Baseball | 2/14/2018 1:34:00 PM
SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team is ready to kickoff the 2018 season with a three-game series against Oklahoma State inside Bobcat Ballpark.
The Bobcats and Cowboys will meet at 6 p.m. Feb. 16, 4 p.m. Feb. 17 and 1 p.m. Feb. 18. This campaign marks the third-straight year that Texas State will open the year with a home series against a team from a Power 5 Conference.
The Bobcats took three of four games from Washington State in 2016 and split a quartet of bouts against Purdue last year.
A LOOK AT TEXAS STATE
•   Texas State is coming off a 2017 campaign that saw the Bobcats post a 29-30 mark overall with a 13-17 ledger in Sun Belt Conference action.
•   The Bobcats finished in fourth place in the SBC west division and competed as the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament.
•   Texas State made a run to the semifinals of the 2017 Sun Belt Championship, knocking off Little Rock and defending national champion Coastal Carolina along the way.
•   The Bobcats return nine position players who accumulated at least 20 starts last season and their entire starting rotation.
A LOOK AT OKLAHOMA STATE
•   The Cowboys (30-27, 8-13 Big 12) made a run to the Big 12 Championship last season, knocking off Texas Tech, West Virginia and Texas.
•   OSU competed in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional a season after advancing to the College World Series.
•   Oklahoma State lost its top two hitters from 2017 but returns eight of its next nine best bats from last year.
•   On the mound, the Cowboys bring back just one of their three main starters in Joe Lienhard.
•   OSU was selected to finish sixth in the 2018 Big 12 Conference standings in a preseason poll of the conference's head coaches.
•   The team is ranked No. 27 in the 2018 Collegiate Baseball Fabulous 40 Preseason Poll.
•   OSU also received preseason recognition by receiving votes in both the USA Today and NCBWA polls.
BOBCATS LAND 3rd IN PRESEASON POLL
•   Texas State was selected to finish third in the west division of the 2018 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Coaches' Poll, the league announced Jan. 30.
•   The Bobcats collected 51 points and one first-place vote to land in the top half of the division. Louisiana was chosen to win the west after picking up nine first-place votes and 68 points. UTA, the defending division champion, was slotted second after receiving 56 points and the remaining two first-place votes.
•   South Alabama earned all 12 first-place votes and was picked to win the SBC East Division with 72 points. Coastal Carolina settled into second with 59 points, and Georgia Southern landed in third with 43 points.
TXST TRIO EARN PRESEASON LAURELS
•   Three Texas State baseball players were named to the 2018 Preseason All-Sun Belt Conference Team, the league announced Jan. 31.
•   Senior utility player
Dylan Paul, junior second baseman
Jonathan Ortega and junior third baseman
Jaylen Hubbard all picked up preseason laurels after landing on the All-Sun Belt Second Team a year ago.
•   The three preseason selections are the most by Texas State since joining the league in 2014. South Alabama led the way with four selections.
•   Paul has increased his production all three years donning the maroon and gold. He has registered a collegiate batting average of .287 in 107 games. He has also posted 84 hits, 15 doubles, five triples, four home runs, 55 RBIs, 44 runs scored, and four stolen bases.
•   Ortega has made 114 starts over the course of his first two years with the Bobcats. He owns a career batting average of .312, and he has also tallied 153 hits, 29 doubles, six triples, 10 home runs, 80 RBIs, 87 runs scored and 29 stolen bases.
•   Hubbard is one shy of reaching 100 career games played for TXST. He has a .304 batting average and owns 109 hits, 19 doubles, three triples, four home runs, 52 RBIs, 58 runs scored, and 14 stolen bases.
•   The complete team can be found on page 8.
THE 2018 CONFERENCE TOURNAMENT
•   The Sun Belt Conference will conduct its baseball regular season with divisional play for the second-straight year.
•   Two divisions are 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 2018 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.
•   Ten teams will qualify for the postseason event. 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.
•   The remainder of the tournament will be played under a double-elimation format.
•   The 2018 Sun Belt Conference Baseball Championship is set for May 22-27 at Russo Park on the campus of Louisiana.
SEASON TICKETS NOW ON SALE
•   The Texas State Athletics Ticket Office has announced season ticket packages for the upcoming 2018 Bobcat baseball campaign.
•   Tickets are now on sale for both season ticket renewals and new purchases. Reserved season tickets can be purchased for $150 and general admission seats are $99. Special discounts are available for Bobcat Club donors, Texas State faculty and staff, recent alumni (2013-17) and members of the T-Association.
•   Patrons can purchase their season tickets at the TXST Athletic Ticket Office located at Bobcat Stadium, by calling the office at 512-245-2272, or by logging into their account on TXStateBobcats.com/tickets.
•   Due to the high demand for reserved seats, fans are encouraged to purchase the best available seats now and to indicate their preferences for other locations if any become available.
•   Season ticket holders may renew their same seating locations as last year by logging into their account, calling 512-245-2272 or visiting the TXST Athletic Ticket Office between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Patrons attempting to login to their account need to check their email for instructions from Texas State on how to do so.
Â
MASSENGALE, BLAKLEY ADDED TO STAFF
•   Texas State baseball coach
Ty Harrington added a pair of new coaches to the team for the 2018 campaign.
•  Â
Chad Massengale joined the staff as the new pitching coach, while
Josh Blakley serves as the volunteer assistant coach.
•   Massengale played at Texas State from 2000-01, which were Harrington's first two as skipper. He helped lead TXST to a Southland Conference Championship and set the school record with 32 appearances in 2000. He is also currently seventh in school history with seven career saves.
•   Massengale most recently spent three seasons (2015-17) as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at Weatherford College. He helped lead WC to the nation's No. 1 ranking in 2015, and the team made two trips to the NJCAA Region V Championship (2015, 2017).
•   Massengale was at Stephen F. Austin for six years from 2009-14 prior to his stop in Weatherford. He helped lead the team to five-straight postseason appearances.
•   He also coached four Major League Baseball draftees, which included the eighth overall pick in 2013 (Hunter Dozier). Nine of his pitchers moved on to the professional ranks and competed for MLB organizations.
•   Blakley assists with the outfielders and hitters, while also serving as the summer camp coordinator.
•   He came to Texas State following a four-year stint as the head coach at Ranger College from 2013-17. He amassed 81 victories during his time leading the Rangers.
•   Prior to his time at Ranger, he served as the pitching coach at McMurry University from 2010-12. The War Hawks accumulated 61 wins over his three years.
•   Blakley also spent the 2009 campaign as a volunteer assistant at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
•   He played collegiately at UTSA from 2006-07, and he competed at Blinn College for two seasons from 2004-05.
THE 2018 SLATE
•   The Bobcats will begin their 56-game campaign with a bang, as they will open the year playing host to Oklahoma State in a three-game series Feb. 16-18 at Bobcat Ballpark. Other early-season matchups include road trips to Rice, Baylor and UC Santa Barbara. The series with the Gauchos will be the first meetings between the two programs.
•   TXST is billed to play 32 home games and 24 contests on the road.
•   Additional notable non-conference home games include dates with Rice (March 6), Texas (March 27), UTSA (April 3) and Baylor (April 24).
•   The first Sun Belt Conference action will be a three-game home series against Appalachian State March 16-18. TXST will then hit the road for a weekend set with a Coastal Carolina team that won the national championship two years ago (March 23-25).
•   Texas State will compete 23 times against programs who have played in the NCAA Championship at least once over the last two years. That mark also includes 10 contests with teams that advanced to the College World Series during that same period (Oklahoma State, UC Santa Barbara, Coastal Carolina, Texas A&M).
WALKOFF U
•   The 2017 campaign was filled with comebacks for the Bobcats. Texas State recorded seven walkoff victories and collected 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 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 added a second walkoff to his resume 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.
BREAKING RECORDS
•   Texas State fans broke multiple attendance records last season, including highest total attendance for a single season, highest average per-game attendance and highest single-game attendance.
•   There were nearly 50,000 fans that entered Bobcat Ballpark last season (49,258) at an average of 1,492 per game. Both marks set new school records.
•   Last season also saw the highest single-game total in school history when 3,017 fans saw TXST knock off Texas 11-10 in 10 innings.
•   The second highest single-game total in school history was also set against Texas A&M (2,952).
•   The Bobcats added a new record for most games in a single season with at least 2,000 fans with four (Purdue, Baylor).
-- TXSTATEBOBCATS.COM --
Â
