Baseball | 2/18/2016 1:37:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State will host the team's season-opening series against Washington State this weekend at Bobcat Ballpark. The two teams will start the season with a four-game series from Friday to Monday. With the unique situation of having a Monday game to finish the series, any fan who buys a ticket to one of the weekend games will gain free entry to the Monday night game, so don't miss out!
 
Game Info: Texas State vs. Washington State
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Friday-Monday, February 19-2
Time: Fri. – 6 p.m. | Sat. – 3 p.m. | Sun. – 1 p.m. | Mon. – 5 p.m.
 
Probable Pitching Matchups*
Friday: #21 RHP Lucas Humpal (5-7, 5.28) vs. #40 RHP Ian Hamilton (1-4, 1.67, 13 Saves)
Saturday: #27 RHP Jeremy Hallonquist (4-2, 6.54) vs. #22 LHP Damon Jones (Transfer)
Sunday: #34 LHP Jonathan Hennigan (Transfer) vs. #34 RHP Parker McFadden (Freshman)
Monday: #18 RHP Justin Dellinger (0-1, 7.88) vs. TBA
* Pitching statistics based on 2015 season
 
The Series                                                                                                  
The Bobcats and Washington State have only met in one other series in their history, a three-game set in Pullman, Wash., in 2014. The Cougars were able to squeak out the first two games of the series, 8-6, 4-3, before Texas State took the finale, 5-3. With that, Washington State leads the series, 2-1.
 
Former Bobcat Garrett Mattlage led the team in Texas State's win with three hits and a run scored while Colby Targun added two hits and a walk, an RBI and a run. Current Bobcats Granger Studdard and Tanner Hill each added a hit and scored a combined three runs. Cory Geisler registered a strikeout from the mound in that game.
 
On the Cougars
Texas State could be going up against a fundamentally different team than the one the Bobcats faced in 2014. Head Coach Marty Lees begins his first season at the helm of Cougar Baseball. While it is his first season, he and his staff provides plenty of top tier experience. Both Lees and pitching coach Dan Spencer were assistants on Oregon State's back-to-back National Championship teams in 2006 and 2007.
 
Moving from the staff to the players, the Bobcats will face right-handed pitcher Ian Hamilton on Friday night to open the series. Hamilton is already being projected as a first round pick in this year's MLB draft. He is a preseason All-American and finished last season with a 1.67 ERA and 13 saves. He has 28 career saves and is a two-time all-conference selection. This season looks to be his first to move from closing to the starting spot.
 
The team's top returning hitter, J.J. Hancock, was sixth on last year's squad in batting average with a .256. Meanwhile, Jack Strunc looks to be the most accomplished hitter returning to Washington State this season with 40 hits in 163 at bats (.245), scoring 25 runs with seven doubles, a home run and 12 RBI. He was second on the team last year with 11 multiple-hit games.  
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State returns quite a bit from last season's squad, including four of the team's top five hitters by batting average from last season: Tanner Hill, Granger Studdard, Jared Huber and Cory Geisler. That foursome combined for 206 hits, 26 home runs, 31 doubles and 130 RBIs. Hill and Studdard alone combined for 85 RBI and 20 home runs.
 
This season, the Bobcats bolster their squad with the addition of 11 freshman and three transfers to form a strong group of newcomers for the Bobcats. In fact, 5-7 of those newcomers could see starting time over the course of this four-game series.
 
On the mound, the Bobcats return weekend starters Lucas Humpal and Jeremy Hallonquist from last season, both of which will start this weekend. Humpal, as he tends to do heading into his fourth season with the Bobcats, led Texas State in strikeouts last season with 80, 27 more than any other Bobcat. With his 80 strikeouts, he only gave up 35 walks. Hallonquist added 30 strikeouts and four wins in nine starts last year, including a complete game.
 
Other pitchers returning for the Bobcats include Pasquale Mazzoccoli, who may see time as the closer for Texas State, Cory Geisler, Justin Dellinger, Quinn Atwood and Joe Powell. The Bobcats also like many of their newcomers on the mound with a good mix of freshmen and transfers.
 
A Look Ahead
After Washington State, the Bobcats will continue the team's brutal start to the season with its fifth game in six days, traveling to Houston to face Rice at 6 p.m. Wednesday. Next weekend, the Bobcats will travel to Corpus Christi to face Michigan State, UCF and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before returning home to face national powerhouse Texas and host Incarnate Word in the weekend series.