Baseball | 3/3/2016 10:38:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – After spending last weekend on the road in Corpus Christi, Texas, the Bobcats will get a three-game home stand against Incarnate Word at Bobcat Ballpark this weekend. With 999 wins in program history, Texas State is looking to add its 1,000^th victory.
 
Game Info: Texas State vs. Incarnate Word
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Friday, March 4 – Sunday, March 6
Time: Friday – 6 p.m. | Saturday – 3 p.m. | Sunday – 1 p.m.
 
Probable Pitching Matchup
#21 RHP Lucas Humpal (1-1, 3.21) vs. #23 RHP Bernie Martinez (1-0, 1.80)
#27 RHP Jeremy Hallonquist (1-0, 0.00) vs. #25 RHP Jake Bedevian (1-0, 0.00)
#34 LHP Jonathan Hennigan (1-0, 4.09) vs. #26 RHP Tyler Lesley (0-0, 0.00)
 
The Series                                                                                                  
The Bobcats have an overwhelming advantage in the all-time series against Incarnate Word at 20-9. Currently, Texas State has beaten the Cardinals the last three games. Under Head Coach Ty Harrington, the Bobcats are 3-1 against UIW.
 
The last meeting between the teams came in a midweek matchup last season. Incarnate Word was able to stalemate the Bobcats into the 11^th inning before Granger Studdard knocked a walk-off home run. That came after Cedric Vallieres tied the game in the seventh inning with another home run. Before that, it was three runs from UIW in the top of the first and two in response from the Bobcats in the bottom of the inning. Texas State took it by a score of 4-3.
 
On the Cardinals
Incarnate Word won the team's first game against LIU Brooklyn and went on to take two of three in the season-opening series. Since then, however, the Cardinals beat Bradley on the UIW home field but has lost every other game, dropping games to Texas Southern, Notre Dame, Gonzaga and Oklahoma State twice.
 
The top hitter on the squad right now is Brance Kahle at .333 with eight hits while Ryan Gonzalez leads the team in hits with nine. Christian Divelbiss has the team lead in RBIs with seven, but both Gonzalez and Kahle have six apiece. The team is hitting .225 with 67 hits, 10 doubles and two triples but have yet to hit a home run this season.
 
On the mound, the Cardinals have a 4.90 ERA with five pitchers at 3.38 or lower. John Shull, with one start under his belt, leads the team in strikeouts with 20 while Friday starter Bernie Martinez has 10 as does Trevor Hardee. While UIW is hitting just .225, its pitching staff is allowing temas a .267 batting average.
 
On the Bobcats
Texas State has looked strong in the early going of the 2016 season. The Bobcats took three of four off of Pac-12 opponent Washington State and two of three at the Kleberg College Classic, beating UCF, a team ranked as high as sixth in 2015. In addition to that, the Bobcats went to extra innings against Texas with it tied, 4-4, headed into the 11^th inning before dropping an extra-inning thriller.
 
The Bobcat offense is batting .275 with freshmen Ryan Newman, Jonathan Ortega and Nick Perez each contributing to the lineup in big ways. Newman leads the team in batting average (.353) and slugging percentage (.706) while Ortega leads the team in RBIs with seven and steals with three. Perez is tied with Ortega for second on the team in hits with 10 apiece while Perez has scored seven runs.
 
Texas State is also receiving contributions from Luke Sherley at the plate with a .333 batting average and a team-high 12 hits and team-leading eight runs scored. Tanner Hill has already knocked three home runs while Granger Studdard has a .429 on-base percentage with nine walks and nine hits in the young season.
 
The pitching staff, especially the starters, have had a solid start to the season. The H-Club of Lucas Humpal, Jeremy Hallonquist and Jonathan Hennigan have combined for 32 strikeouts in six combined appearances, only walking 10. In addition to that trio, reliever Chase Hodson has picked up steam with two wins in 5.2 innings of work, striking out nine batters and only allowing a .118 hitting percentage.
 
A Look Ahead
For next week's midweek action, the Bobcats will travel to Baylor then stay on the road for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series at UL Monroe. After that, Texas State will play UTSA in San Antonio before returning home to host Appalachian State in another conference series.