SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team will close out a seven-game homestand with a Sun Belt Conference series against Georgia Southern.
The Bobcats (21-19-1, 9-9 SBC) will play host to the Eagles (20-20, 10-7 SBC) April 27-29 at Bobcat Ballpark.
Texas State leads the brief series 5-2, but GS knocked out the maroon and gold in the SBC Championship last year. This will mark just the second time Georgia Southern has ever traveled to San Marcos for a series with Texas State. TXST won that series 2-1 in 2015.
A LOOK AT TEXAS STATE
•   Texas State is currently 21-19-1 this and 9-9 in the SBC after dropping a weekend home series to South Alabama two games to one and suffering a 17-5 setback to Baylor.
•   Senior
Luke Sherley leads TXST in batting average (.310) and RBIs (31), while classmate
Dylan Paul is the team hits leader at 48.
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•   Senior
Derek Scheible leads in runs scored (34) and home runs (9).
•   The Bobcats recorded 46 hits in their series with the Panthers April 13-14, which was the most for a three-game series since April 18-20, 2008.
A LOOK AT GEORGIA SOUTHERN
•   GS sits at 20-20 this campaign with a 10-7 mark in league play. The side has won four of its last five outings.
•   The Eagles have won every series they have played this season not coming against powerhouses Coastal Carolina and South Alabama. They own series triumphs over Louisiana, UTA and Little Rock.
•   Jason Swan paces Georgia Southern with a .275 batting average, while Mason McWhorter (.273) is the team leader in hits (39), runs scored (29), doubles (14), home runs (6) and RBIs (28).
WHERE THEY STAND
•   TXST is currently 9-9 in league play and sits in eighth 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 22. They would face current No. 9 seed ULM for the right to advance to the main double-elimination bracket.
•   This weekend's opponent, Georgia Southern, is currently in fifth place and would receive a bye past the opening round.
•   The top six currently includes Coastal Carolina, Little Rock, South Alabama, Troy, GS, and Louisiana.
•   The teams slated to compete in the two play-in games are UTA, Texas State, ULM and Georgia State. Arkansas State and Appalachian State are presently on the outside looking in.
WEATHER WREAKING HAVOC ON TXST
•   Weather has played a role in all but two weekend series for Texas State in 2018.
•   The opening three-game set against Oklahoma State went off without a hitch, but since then the Bobcats have been unable to finish a series unaltered by weather.
•   TXST had a 58-minute rain delay early in a 1-0 loss to McNeese State on Feb. 25.
•   A contest on March 3 against Stephen F. Austin was halted after five innings of play due to persistent rain showers, and the game was finished on March 4 with Texas State winning 6-3.
•   Action at UC Santa Barbara never got underway March 10 thanks to heavy rainfall, and the game was moved to a doubleheader March 11. The Bobcats won the first game 6-5, and the two sides tied 4-4 in the series finale due to travel constraints.
•   Play was halted in the sixth inning for 1 hour, 24 minutes on March 17 against Appalachian State due to rain/lightning. TXST would go on to capture a 3-2 victory.
•   The start time for a March 23 bout against Coastal Carolina was pushed up one hour due to cold temperatures in Conway. The series finale was then played as a day-night doubleheader March 24 due to rain in the March 25 forecast.
•   Heavy rain showers on April 6 in Monroe forced the weekend series to be pushed back one day. The series started April 7 and a doubleheader was played on April 8. ULM won the series two games to one.
•   The April 15 forecast called for thunderstorms in the Decatur area, so the series finale with Georgia State was moved up a day to a day/night doubleheader on April 14. The Bobcats swept the road series.
•   TXST lost both ends of a home doubleheader with South Alabama on April 20. The April 21 game was moved up a day due to projected rain/thunderstorms in the forecast.
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.
-- TXSTATEBOBCATS.COM --
