Ethan Farris and the Texas State Bobcats (5-2) will face Jace LaViolette and the No. 1 Texas A&M Aggies (5-1) at 6 p.m. tonight at Blue Bell Park in College Station.
Junior left-hander Jesus Tovar will start on the mound tonight for Texas State. Tovar impressed in his first appearance as a Bobcat, tossing 4 â…“ scoreless innings with six strikeouts against the Oklahoma State Cowboys (3-3), ranked 19th by D1Baseball at the time, last Tuesday. It was Tovar’s first appearance since suffering an injury with New Mexico Junior College in 2023.
“I think this past Tuesday gave us a lot of confidence with beating Oklahoma State on the road,” Texas State head coach Steven Trout said. “I’m excited to see how these guys bounce back and see how Tovar does again in the big moment.”
Freshman right-hander Aiden Sims will get the start for the Aggies in what will be his collegiate debut.
Texas State is coming off a 2-1 series loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini (4-2) last weekend in San Marcos. Illinois dominated Texas State 15-3 on Saturday before the two squads split a doubleheader on Sunday. Texas State won game one of the doubleheader 5-2 and dropped game two 7-4.
The Aggies’ only loss this season came at the hands of Cal Poly (2-5), 3-2, on Sunday. In their six games this season, the Aggies outscored their opponents, Cal Poly and Elon (2-5), 44-21. The hot start to 2025 for Texas A&M comes after losing the College World Series last season before its head coach, Jim Schlossnagle, left for the Texas Longhorns.
The Bobcats have struggled offensively this season, hitting .254/.333/.360. Bright spots for the Texas State offense include Farris, who went 11-for-27 in the Bobcats’ first seven games this season, and Ryne Farber, who went 8-for-25 with three walks.
Bryson Dudley, Matthew Tippie and Carson Laws have seen the most time out of the Texas State bullpen. Dudley, who has a 0.93 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 9 â…” innings, pitched four innings on Sunday, meaning there’s a good chance he won’t pitch tonight, but Tippie and Laws will likely see the mound in late innings if the game is close.
The Texas A&M pitching staff has dominated this season, putting together a 2.55 ERA with 51 strikeouts. Its offense has also impressed, slashing .266/.396/.462.
LaViolette, ranked first in D1Baseball’s Top 50 college baseball prospects for the 2025 MLB draft, has three home runs and a .444 on-base percentage this season. Other Aggies impressing this year include Terrence Kiel II (slashing .429/.556/.429), Jacob Galloway (.357/.400/.714), Kaeden Kent (.316/.435/.474) and Wyatt Henseler (.316/.407/.409).
It’s worth noting that Aggies third baseman Gavin Grahovac, who made the 2024 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team, will be out for the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury, according to TexAgs’ Ryan Brauninger.
Tonight’s game between the Bobcats and the Aggies will be available to stream on SEC Network+.
