SAN MARCOS, Texas – The final three games of the 2024 regular season are ahead for the Bobcats inside Bobcat Softball Stadium. The team will host Marshall in a three game series to close out the 2024 regular season.
With all three games on ESPN+, the series will start on May 2 at 6 pm. Game two will be May 3 at 6 pm and the season finale will be May 4 at 12 pm.
The Bobcats will honor 5
th year students
Sara Vanderford and
Tori McCann on Saturday, May 3 before the second game of the series.
LAST TIME OUT:
Last time these Bobcats faced the Thundering Herd, Texas State won 9-3 against Marshall in Huntington, West Virginia. The 6-inning run rule was the Bobcats second win of the weekend, clinching the series for the Bobcats in their first meetings against Marshall.
This will be Marshall's first visit to Bobcat Softball Stadium.
ABOUT THE BOBCATS:
Texas State goes into the weekend with a 39-13 (15-6 SBC) record coming off a series win over Southern Miss. Texas State comes into the weekend second in the Sun Belt Conference, looking to hold onto its 2
nd seed heading into the Sun Belt Conference Tournament next weekend. The Bobcats are also at #17 in the NCAA RPI polls heading into the weekend.
The Bobcats have two nationally recognized players on its roster, third basemen
Sara Vanderford and pitcher
Jessica Mullins. Vanderford was tabbed as the 10
th best 3B player in the nation by Softball America. Mullins was named the #5 pitcher in the nation by them as well.
Leading the offense for the Bobcats going into the week is
Hannah Earls who's batting .358. She has 64 hits, 31 runs and eight RBI in 179 at-bats.
Vanderford is also helping the Bobcat offense with a .355 batting averaging as she's good for 55 hits, 40 runs and 41 RBI in 155 at-bats. Rounding out the top of the order are
Piper Randolph who's batting .326 and
Anna Jones batting .319.
Mullins been the Bobcats ace pitcher this season with her 1.23 ERA. She has pitched 204.1 innings so far this season with 189 strikeouts, 36 earned runs, 42 walked batters and just 28 extra-base hits allowed. She has tossed 16 complete games including one perfect game. She also has three saves on the season.
ABOUT THE THUNDERING HERD:
Marshall comes into the week with a 24-24 record and a 10-11 conference record. They'll be jockeying for position in the final standings of the conference this weekend as they could go as high as four but as low as 10 this weekend.
Marshall has five players batting over .350 this season. Brooklyn Ulrich leads the way with a .410 batting average, she has 64 hits, 42 runs and 48 RBI on the season. Sydney Bickel (.373), Bella Gerlach (.363), Bub Feringa (.357) and Destiny Washington (.350) round out the top of the Marshall batting order.
Bub Feringa is likely to be pitching for Marshall. She has 36 appearances and 22 starts for the Herd this season. She has a 3.88 ERA with six complete games. She's pitched 149.2 innings, allowing 169 hits and 106 runs. She has 53 strikeouts so far this season and batters average .278 against her.
UP NEXT:
After the weekend series the Bobcats will prepare for the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, which will be hosted in San Marcos this season. The first games of the tournament will be play-in games for the 7-10 seeded teams on May 8. The quarterfinals will start May 9.
