SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team heads to Houston to compete in the 19 Annual Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic this weekend at Minute Maid Park.
 
All three of the Bobcats' games will begin at 11 a.m. First up will be Rice on Friday followed by Houston on Saturday and 12th-ranked Baylor on Sunday.
 
Heading into the classic, TXST is 5-3 on the season. The Owls enter with a 2-6 record, the Cougars are 4-3 and the Bears sport a perfect 8-0 mark.
 
For fans viewing from home, all nine games will be televised by AT&T SportsNet, the television home of the Houston Astros, and streamed on the AT&T SportsNet app. Fans are asked to check local listings for more information.
 
There are also many ways to stream all nine games live and for free. The games will be streamed on MLB.com, Astros.com and the MLB At Bat app. Additionally, the games will be available live on the Astros YouTube channel and the official social media accounts of the Astros, including Facebook Live and Twitter.
 
Brant Freeman will have the call for each game on KTSW 89.9 FM.
 
Due to construction at Minute Maid Park, the only fan entrance for the weekend will be the South Home Plate entrance, located at 1701 Texas Ave., Houston, TX, 77002. Additionally, in anticipation of larger crowds on Saturday, the Astros will also open up the Right Field Entrance.
 
Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday: Texas State RHP Nicholas Fraze (1-1, 6.00 ERA) vs. Rice RHP Matt Canterino (0-1, 3.27 ERA)
Saturday: Texas State RHP Hunter McMahon (1-1, 5.73 ERA) vs. Houston RHP Ryan Randel (1-0, 1.64 ERA)
Sunday: Texas State RHP Connor Reich (1-0, 1.32 ERA) vs. Baylor TBA
 
Scouting Texas State
Jaxon Williams leads TXST with a .517 batting average and 15 hits. The junior second baseman is one of three players to have scored double-digit runs this season with 10. The other two are Jaylen Hubbard (10) and John Wuthrich (11).
 
Hubbard is hitting .387 with three doubles and a triple. Wuthrich comes in batting .370 with three doubles and a team best two triples. His six RBIs are tied for the second most on the team with Will Hollis.
 
Chase Evans enters the weekend with a .381 average and tied for the team lead with seven RBIs. All driving in seven runs is Ryan Newman and Skyler Valentine.
 
Making three appearances out of the bullpen this season are Kyle Bradford (1.80 ERA, 2 K), Matthew Charles (16.20 ERA, 2 K), Brent Hebert (0.00 ERA, 3 K) and Brayden Theriot (2.70 ERA, 3 K).
 
Scouting Rice
Rice is led by Trei Cruz with a .385 batting average, 12 runs scored, two triples, four home runs, 15 RBIs and six errors. Bradley Gneiting is hitting .381 with a team-high 16 base hits. He has scored 10 times and driven in six runs.
 
Both Braden Comeaux (.308) and Cade Edwards (.333) are batting over .300. Comeaux has stolen a team-high three bases.
 
Scouting Houston
Houston is coming off a weekend in which it won two of three games against then 24th-ranked Arizona.
 
UH's top hitter is Joe Davis. He paces the Cougars in batting average (.333), runs scored (6), hits (9), doubles (3), home runs (4) and RBI (10).
 
Jared Triolo is hitting .321 and shares the team lead with nine hits. Kobe Hyland sports a .308 batting average and has recorded the team's lone triple of the year.
 
Scouting Baylor
Baylor is ranked in all six national polls. The Bears are as high as 12th in the NCBWA and Perfect Game rankings and as low as 18th in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
 
Davis Wendzel paces the team with a .516 batting average, 16 hits, 13 runs, six doubles and five stolen bases. He has hit two home runs and driven in 10.
 
Coming in with a .481 average is Davion Downey. He has four doubles and a team-high three homers while also scoring 12 times and plating 10 runs.
 
Both Ryan Bertselsman (.400) and Kyle Harper (.421) are hitting .400 or better.
 
All-Time Series
Rice leads the all-time series 54-14 over Texas State. The past two seasons has seen the teams play twice each year with the home team winning each time. The Bobcats are 0-2 against the Owls at a neutral site with the last such contest taking place on May 24, 1997 in the NCAA Lubbock Regional.
 
Houston holds a 28-16 advantage over Texas State. The Bobcats won the last game between the teams 7-6 on Feb. 25, 2015 in San Marcos. This decade, TXST has won 10 of the 14 meetings over the Cougars. Saturday will be the second meeting between the programs at a neutral site as the Bobcats won the only other contest 4-3 in Round Rock, Texas on Feb. 16, 2002.
 
Baylor leads the all-time series against Texas State 50-24. Last season, the teams split the two meetings with the visitors winning each time. Sunday will be the second meeting ever at a neutral site. The first was on Feb. 22, 2012 in Round Rock, Texas with Baylor winning 5-1.
 
Tickets
Adult and youth daily tickets and three-day tournament passes are available online at Astros.com/CollegeClassic. Fans can purchase premium tickets or group tickets, for groups of 20 or more, by calling 713-259-8030.
 
Daily tickets purchased in advance are available for $20 for adults and $10 for youth (ages 14 and under). Three-day tournament passes can be purchased for $42 for adults and $24 for youth. Select parking in the Astros controlled lots will be sold for $25 and $20 (Diamond and Lot A).
 
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