SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team wraps up a brief four-game road swing with a Sun Belt Conference series against Arkansas State. The Bobcats (22-22-1, 10-11 SBC) will take on the Red Wolves (15-25, 6-15 SBC) three times May 4-6 at Tomlinson Stadium.
The two teams have met 16 times since 2000, with Arkansas State leading the all-time series 11-5.
The Bobcats are 0-4 all-time in weekend series against the Red Wolves, with all four meetings coming since TXST joined the Sun Belt in 2014.
A LOOK AT TEXAS STATE
• Texas State is currently 22-22-1 this season and 10-11 in the SBC after dropping a weekend home series to Georgia Southern and losing a midweek tilt at No. 18 Texas.
• The maroon and gold posted a 14-5-1 record through the first 20 games of the season, but they are 8-17 since.
• True freshman
Dalton Shuffield leads TXST in batting average (.353), while senior
Luke Sherley is the team RBI leader (32). Junior
Jonathan Ortega leads Texas State with 54 hits.
• Senior
Derek Scheible leads in runs scored (37) and home runs (10).
• The Bobcats have won two of their seven SBC weekend series this season with sweeps over Appalachian State and Georgia State.
A LOOK AT ARKANSAS STATE
• The Red Wolves are 15-25 in 2018 with a 6-15 mark in league play.
• Arkansas State had a stretch where the team lost 12 of 13 games, but the Red Wolves have since won three of their last four. That includes - most-recently - a series victory over powerhouse South Alabama in Mobile.
• A-State has a pair of hitters batting over .300, including Kyle MacDonald (.342) and Jeremy Brown (.336). MacDonald leads the team in hits (52), runs (39), home runs (9) and RBIs (38).
• The side also features the reigning Sun Belt Pitcher of the Week in Nate Alberius.
WHERE THEY STAND
• TXST is currently 10-11 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 for the right to advance to the main double-elimination bracket.
• This weekend's opponent, Arkansas State, is currently in 11th place and is slated to miss the tournament.
• 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, Georgia State and ULM. 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 three 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.
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.
• The complete poll 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.
-- TXSTATEBOBCATS.COM --
