Baseball | 2/29/2016 4:54:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – Texas State will face the Longhorns of the University of Texas at Bobcat Ballpark at 6 p.m. Tuesday night. General admission tickets are already sold out, but there are 250 standing room only student tickets left. If fans have already missed out on the opportunity to attend the game, it will be televised on Time Warner Cable's Sports Channel, channel 323 for Time Warner subscribers. The game will be able to be seen statewide for Time Warner subscribers.
 
The matchup between the Bobcats and Longhorns will also serve as Texas State's Go4TheGoal Lace Up for Pediatric Cancer game, an effort to draw awareness to pediatric cancer and the fight against it. The team will lace up their cleats with gold laces, which will also be on sale to fans to fundraise for the cause, and fans are also encouraged to wear gold.
 
Due to construction and lane closures in the area, fans are advised to turn directly into the Strahan East Parking Lot if attempting to access parking via Aquarena Springs. Fans are also encouraged to use Hopkins Street and then Robbie Lane to access the Bobcat Stadium Football parking lot behind HEB. For a visual of the best places to park, refer to the image at right.
 
Game Info: Texas State vs. Texas
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Tuesday, March 1
Time: 6 p.m.
 
Probable Pitching Matchup
#13 LHP Brandon Lewis (0-0, 6.75) vs. #41 RHP Morgan Cooper (0-0, 0.00)
 
The Series                                                                                                  
Texas owns the advantage in the all-time series against Texas State, 42-9. The Bobcats have currently lost 22 games to Texas, but had good showings in games last season. Head Coach Ty Harrington's record is 5-28 against the Longhorns with the team's last win coming in 2005, a 2-1 victory.
 
In the last meeting, the Bobcats scored two runs to open the game, but Texas answered with three runs in the bottom of the first. In the sixth inning, Tanner Hill homered for Texas State's third run of the game, but the Longhorns would go on to win, 7-3.
 
Before that, Texas traveled to San Marcos. Cory Geisler knocked a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first, and Cedric Vallieres scored a short time later off a double from David Paiz to put the Bobcats up, 2-0 early. The Bobcats added runs in the fourth and fifth innings with an RBI single for Luke Sherley and a home run from Granger Studdard. Unfortunately for Texas State, the Longhorns knocked a three-run homer in the eighth inning to pull ahead, 5-4, and added an insurance run in the ninth for the 6-4 Texas victory.
 
On the Longhorns
Texas has started the season 4-3 overall with wins over UNLV and Stanford. The Longhorns took the series against UNLV after dropping the opener, 4-3. Texas rebounded with wins by scores of 11-2 and 7-0. In week two of the season, Texas split with Stanford, falling 1-0 and 11-1, but won the Friday and Saturday games by scores of 4-3 and 9-0.
 
This will be the first road game of the season for Texas and the only road trip in a stretch of 13 games to start the season.
 
It's no surprise that Tres Barrera is back and leading the team in offense with a .348 batting average and a team-high eight hits. He's scored four runs with four RBIs while still registering five walks and a hit by pitch for a .483 on-base percentage. In addition to Barrera is Bret Boswell (five RBIs), Jake McKenzie (.313, four RBIs) and Michael Cantu (four RBIs). Boswell has one home run on the season while Patrick Mathis has the other two homers on the squad despite only playing four games.
 
As always, the Texas pitching has been tough to start the season. The staff has put together a 2.74 ERA in the young season with 55 strikeouts to 32 walks and 47 hits. In 69 innings, the Longhorns have two shutouts and have allowed 21 earned runs while opponents are only hitting .189 against them. Tuesday's starter hasn't seen much action but has been good in the short time he's been on the mound. Morgan Cooper has only thrown two innings, but it was part of a shutout and he struck out two and did not allow a hit in the appearance.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State is coming off a 2-1 weekend in which the Bobcats took down undefeated UCF, a team ranked as high as sixth in the nation last season. The Bobcats also run-ruled Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11-0, with an impressive offensive day that started in the first inning and didn't stop.
 
The surprise of the season so far has been the offensive production of sophomore Luke Sherley. He leads the team in hits with 12 and batting average at .400. In this young season, the sophomore has struck a home run and two doubles with six RBIs and a team-high eight runs scored. He's added four walks for a .471 on-base percentage while stealing two bases, and he's also been solid defensively with four double plays.
 
In addition to Sherley, freshman Jonathan Ortega has stepped up to hit .333 with 10 hits, six runs and a team-high seven RBIs while the squad also still relies on the usual suspects in Granger Studdard, Tanner Hill and Cody Lovejoy. Sophomore Theodore Hoffman and freshman Ryan Newman have been effective bats for the Bobcats so far with seven runs scored from Hoffman and a home run hit on Sunday from Newman.
 
Freshman Brandon Lewis will be starting for the Bobcats who saw the first four innings of his career last Wednesday at Rice. He struck out four batters and only walked one while holding Rice to a .200 batting average.
 
A Look Ahead
The Bobcats will host Incarnate Word for a three-game set this weekend after the midweek against Texas. After that, the Bobcats will travel for a midweek at Baylor before heading to Monroe, La., for the team's first Sun Belt Conference series of the season.