Baseball | 3/30/2017 12:56:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team will play host to Arkansas State in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series March 31-April 1 at Bobcat Ballpark. The series was originally scheduled to extend to April 2 but was moved up a day due to the threat of rain in Sunday's forecast. The two teams will now play a doubleheader March 31 beginning at 2:30 p.m. and a single game at 1 p.m. April 1.

A-State leads the all-time series 9-4 and has never lost to Texas State in San Marcos (4-0). The Red Wolves ended TXST's season last year in the SBC Championship (hosted by the Bobcats) and swept a three-game series in 2015.
 
The Bobcats (16-9, 5-1 SBC) have won four consecutive weekend series and are 11-1 in weekend outings over the past month. They own sweeps over Richmond, Alabama A&M and Appalachian State, while taking two out of three from defending national champion Coastal Carolina. They also lead the Sun Belt in wins both overall and in league play.
 
Arkansas State (12-12, 2-4 SBC) used a 4-3 10-inning triumph March 28 to snap a four-game losing skid. The Red Wolves took a series off ULM to open league play before being swept by the Chanticleers this past weekend. They are tied for fifth in the West Division through two weekends of play.

Series Info: Arkansas State at Texas State
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Dates: Friday, March 31 – Saturday, April 1
Time: Friday – 2:30 pm LIVE STATS | Friday – 6:30 pm LIVE STATS | Saturday – 1 pm LIVE STATS
Radio: KTSW 89.9 FM
All-Time Record: A-State leads 9-4
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday (1): #41 RHP Connor Reich (1-1, 4.20 ERA) vs. #16 RHP Bryan Ayers (2-3, 5.56 ERA)
Friday (2): #18 LHP Wes Engle (2-0, 3.67 ERA) vs. #17 RHP Peyton Culbertson (2-2, 6.33 ERA)
Saturday: #36 RHP Nicholas Fraze (3-1, 5.40 ERA) vs. #12 RHP Tyler Mitzel (0-2, 6.29 ERA)

BOBCATS ONE WIN SHY OF HISTORY
Texas State enters the final day of March sporting a 13-3 record over the past 30 days. The 13 victories are already the second-most in the month of March in school history and are the most since 2012. A triumph over Arkansas State on March 31 would tie the school record for most wins in March. The only other time a Texas State club reached 14 victories in March was 1992 (14-7). The current win percentage this month of .813 is the best in March in school history. Texas State has also suffered just three losses since the end of February. If the Bobcats close out with a triumph over the Red Wolves, than that mark will tie for the second-fewest losses in any calendar month in school history (minimum 10 games). The only months in school history where TXST lost just two games was February 1990 (13-2) and April 2009 (14-2).
 
TXST WELCOMED INTO NATIONAL DISCUSSION
The Bobcats received votes in the latest NCBWA rankings released March 27. TXST used a 15-game stretch where the club went 13-2 to enter the national picture. This was the first time in 2017 that Texas State received votes in any of the national polls. The NCBWA does not list how many votes a team receives.
 
TEXAS STATE HELPS RAISE COLON CANCER AWARENESS
The Texas State and Texas A&M baseball programs wore blue laces in their matchup March 28 at Bobcat Ballpark to help raise awareness for colon cancer and to help benefit Kiel Colon Cancer. The mission of the organization is to decrease the number of preventable deaths caused by colon cancer through education and awareness initiative, encouraging healthy lifestyle choices and supporting colon cancer research. The founder of the organization, George Kiel III, is a Texas State graduate and played on the men's basketball team. For more information, visit kielcoloncancer.org.
 
A NEW FORMAT THIS YEAR
Beginning with the 2017 season, the Sun Belt Conference will conduct its baseball regular season with divisional play. Two divisions will be comprised of six teams each, and divisional champions will be awarded at the end of the year based on the winning percentage against all teams, regardless of division. The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship will be seeded with the division winners as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, with the No. 1 seed being awarded to the divisional winner with the best conference winning percentage. The number of teams playing in the conference championship will increase from eight to 10. This would cause two additional games to be played. The first round games will include the No. 8 seed vs. No. 9 seed and the No. 7 seed vs. the No. 10 seed, with both contests conducted as single-elimination games on Tuesday of tournament week. The conference tournament is set for May 23-28 at J.I. Clements Stadium on the campus of Georgia Southern.
 
BOBCATS SELECTED FOURTH IN SBC WEST DIVISION
Texas State was selected to finish fourth in the West Division of the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, the league announced Feb. 8. The Bobcats collected 44 points to land one point shy of Little Rock, while Louisiana sat atop the division with 72 points. The Ragin' Cajuns also earned all 12 first-place votes. UTA was slotted second with 50 points, while Arkansas State (27 points) and ULM (14 points) were fifth and sixth, respectively. Coastal Carolina, the defending national champions, were projected as the favorites in the SBC East Division with 70 points and 10 first-place votes. South Alabama earned a first-place vote and was tabbed second with 56 points, while Georgia Southern picked up the final first-place vote and landed in third with 48 points. Troy (39 points), Georgia State (23 points) and Appalachian State (15 points) rounded out the bottom half of the East Division.

-TxStateBobcats.com-