UL Monroe have a long baseball series dating back to the old Southland Conference days. The Bobcats hold the edge in the all-time series, 35-30, but UL Monroe has the advantage since Head Coach Ty Harrington has taken over, 14-10. The teams split last season with ULM winning two in Louisiana, but the Bobcats took one and then won at the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in an elimination game. The Bobcats used home runs from Tanner Hill, Cory Geisler and Austin O'Neal to edge out the Warhawks, 4-2, and stay alive in the tournament.
 
On the Warhawks
The Warhawks come to Texas in good standing with a 6-4 record. After two losses to start the season, UL Monroe went 5-1 until a 7-0 loss to Northwestern State on the road on Tuesday. Last weekend, ULM swept Sam Houston State, 6-0, 7-5 and 9-1 which is notable because the Bearkats beat the Bobcats in a midweek game, 10-0, earlier this season.
 
The starting rotation for ULM looks good coming into the series. The trio of Alex Hermeling, Brandon Bell and Trey Setzer come into the series with a combined 5-2 record. Hermeling has an ERA of just 1.61 while Setzer's is 1.38. Between the three of them, ULM has 48 strikeouts to just 16 walks.
 
At the plate, Keelin Rasch leads the squad with a .395 batting average and 15 hits. He has tallied 13 RBI while no other Warhawk has more than seven. Five Warhawks are hitting .333 or higher and four have 12 hits or more in this young season. Already this year, ULM boasts six home runs, 19 doubles and 86 hits.
 
On the Bobcats
Much like weekends past, the Bobcats will head into this series with a pitcher to be announced in the final game. Lucas Humpal and Scott Grist will be on the mound for the Bobcats on Friday and Saturday and both have looked strong in their most recent outings. Grist has 12 strikeouts to just three walks so far.
 
At the plate, it has been David Paiz pacing Texas State. He is hitting .327 with 16 hits and 11 RBI. No other Bobcat has more than five RBI this season. Cody Lovejoy is the only other heavy contributor hitting above .300 at .325. He also has 13 hits. Lovejoy and Paiz are the only Bobcats with double-digit hits this season while Ben McElroy and Cedric Vallieres both have nine apiece and Granger Studdard has chipped in eight.
 
A Look Ahead
After UL Monroe, Texas State will take to the road for the team's first midweek game away from Bobcat Ballpark this season. The Bobcats will play Rice at 6 p.m. Wednesday and then follow that up with a road trip to Appalachian State before returning to host UTSA on March 17 at 6 p.m.