SAN MARCOS, Texas – The Texas State baseball team hits the road to the mountains of North Carolina for a three-game series at Appalachian State this weekend.
 
All three games will be played at Smith Stadium with Friday's first pitch scheduled for 4 p.m. CDT. Saturday's contest is slated for 12 p.m. CDT and Sunday's getaway day game sees an early 9:30 a.m. CDT first pitch.
 
The Bobcats head into the weekend with a 16-9 overall record and are 4-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. The Mountaineers are 10-13 on the season and 3-3 in conference play.
 
A free video stream and live stats will be available for all of the games. Bill Culhane will be on the radio call on KTSW 89.9 FM.
 
Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday: TXST RHP Nicholas Fraze (3-2, 5.30 ERA, 39 K) vs. APP RHP Will Sprinkle (1-3, 4.21 ERA, 21 K)
Saturday: TXST RHP Hunter McMahon (3-2, 2.89 ERA, 29 K) vs. APP LHP Tyler Tuthill (4-2, 3.37 ERA, 27 K)
Sunday: TXST RHP Connor Reich (4-0, 1.98 ERA, 35 K) vs. APP RHP Brandon Boone (2-1, 3.91 ERA, 29 K)
 
Scouting Texas State
Texas State takes a season-long four-game winning streak into the weekend's series after sweeping ULM last weekend and defeating Rice for the third time this season on Tuesday. The Bobcats are 5-3 on the road and have dropped three of the last four.
 
Will Hollis comes in ranked second in the Sun Belt with a .520 on-base percentage and tied for second with 23 walks. His .360 batting average is also the sixth best in the conference. The junior outfielder leads the team with seven doubles and is third with 16 RBIs. He enters having reached base safely in 19 consecutive games.
 
Jaylen Hubbard is batting .340 with a team best 33 hits and four triples. He has scored 26 runs while driving in 15 with the last being the walk-off run on Tuesday against the Owls. Dalton Shuffield is hitting .312 with 29 hits and is a perfect 6-for-6 stealing bases.
 
The fourth Bobcat hitting over .300 this year is Jaxon Williams at .309. The junior second baseman has scored a team-high 28 runs while also swiping five bags.
 
Ryan Newman paces the team with 18 RBIs and Skyler Valentine has hit three home runs while driving in 17 runs. Both have recorded four sacrifice flies.
 
Slated to take the mound this weekend are Nicholas Fraze (Friday), Hunter McMahon (Saturday) and Connor Reich (Sunday). Fraze and McMahon are both 3-2 on the year and have 39 and 29 strikeouts, respectively. Reich is 4-0 with 35 strikeouts and an 8.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio, the 26th best in the nation.
 
Kyle Bradford has made a team-high 13 appearances, tied for the third most in the conference. Brandon Lewis (0-1, 2 SV, 4.50 ERA) has thrown 14.0 innings over nine appearances while Brent Hebert (1-1, 1 SV, 2.31 ERA) has worked 11.2 frames in nine games out of the pen.
 
Scouting Appalachian State
Appalachian State is 5-4 at home this season. The Mountaineers dropped two of three games in first Sun Belt series in Boone to Georgia State. Last weekend saw APP win two of three contests on the road against Louisiana.
 
Luke Drumheller is the lone player batting above .300 on the team with a Sun Belt leading .420 average that is also the 21st best in the nation. The freshmen outfielder also paces the team with 10 doubles, half of them coming in one game, and 25 RBIs. He is one of nine APP players to have scored at least 10 runs this season, entering the series having crossed the plate 12 times.
 
Riley Smith leads the Mountaineers with three home runs and two triples. His RBI (13) and batting average (.290) are both the second best on the squad.
 
Scoring a team-high 13 runs has been Tyler Leek, Bailey Welch and Robbie Young. Both Leek and Welch have stolen five bases apiece.
 
Coming out of the bullpen a team-high 11 times has been Kaleb Bowman and Andrew Papp. Bowman is 3-0 with a team-low 1.99 ERA in 22 inning and has struck out 21. Papp sports a 0-1 record with three saves, 2.93 ERA and 23 strikeouts in 15.1 innings.
 
Making eight relief appearances each has been Jack Hartman (0-0, 6.14 ERA, 9 K) and Cam Roberts (0-0, 3.18 ERA, 9 K).
 
All-Time Series
Texas State is 12-0 all-time against Appalachian State. Last season the Bobcats swept the Mountaineers at Bobcat Ballpark to open Sun Belt Conference play. When playing in Boone, TXST is 6-0 all-time with five of the six games being decided by two runs or more. The lone exception was on Mar. 15, 2015 when the Bobcats won the series finale 6-5.
 
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