Baseball | 5/21/2017 5:23:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team has earned the No. 8 seed at the 2017 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship. The Bobcats will head to Statesboro, Georgia, and compete against No. 9 seed Little Rock in a single-elimination game at 5:30 p.m. May 23 at J.I. Clements Stadium. The victor will advance into the double-elimination portion of the tournament, which will be contested May 24-28.
 
TXST (27-29, 13-17 SBC) heads into the tournament having won five of its last 11 games, including a two-games-to-one series triumph over UTA this past weekend. The Bobcats have yet to play a neutral-site game this season, and this will be the first all-time meeting against Little Rock in postseason play. Texas State owns a 4-6 record in the SBC Championship since joining the league in 2014. The last time the maroon and gold captured a tournament title was in 2011.
 
LR (21-33, 11-18 SBC) soars into the postseason having won four of its last seven games, including a three-game sweep over Georgia State. The Trojans are 1-0 in their only neutral-site game this season, which was an 11-6 triumph over Central Arkansas on April 25. Little Rock defeated Texas State two games to one in Arkansas April 7-9.

Game Info: No. 9 seed Little Rock vs. No. 8 seed Texas State
Site: J.I. Clements Stadium – Statesboro, Georgia
Date: Tuesday, May 23
Time: 5:30 pm
TV: ESPN3
Radio: KTSW 89.9 FM
All-Time Record: LR leads 9-3

Probable Pitching Matchup
Tuesday: #36 RHP Nicholas Fraze (5-2, 4.71 ERA) vs. #10 RHP Cory Malcom (3-5, 2.53 ERA)

LAST TIME OUT
Texas State earned a 7-6 walkoff victory in 10 innings over UTA in the final game of the regular season Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Ballpark. The Bobcats registered their first series triumph since toppling ULM two games to one April 13-15. The victory began on a sour note as the Mavericks took a 3-0 lead after three innings of play. The visitors tacked on an additional two insurance tallies in the top of the fifth, but the Bobcats erupted for five two-out runs in the home half of the frame to equalize at 5-5. After two scoreless stanzas, UTA plated a go-ahead run in the eighth only to be foiled with a game-tying marker with two outs in the bottom of the ninth from Texas State. The Mavericks were unable to score in the top of the 10th despite placing two runners on base, and the game-winning sequence began when Mickey Scott led off with a single. He was sacrificed over to second and was brought home on an RBI double from pinch hitter Derek Scheible. He lashed a 2-0 count to straightaway center that narrowly cleared the head of a diving center fielder near the warning track. Texas State's 3-7 hitters all had two hits, coming from Scott, Travon Benton, Theodore Hoffman, Dylan Paul, and Jaylen Hubbard. Hubbard scored twice, Paul registered three RBIs and Hoffman drove in a pair of teammates. He also scored the game-tying run on Paul's single in the bottom of the ninth. Brayden Theriot (5-1) got the last out of the game to collect the victory, and he is now tied with Blake Walden and Nicholas Fraze for the team lead in that category. Wes Engle started on the mound and allowed three runs on four hits in 2.2 innings. Brandon Courville threw 1.1 clean frames, while Connor Reich and Shane Daughety also saw time on the mound. Zachary Leigh threw 1.2 innings of hitless ball. UTA closer Daniel James (0-3), who entered the game in the top five in the nation in saves this season (13), recorded just his second blown save of the campaign to take the loss. He was tagged for the final two runs on five hits in 1.1 innings. The maroon and gold were celebrating their Senior Day, and they honored Quinn Atwood, Brandon Courville and Joe Powell prior to first pitch. Managers Alec Sanchez and Will Grant were also recognized as part of the ceremony.
 
RECORD WATCH
The Bobcats have a few members of the team who are inside or close to reaching the top 10 in school history in multiple categories. Junior Theodore Hoffman has 142 total bases this season and 15 home runs. Both marks are seventh on Texas State's all-time single-season charts. He also has 21 career home runs, which is tied for 10th in school history. Sophomore Jonathan Ortega has 22 stolen bases this year, which is fourth-most in a single season in school history. He also has 29 career swiped bags, which is four shy of cracking the school's career top 10 list. Junior Luke Sherley has drawn 73 career walks, which is tied for 11th all-time and leaves him three shy of cracking the top 10. Against Oklahoma State earlier this season, Derek Scheible tied the school record for runs in a game when he scored five times. Texas State has 87 stolen bases as a team, which is currently fourth-most in a single season in school history. The Bobcats have also played just six extra-inning games this season. If that mark holds, it would be the fewest since 2012.
 
TEXAS STATE OWNS 7 WALKOFF VICTORIES IN 2017
The 2017 campaign has been filled with comebacks for the Bobcats. Texas State recorded seven walkoff victories in the regular season and owns six victories when trailing after eight innings. The first walkoff came against Purdue on Feb. 18, when Texas State scored eight runs in the final two innings to defeat the Boilermakers 13-11. The win was capped by a two-out, two-RBI home run from Derek Scheible. The second walkoff came off the bat of Jared Huber, whose two-out single plated Ryan Newman and gave TXST a 6-5, 10-inning victory over Richmond on March 5. Texas State defeated Alabama A&M on March 12 in run-rule fashion (10-0 in eight innings) when Mickey Scott registered a two-out RBI single to drive in Jonathan Ortega. Newman hit a walkoff homer in the 14th inning of Texas State's 5-4 win over Coastal Carolina on March 17. The Bobcats scored a game-tying run with two outs in the bottom of the 12th before earning the triumph. TXST then defeated Texas 11-10 on March 21 with a two-out RBI single from Luke Sherley that scored Newman in the bottom of the 10th. TXST plated three runs in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings, with the game-tying run coming with two outs. The maroon and gold received a two-out, two-RBI single from Ortega to walkoff Georgia State by a 10-9 margin on May 6. Scheible's latest walkoff came on May 20 against UTA, when his pinch-hit double in the 10th inning drove in Scott to hand TXST a 7-6 victory. The Bobcats tied the game with a two-out run in the bottom of the ninth.
 
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 2017 season, TXST averaged 1,492, which was good for 42nd in the nation. The Bobcats 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 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. The Bobcats welcomed a school-record 49,258 fans overall.