Baseball | 5/4/2017 1:07:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team is set to play a three-game series in the friendly confines of Bobcat Ballpark after the maroon and gold spent the last 17 days on the road. The Bobcats are slated to play host to Georgia State May 5-7 in a three-game Sun Belt Conference showdown.
 
The Bobcats (23-23, 9-12 SBC) struggled to close out April, as they lost 12 of 14 to finish out the month. They did, however, open May on a high note with an 11-8 come-from-behind triumph over UTSA this past Tuesday. TXST owns a 17-10 record at home. After starting conference play with a 5-1 record, the Bobcats have since posted a 4-11 record and just one series victory (over ULM). Texas State has lost each of its last six league contests.
 
The Panthers (17-27, 6-15 SBC) have claimed two of their last three weekend series, toppling Troy and ULM. They also most-recently split a midweek non-conference battle at Minnesota. GSU is trending in the opposite direction of the maroon and gold. Georgia State began league play 1-11 but has since posted a 5-4 ledger. The Panthers are 4-13 on the road this season.

Series Info: Georgia State at Texas State
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Dates: Friday, May 5 – Sunday, May 7
Time: Friday – 6 pm LIVE STATS | Saturday – 4 pm LIVE STATS | Sunday – Noon LIVE STATS
Radio: KTSW 89.9 FM
All-Time Record: TXST leads 7-2

Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: #41 RHP Connor Reich (2-4, 5.17 ERA) vs. #28 RHP Bryan White (1-2, 6.23 ERA)
Saturday: #36 RHP Nicholas Fraze (4-2, 4.50 ERA) vs. #22 RHP Hunter Gaddis (4-3, 3.00 ERA)
Sunday: #32 RHP Cam Baird (1-5, 5.22 ERA) vs. TBA

LAST TIME OUT
The Bobcats plated six ninth-inning runs to earn an 11-8 come-from-behind victory over UTSA Tuesday night at Roadrunner Field. The Bobcats snapped an eight-game losing streak and wrapped up their season high nine-game road swing on a positive note. TXST initially took a 3-0 lead before UTSA had a chance to bat thanks in large part to Ryan Newman's sixth home run of the season. The Roadrunners countered with a four-spot in the bottom of the first, but Theodore Hoffman's 13th homer of the campaign tied the score at 4-4 in the top of the third. This marked the fourth time this season that Hoffman and Newman homered in the same game and the first since March 17 against Coastal Carolina. The home team scored twice in the bottom of the third to pull ahead 6-4, and Texas State could initially only retaliate with one tally in the top of the sixth. The Roadrunners added a pair of insurance markers in the home half of the seventh, but that just set the stage for what would become a huge comeback for the visitors. Hoffman kicked off the rally with a bases-loaded walk, and Jaylen Hubbard recorded a sacrifice flyout to pull TXST within 8-7 with just one out. After Luke Sherley was intentionally walked, Dylan Paul blasted a grand slam to put the maroon and gold ahead by the final 11-8 margin. The home run was the fourth of Paul's career and the first this season. It was also the first grand slam of the year for Texas State and the first of Paul's career. Paul went 2-for-5 with a career-high-tying four RBIs and two runs scored. He also extended his career-best hitting streak to seven games. Hubbard went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run, and Hoffman finished with two RBIs and two runs scored. Junior Derek Scheible finished 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored, and Sherley has now tied his career-high hit streak after hitting safely for the eighth-straight outing. Brandon Lewis started for the Bobcats on the mound and lasted 3.0 innings. He allowed six runs on seven hits to take the no-decision. Brandon Courville tossed the next 3.0 frames and kept UTSA off the board, while conceding a pair of hits. Wes Engle, Joe Powell and Quinn Atwood bridged the gap to the final four outs, which were the responsibility of Broc Bosse. He improved to 2-0 on the year after allowing no runs on just one hit in the final 1.1 innings.
 
HOFFMAN NAMED CoSIDA ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT
Theodore Hoffman was named to the 2017 CoSIDA Academic All-District 7 Baseball First Team, the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) announced Thursday morning. The Brenham, Texas, native picked up the accolade after carrying a 4.00 cumulative grade-point average in marketing. He is the only District 7 honoree with a perfect GPA. He is also currently the only Bobcat to start all 46 games this season, and he leads Texas State in batting average (.345), hits (68), doubles (13), home runs (13), RBIs (41), runs scored (43), and slugging percentage (.624). The award is the first of its kind for Hoffman and the fifth by a member of the TXST baseball team in school history. He joins Justin Fiske (2007), Paul Goldschmidt (2009), Tyler Sibley (2011, '12) and Casey Kalenkosky (2012). The CoSIDA Academic All-District® teams are divided into eight geographic districts, with Texas State falling into District 7. Hoffman is one of just three outfielders across all eight districts with a perfect 4.00 grade-point average, joining Brown's Sam Grigo out of District 1 and Michigan State's Dan Chmielewski out of District 5. First team academic all-district honorees advance to the CoSIDA Academic All-America Team ballot, where first-, second- and third-team All-America honorees will be selected at the end of November.
 
AS THE CALENDAR TURNS
Texas State has seen massive momentum swings each time the calendar has flipped to a new month so far this season. The Bobcats initially posted a 3-9 record in February before erupting for a record-breaking 14-4 mark in March. Texas State then went 5-13 in April and has already kicked off May 1-0. Texas State posted a .294 batting average and a 6.95 ERA in February, a .307 average and a 4.24 ERA in March, and a .261 average and 5.58 ERA in April. So far, the Bobcats are hitting .306 with a 7.00 ERA in May.
 
WHERE THEY STAND
TXST is currently 9-12 in league play and sits in solo eighth 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. 9 seed Appalachian State for the right to advance to the main double-elimination bracket. This weekend's opponent, Georgia State, is currently one game out of a playoff spot in a tie for 11th with ULM. The top six currently includes UTA, South Alabama, Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, Georgia Southern, and Troy. The teams slated to compete in the two play-in games are Arkansas State, Texas State, Appalachian State and Little Rock.
 
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 27 home games of this season, TXST has an average attendance of 1,544, which is good for 40th 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.

-TxStateBobcats.com-