Coming off a 2-1 series loss against the University of Houston, Texas State baseball (7-10) is set to face off against the Rice University Owls (8-7) on March 17 and the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Trojans (6-7) from March 19-21.
Texas State faced Rice on March 7 at the Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic, where the Bobcats won 9-1. In the game, Texas State sophomore pitcher Zeke Wood threw six scoreless innings and sophomore catcher Peyton Lewis scored two runs and an RBI.
For Rice, this season, graduate outfielder/infielder Bradley Gneiting leads the team with a .345 batting average, a .564 slugging percentage, 13 RBI, eight runs and three home runs. Graduate infielder Braden Comeaux has a .327 batting average, a .382 slugging percentage and eight RBI.
Texas State will then go on to start Sun Belt play with a three-game series against Little Rock.
For the Trojans, senior infielder Jorden Hussein has a .429 batting average, a .486 slugging percentage and eight runs. Sophomore outfielder Tyler Williams has a .306 batting average, a .592 slugging percentage, 13 RBI and two home runs.
Leading the Bobcats is junior infielder Justin Thompson who sits with a .400 batting average, a .580 slugging average and a .458 on-base percentage. He also leads the team with 26 hits and 18 RBI.
Senior outfielder Will Hollis leads the team with 12 runs and four homers and second with 19 hits and 10 RBI.
Texas State will face Rice at 6 p.m. on Mar. 17 at Bobcat Ballpark. The Bobcats will travel to play Little Rock at 4 p.m. on March 19, 4 p.m. on March 20 and 1 p.m. on March 21 at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, Arkansas. All four games will be streamed on ESPN+.