SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team will begin the final week of the regular season with a road contest at No. 15 Texas. The Bobcats (25-25-1, 13-14 SBC) will meet the Longhorns (33-18, 14-7 Big 12) at 6:30 p.m. May 15 in Austin.
Texas knocked off Texas State 6-1 on March 27 in San Marcos and walked off the maroon and gold 11-10 on May 1 at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Texas State is 0-5 against ranked opponents this season, falling three times to then-No. 27 Coastal Carolina and once to then-No. 14 Texas A&M. Texas leads the all-time series 48-11 and has already won the season series over the Bobcats.
A LOOK AT TEXAS STATE
•   Texas State is currently 25-25-1 this season and 13-14 in the SBC after claiming a series from Louisiana this past weekend.
•   The two victories over the Ragin' Cajuns marked the first series triumph over UL since 2004 and the second in school history.
•   The maroon and gold posted a 14-5-1 record through the first 20 games of the season and are 11-20 since.
•   True freshman
Dalton Shuffield leads TXST in batting average (.320), while senior
Derek Scheible is the team leader in RBIs (37), runs scored (40) and home runs (12). Junior
Jonathan Ortega leads Texas State with 59 hits.
•   The Bobcats have won three of their nine SBC weekend series this season (Appalachian State, Georgia State, Louisiana).
A LOOK AT TEXAS
•   The Longhorns boast a 33-18 record overall with a 14-7 mark in Big 12 Conference action.
•   UT has an RPI of No. 21 this season and is nationally ranked in all five polls. The highest ranking of No. 15 comes from Baseball America.
•   Texas did not compete last week due to finals. The team has won three of its last four outings, which includes the walkoff victory over Texas State. The Longhorns also took a series from then-No. 9 Texas Tech.
•   Kody Clemens leads the Longhorns with a .345 batting average (67-for-194). He also owns the team lead in home runs (16), runs scored (49) and RBIs (55). Zach Zubia is second in homers (10) and RBIs (40).
WHERE THEY STAND
•   TXST is currently 13-14 in league play and sits in seventh 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 be the No. 7 seed and would face current No. 10 seed Georgia State for the right to advance to the main double-elimination bracket.
•   This weekend's opponent, UTA, is currently in eighth place and would play in the tournament's opening round.
•   The top six currently includes Coastal Carolina, Louisiana, South Alabama, Troy, Georgia Southern, and Little Rock.
•   The teams slated to compete in the two opening-round games are TXST, UTA, ULM and Georgia State. Arkansas State and Appalachian State are presently on the outside looking in.
TEXAS STATE SELECTED TO COMPETE IN 2019 SHRINERS CLASSIC
•   The Texas State baseball team is set to join a loaded field for the 2019 Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic, the Houston Astros announced March 5.
•   The tournament will be contested March 1-3, 2019, at Minute Maid Park and feature an all-Texas field of Baylor, Houston, Rice, TCU, Texas A&M and Texas State.
•   The 19th annual event will feature nine games between the six programs.
•   The official times and dates of each game will be announced at a later time.
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.
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