Baseball | 4/6/2017 1:40:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team is set to hit the road for a three-game Sun Belt Conference series April 7-9 against Little Rock. The Bobcats and Trojans will begin the series at 6 p.m. April 7 at Gary Hogan Field. Little Rock leads the all-time series 7-2 and has never lost a series to TXST. The lone series to be played in Arkansas was April 10-12, 2015, with the Trojans winning two games to one.
 
Texas State (19-11, 6-3 SBC) enters the weekend sitting atop the Sun Belt in both total victories and league triumphs. The maroon and gold dropped a home series this past weekend to Arkansas State, but the Bobcats rebounded with midweek triumphs over Prairie View A&M (10-1) and UTRGV (11-9). They are 4-2 on the road this year.
 
Little Rock (10-19, 3-6 SBC) has dropped all three conference series two games to one this season, most recently suffering two losses at home to Appalachian State. The Trojans are on a three-game skid and have lost six of their last seven. They are 8-7 at home.

Series Info: Texas State at Little Rock
Site: Gary Hogan Field – Little Rock, Arkansas
Dates: Friday, April 7 – Sunday, April 9
Time: Friday – 6 pm LIVE STATS | Saturday – 2 pm LIVE STATS | Sunday –  Noon LIVE STATS
Radio: KTSW 89.9 FM
All-Time Record: Little Rock leads 7-2
 
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: #41 RHP Connor Reich (1-2, 4.95 ERA) vs. #10 RHP Cory Malcom (2-1, 1.93 ERA)
Saturday: #18 LHP Wes Engle (2-0, 3.69 ERA) vs. #4 RHP Ryan LeMoine (0-3, 9.00 ERA)
Sunday: #36 RHP Nicholas Fraze (3-1, 4.78 ERA) vs. #29 LHP Chandler Fidel (2-3, 4.01 ERA)

BOBCATS WRAP UP HISTORY-MAKING MONTH
Texas State finished the month of March with a 14-4 record. The .778 win percentage was the highest of any March in school history. The Bobcats also tied the school record for most wins in the month of March. The 1992 squad went 14-7 in March. During the 31-day span, TXST rattled off 13 wins in 15 games and took down three of the last 13 national champions (Rice, Texas, Coastal Carolina). The series win over the Chanticleers was noteworthy because the reigning NCAA champs are 6-0 in league play since falling to the maroon and gold.

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.
 
BOBCATS GO4THEGOAL BY LACING UP FOR PEDIATRIC CANCER AWARENESS
Texas State softball and baseball supported the Go4theGoal organization by participating in Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer games on April 5. Both games were played in San Marcos with softball defeating Texas and baseball defeating UTRGV. Both programs wore gold shoe laces in support of the initiative. Fans are encouraged to continue donating to Go4theGoal. The organization's mission is helping improve the lives of children battling cancer by providing financial support, developing and implementing unique hospital programs, funding innovative research and granting personal wishes. For more information, visit GO4THEGOAL.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-