CONWAY, S.C. – The top seeded Texas State baseball team plays its first game of the Sun Belt Conference Championship Tournament at 6:30 p.m. inside Springs Brooks Stadium on the campus of Coastal Carolina. The opponent is still to be decided with the lowest seeded winner of Appalachian State, Louisiana or ULM.
 
Entering the tournament, the Bobcats are 36-18 and completed conference play with a 20-10 mark to claim their first regular season championship in eight years.
 
All games of the championship will be streamed on ESPN+ with Matt Stewart providing the play-by-play and John Gregory as the color analyst. Both Bill Culhane and Brant Freeman will have the radio call for the TXST games on KTSW 89.9 FM. Live stats will also be available for the entire championship.
 
Scouting Texas State
Texas State ended the regular season by sweeping a doubleheader last Friday against rival UT Arlington after dropping the series opener to the Mavericks. The Bobcats are 3-2 this season in neutral site games that includes a 2-1 mark at the 2019 Shriners College Classic that was held at Minute Maid Park.
 
Pacing TXST with a .340 batting average is Dalton Shuffield. The sophomore infielder has scored 37 times, plated 26 runs, hit 12 doubles and stolen a team-high 10 bases. Will Hollis enters pacing the team with 47 RBIs, 42 walks and 19 doubles, tied for the seventh most in a season ever by a Bobcat batter.
 
All-Sun Belt First Team performer Jaxon Williams has scored 54 runs and driven in 29. He is hitting .322 with 67 hits, five of which have been homers. While drawing 37 walks for a .432 on-base percentage.
 
Also hitting .322 and a second team all-conference honoree is Jaylen Hubbard. The senior third baseman is tied for the Sun Belt lead with 58 runs scored. He has smacked 17 doubles and shares the team lead with eight home runs with John Wuthrich. The sophomore outfielder comes in batting .314 with 41 runs scored and 39 RBIs.
 
Texas State will bring a rotation of Nicholas Fraze, Hunter McMahon and Connor Reich. Fraze, an all-conference second team pick, went 6-3 with a 4.38 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 86.1 innings. McMahon has thrown a team-high 87 innings while posting a 5-5 mark, 4.76 ERA and 71 strikeouts. Reich, the Sun Belt Pitcher of the Year and an All-Sun Belt First Team pick, led the conference with eight wins. The senior right-hander also struck out 86, walked just 18 and posted a 3.96 ERA.
 
Scouting Possible Opponent
Louisiana enters the tournament as the eight seed after going 15-15 in conference play and finishing 27-29 overall. The Ragin' Cajuns had three all-conference selections with both Hayden Cantrelle and Todd Lott named to the first team.
 
Cantrelle started all 56 games at shortstop and leads the squad with 52 runs scored and 27 stolen bases. He batted .304 with 12 doubles, nine home runs and 29 RBIs. Lott hit .340 in 54 games and totaled 64 hits. He drove in a team-high 44 runs while recording nine doubles and seven homers.
 
Orynn Villon was a second team pick after he finished second on the team with 11 home runs and 42 RBIs. The outfielder hit .303 with 40 runs scored and 14 stolen bases.
 
Appalachian State concluded the regular season 22-30 overall, 13-16 in conference play and will be the ninth seed in the championship. The Mountaineers are led at the plate by Luke Drumheller, who sported team-highs in batting average (.337), hits (66), doubles (15) and hit by pitches (10). The freshman second baseman also drove in 36 runs and scored 28 times.
 
Hitting over .300 as well for APP is Tyler Leek (.325) and Kendall McGowan (.304). The duo has combined to hit 13 homers and 58 RBIs.
 
The Mountaineers have two top relievers in Kaleb Bowman and Andrew Papp. Bowman enters with a 6-1 record, four saves, 2.98 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 57.1 innings spanning 26 relief appearances. Papp has earned six saves in 27 appearances while also striking out 44 and sporting a 3.35 ERA in 40.1 innings.
 
ULM wrapped up the regular season 24-29 overall and 12-17 against Sun Belt opponents to enter as the 10th seed in the tournament. Chad Bell was selected as an all-conference first team honoree at third base after leading the league with 18 home runs and slashing .333/.408/.676. The senior has 50 RBIs, 39 runs scored and 14 doubles as well.
 
Andrew Beesley was picked to the All-Sun Belt Second Team as a utility player. The junior hit .337 with 69 hits, 10 doubles and three homes. He scored 33 times, plated 32 runs and swiped 14 bases.
 
Trey Jeans made 14 starts on the year and produced a 4-8 record with a 4.16 ERA and 65 strikeouts in 71.1 innings.
 
Series vs. Opponents
Louisiana leads the all-time series over Texas State 22-16. The Bobcats swept the regular season series on the road and have won six straight overall. When playing the Ragin' Cajuns in the Sun Belt Tournament, TXST is 1-4 with the lone win coming last season.
 
Texas State leads the all-time series 14-1 over Appalachian State. This season saw the Bobcats take two of three in Boone. TXST has never met the Mountaineers in the Sun Belt Tournament as they are making their tournament debut since joining the league.
 
Texas State enters the tournament with a 46-34 series lead over ULM. In the regular season, the Bobcats swept the series at Bobcat Ballpark with the series finale ending on a run-rule walk-off grand slam by Ryan Newman. TXST is 3-0 all-time in conference tournament meetings versus ULM. The lone meeting in the Sun Belt Championship came on May 23, 2014 in Mobile, Alabama by the score of 4-2.
 
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