Mandalyn Lewallen

Members of the Texas State baseball team gather in the dugout in-between innings during the game against Louisiana-Lafayette, Friday, March 29, 2024, at Bobcat Ballpark.

Texas State baseball (18-19, 6-9 Sun Belt Conference) went 2-3 last week, splitting its midweek series versus the University of Texas and following it up with a 2-1 series loss versus the University of Louisiana-Monroe over the weekend.

Here are the three takeaways from the Texas State baseball team’s performance last week:

Freshman utility Ethan Farris is starting to show promise

While there were plenty of negatives this week for the Bobcats, Farris has shown some positive signs. Head Coach Steven Trout put the freshman in the starting lineup a couple of weeks ago, and after a slow start, he found his footing in the midweek series versus Texas, going 3-for-8 with one RBI and one run.

Farris also made an impressive leaping catch in right field. The former 18th-round pick in the MLB draft is showing his potential, and he will need to continue to do so this season as his career in the maroon and gold continues.

The pitching staff continues to struggle

Going into this season, Trout said the Bobcats’ bullpen was loaded with depth. So far, that has been anything but the case. Texas State is ninth in the Sun Belt Conference in team ERA with a 5.59 average and gave up 38 

runs in five games last week.

While injuries played a role as junior pitcher Jack Stroud went on a hiatus, the problem can mostly be blamed on the Bobcats’ pitchers, who are very hittable. They have allowed the third-most hits in the Sun Belt Conference. This trend continued last week as Texas State allowed 50 hits in five games.

The Bobcats fell again in a must-win weekend

After splitting the midweek series against Texas, it felt like the Bobcats were starting to gain momentum going into a must-win series against ULM. This was not the case, as Texas State came out flat, losing the first two games before avoiding the sweep in game three.

This team continues to take two steps forward and three steps back, which is fitting, considering they went 2-3 last week.

While many Bobcat faithful were high on this team going into the season, Texas State is now the 11th-ranked team in the Sun Belt. It might be time to accept that this team is talented yet highly inconsistent.