SAN MARCOS, Texas – The first Sun Belt Conference home series for 9th-ranked Texas State (18-4, 3-0 Sun Belt) sees it take on Coastal Carolina (12-7-1, 1-1-1 Sun Belt) this weekend at Bobcat Ballpark. Friday's opener begins at 6 p.m. with Saturday's contest slated for a 2:30 p.m. start. The finale on Sunday will see first pitch at 1 p.m.
 
All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ along with being broadcast on KTSW 89.9 FM. Live stats will be available for the entire series as well.
 
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday: TXST RHP Zeke Wood (2-1) vs. CCU RHP Nick Parker (0-1)
Saturday: TXST RHP Levi Wells (3-0) vs. CCU LHP Reid VanScoter (3-1)
Sunday: TXST RHP Tony Robie (2-0) vs. CCU RHP Michael Knorr (1-0)
 
RANKED!
For the second straight week, Texas State was ranked in all six major polls. The Bobcats achieved their highest rankings ever in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (#9), D1Baseball (#20), NCBWA (#21), Perfect Game (#20) and USA Today (#21) polls while maintaining their best in Baseball America (#22). Last week saw TXST enter all the polls for the first time after taking a game on the road at #1 Texas and following with a sweep of Southern.
 
ABOUT TEXAS STATE
Dalton Shuffield leads Texas State at the plate with a .397 batting average, 31 hits, 26 runs, 22 RBI and nine stolen bases. He shares the team lead of seven doubles with Jose Gonzalez and five home runs with John Wuthrich. Ranking second on the team with a .346 batting average and six stolen bases is Justin Thompson. Over the last eight games, Daylan Pena has gone 14-for-31 (.452) at the dish with seven runs scored and seven RBI.
 
Slated to start Friday on the rubber is Zeke Wood. HE is 2-1 with a 2.67 ERA and has struck out 37, the third most in the Sun Belt. Levi Wells enters Saturday sporting a 3-0 record, 1.42 ERA and 34 strikeouts. Sunday's starter will be Tony Robie, who is 2-0 with a 6.10 ERA over 20.2 innings.
 
Coming out of the bullpen, Tristan Stivors' five saves is the most in the conference. He is 2-0 with a 0.50 ERA and has struck out 27 while walking only one. Matthew Nicholas has made 11 relief appearances and has recorded a 1-0 mark with a 1.08 ERA spanning 8.1 innings. Carson Keithley comes into the series at 2-0 and a 1.98 ERA.
 
ABOUT COASTAL CAROLINA
The Chanticleers are coming off a 17-6 victory at No. 24 Clemson on Tuesday in which they scored 15 runs in the first three innings. In its Sun Belt opening weekend, CCU split with ULM as the Warhawks took the opener, the Chanticleers won the second game and the teams played to a 17-17 eight-inning tie on Sunday. CCU is 1-4 on the road this season with all four losses coming during the first week of March with a midweek contest against UNC Wilmington and swept in a series at North Carolina.
 
Matt McDermott leads the Chants with a .333 average and has recorded 16 RBI, 14 runs scored, two triples and two homers. Eric Brown, the league's preseason player of the year, is hitting .328 with 18 runs, 14 RBI and five doubles. Nick Lucky comes in hitting .324 and shares the team lead of 17 RBI with Dale Thomas, who has bashed a team-high six home runs.
 
Getting the ball on Friday will be Nick Parker (0-1, 4.68 ERA), who has struck out 22 in 25 innings. Reid VanScoter (3-1, 3.07 ERA) starts on Saturday and enters with 29 strikeouts, the tied for the eighth most in the Sun Belt. Right-hander Michael Knorr (1-0, 3.46 ERA) is taking the mound for the series finale.
 
Out of the pen, Jacob Maton has yet to allow an earned run in 15 innings while striking out 14 and holding opponents to a .192 batting average. Jack Billings is 0-2 with a 4.32 ERA and 11 strikeouts over eight games. Both he and Teddy Sharkey (0-1, 1.80 ERA) have picked up a team best two saves.
 
SERIES VS. CHANTICLEERS
Coastal Carolina leads the all-time series 8-3 and have won the last seven meetings, which all took place in Conway, South Carolina. Texas State's last win was on May 26, 2017 in Statesboro, Georgia by a 7-5 score in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Tournament.
 
The Bobcats are 2-1 when hosting the Chanticleers with the lone series in San Marcos taking place Mar. 17-19, 2017. TXST won 5-4 in the series opener on a Ryan Newman walk-off home run in the 14th inning. After dropping the second game, Texas State claimed the finale 10-7.
 
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