Baseball | 5/17/2017 1:55:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team will host UTA in the final games of the regular season May 18-20 at Bobcat Ballpark. The last game of the season will be Senior Day for Quinn Atwood, Brandon Courville and Joe Powell. The three will be honored prior to the 1 p.m. first pitch.

TXST (25-27, 11-16 SBC) dropped a midweek decision to Rice after losing a three-game series at Louisiana. The Bobcats are 5-17 in their last 22 outings and have not won a weekend series since April 13-15 against ULM. Overall, they are 18-12 at home this season.

UTA (29-22, 19-8 SBC) enters the weekend on a four-game losing streak, but prior to the recent funk the Mavericks had won 11 of 12 games. They have swept four SBC opponents this season (Appalachian State, ULM, Louisiana, Arkansas) and are 11-1 on the road in league play.

Series Info: UTA at Texas State
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Dates: Thursday, May 18 – Saturday, May 20
Time: Thursday– 6 pm LIVE STATS | Friday – 6 pm LIVE STATS | Saturday– 1 pm LIVE STATS
TV: Spectrum Sports / ESPN3 (Thursday only)
Radio: KTSW 89.9 FM
All-Time Record: TXST leads 59-43

Probable Pitching Matchups
Thursday: #36 RHP Nicholas Fraze (4-2, 4.84 ERA) vs. #12 RHP Kadon Simmons (7-3, 4.04 ERA)
Friday: #32 RHP Cam Baird (1-6, 5.40 ERA) vs. #21 RHP Trae Patterson (6-3, 2.42 ERA)
Saturday: TBA vs. #47 LHP Jakob Hernandez (6-1, 3.28 ERA)

LAST TIME OUT
Texas State fell 10-1 to Rice in a non-conference midweek tilt Tuesday night at Reckling Park. The contest also evened the season series after TXST defeated Rice 13-4 in San Marcos on March 15. Rice initially took an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first but added six in the third to gain an 8-1 advantage. The Bobcats were unable to mount a comeback. Junior Dylan Paul finished 2-for-4 to extend his team- and career-best hitting streak to 14 games. The other two hits from Texas State came from junior Theodore Hoffman and sophomore Jaylen Hubbard. Senior Brandon Courville (2-4) tossed the first two innings and allowed seven runs on five hits to suffer the loss. The Bobcats used five relievers across the final 6.0 frames, and both junior Blake Walden and sophomore Anthony Pagano did not give up any hits or runs in their appearances on the mound. Dane Myers was the lone member of the home team with multiple hits, and he finished 2-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Ryan Chandler and Ford Proctor also scored twice, while Tristan Gray drove in three runs and Sheppard added two RBIs. Evan Kravetz (3-1) pitched 5.0 innings and allowed just one run on four hits to earn the win. He struck out four and walked one.
 
BOBCATS SECURE SPOT IN 2017 SBC CHAMPIONSHIP
TXST is currently 11-16 in league play and sits in a tie for seventh place in the SBC standings. If the season were to end today, the Bobcats would be one of four teams to play an opening-round, single-elimination game on May 23. They would face current No. 8 seed Arkansas State for the right to advance to the main double-elimination bracket. This weekend's opponent, UTA, is currently leading the West Division and would receive a bye past the opening round. The top six currently includes South Alabama, UTA, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Southern, Louisiana, and Troy. The teams slated to compete in the two play-in games are Little Rock, Arkansas State, Texas State and Appalachian State. Georgia State and ULM are presently on the outside looking in.
 
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 will 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 BOAST TOP ATTENDANCE NUMBERS
Since the NCAA began tracking attendance figures in 2014, Texas State has boasted the second-best attendance in the Sun Belt Conference. From 2014-16, the Bobcats welcomed 120,802 (1,328/game) patrons to Bobcat Ballpark. During the first 30 home games of this season, TXST has an average attendance of 1,506, which is good for 42nd in the nation. The Bobcats have also welcomed the two largest crowds in school history this year, with the record of 3,017 coming in a victory over Texas on March 21. There were also 2,952 who entered Bobcat Ballpark to watch Texas State take on Texas A&M March 28. Adding in games against Purdue (2,068) and Baylor (2,002), Texas State has already welcomed a school record four separate crowds of 2,000 or more fans this season. The previous school record of three 2K+ crowds was set in 2014. With three games left in the home schedule, the Bobcats have already welcomed a school-record 45,172 fans.
 
SPECTRUM SPORTS TO BROADCAST 5 HOME TXST BASEBALL GAMES
Spectrum Sports and Texas State Sports Properties announced March 17 that five home Texas State baseball games were selected to air on Spectrum Sports in Texas this season. TXST is currently 2-2 in those games, having defeated Rice 13-4 (March 15) and Texas 11-10 in 10 innings (March 21). The Bobcats lost to Coastal Carolina 4-3 (March 18) and Texas A&M 9-3 (March 28). The final broadcast for TXST will be against UTA on May 18. Texas State games on Spectrum Sports are available on channel 323 in Texas. More information is available at myspectrumsports.com. Texas State Sports Properties oversees all aspects related to Texas State Athletics' rights, as well as the Texas State Bobcat Sports Network. In addition to Texas State, Learfield manages the multimedia rights for 120 collegiate properties and titles the prestigious Learfield Directors' Cup with award co-founders NACDA and USA Today. Learfield's multimedia rights encompass numerous content distribution platforms to deliver the passion of college athletics across radio, television and digital networks to fans globally. For more about the company, its 41-year history and comprehensive portfolio, visit learfieldsports.com.
 
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-