No. 17 Texas State Baseball (32-10, 15-3 Sun Belt) is slated to host the South Alabama Jaguars (23-16, 9-9 Sun Belt) in a three-game Sun Belt Conference series in San Marcos. Game one is set for Friday, April 29, with the first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Bobcat Ballpark.
The Bobcats are coming off a midweek loss to I-35 rival, the University of Texas at San Antonio. The Bobcats fell to the Roadrunners, 8-14, Tuesday in San Antonio. The Jaguars, on the other hand, are coming off a midweek win against Tulane, 8-1.
The Bobcats are coming off back-to-back weekend sweeps of the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of Little Rock as they sit atop the Sun Belt Conference standings. They have also been ranked for seven-straight weeks, coming in at the No. 17 spot in the D1Baseball poll this week. The Jaguars are sitting in the seventh spot in the Sun Belt with an even (.500) record.
Amongst the daily starters for the Jaguars, there are three batters hitting over a .300 average: senior outfielder Miles Simington (.397), senior infielder Hunter Stokes (.314) and junior infielder Santi Montiel (.311). As for the Bobcat’s daily starters, they boast four hitters over the mark. Senior shortstop Dalton Shuffield (.399), senior third baseman Justin Thompson (.348), senior outfielder Isaiah Ortega-Jones (.313) and junior outfielder Ben McClain (.307) are all above a .300 batting average.
On the mound this weekend, the Bobcats are slated to pitch junior pitcher Zeke Wood (4-1, 2.38 ERA) in game one on Friday against senior Jaguar pitcher Matt Boswell (5-2, 3.32 ERA). Saturday, for game two, sophomore pitcher Levi Wells (5-1, 2.29 ERA) is slated to start for the Bobcats as the Jaguars will make a game-time decision for their starter. Neither squad has named a starter for Sunday’s game-three matchup.
The Bobcats will be looking for the third-straight Sun Belt Conference sweep when the Jaguars come to San Marcos this weekend for a three-game series. Last season, the Bobcats claimed their first-ever series win over South Alabama and are 4-8 all-time when hosting the Jaguars in Bobcat Ballpark.
The first pitch of the series is slated for 6 p.m. on Friday, and Saturday’s matchup is set for 2:30 p.m. The final game of the series on Sunday is slated for 11 a.m. at Bobcat Ballpark. Reporter Kyle Owen will be live-tweeting all three of the weekend’s contests.