SAN MARCOS, Texas - Facing a former Southland Conference rival for the first time since 2012, Lamar University baseball will wrap up its road trip this weekend with a three-game series against Texas State University. The Cardinals (2-2) will play the Bobcats Friday at 6 pm, Saturday at 2:30 pm, and Sunday at 1 pm.

Lamar at Texas State - February 21-23 - Bobcat Ballpark

Probable Starters (Based On Assumptions by the SID):
FRI: LU Jr., RHP, Trevin Michael (0-0, 2.57 ERA) vs. TXST Sr., RHP, Zachary Leigh (0-0, 1.80 ERA)
SAT: LU Jr., RHP, Zach Bravo (0-0, 5.40 ERA) vs. TXST Jr., RHP, Trevis Sundgren (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
SUN: LU Jr., RHP, Austin Faith (0-0, 3.60 ERA) vs. TXST Sr., LHP, Wes Engle (0-0, 0.00 ERA)

Series Record
All-Time Series: Lamar leads 40-29
Lamar vs. Texas State at Vincent-Beck: Lamar leads 21-12 (last meeting - Texas State wins 9-5 on March 27, 2011)
Lamar vs. Texas State at Bobcat Ballpark: Lamar leads 16-14 (last meeting - Lamar wins 8-4 on May 6, 2012)
Lamar vs. Texas State at Neutral Site: N/A
Last 10 Games: Texas State leads 7-3
Win Streak: Lamar won the last matchup
Last Lamar win: May 6, 2012 at Texas State
Last Matchup: May 6, 2012 at Texas State
Will Davis against Texas State: First Meeting
Steven Trout against Lamar: First Meeting

Steven Trout is in his first season as head coach of the Texas State Bobcats, but has been with the program off-and-on for a good portion of the last decade. A 2007 graduate of TCU and an All-Mountain West Conference baseball player with the Horned Frogs, Trout began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant with Texas State in 2009, the year TSU set a school record for wins and won the Southland Conference. He then coached at Houston with Todd Whitting, was the head coach of Texarkana College, worked at West Virginia with Randy Mazey, and finally returned to Texas State in 2016. He was promoted to head coach in July of 2019. In Trout's inaugural season, Texas State is 3-2 with three wins and a loss to Stony Brook at home and a loss at Houston Baptist. In the loss to HBU, Texas State trailed 7-1 until the ninth inning when the Bobcats scored four more runs.

Texas State won the Sun Belt regular season title in 2019, the same conference that is home to notable programs like Coastal Carolina, Troy, Louisiana-Lafayette, and UT-Arlington, but the entire starting rotation from last season had to be replaced in 2020. That being said, TSU does feature some senior leadership with Jaxon Williams, Cole Coffey, Will Hollis, and Chase Evans all back in the starting lineup as well as juniors John Wuthrich, Wesley Faison, and Dalton Shuffield. Junior college transfer Justin Thompson has already made his presence known as well. On the mound the Bobcats feature senior starters Zachary Leigh and Wes Engle (injured in 2019) and a JuCo addition of Trevis Sundgren. Sundgren was especially impressive against Stony Brook last Saturday with seven innings of two-hit baseball, striking out six and walking none while earning the win.

The Last Time Out - at #22 Texas - February 19

With more baserunners and hits than the University of Texas, free bases were the difference Wednesday for Lamar University baseball. The Cardinals (2-2) fell to the #22 Longhorns (5-0) by a score of 6-1. Texas drew six walks and two hits-by-pitch to score six runs on just five hits. Lamar scored one run on six hits and stranded 12 on base.
 
In a designated bullpen day, Josh Hranicky got the start for Lamar. He went an inning and two thirds before being relieved by Jack Dallas. Dallas was then replaced by Douglas Palmer in the fourth, and Palmer was replaced in the fifth by Marcus Olivarez. Dylan Johnson and Max Mize split time in the sixth, Christian Grigsby was unblemished in the seventh, and Braydon Credeur was the final Cardinal on the mound.

Lamar Quick Hits

• Lamar returns 672 starts in its lineup in 2020, the most in the Southland Conference. The next closest team, UIW, returns 548, and is followed by A&M-Corpus Christi (540), McNeese (497), Northwestern State (451), New Orleans (426), Nicholls (418), Central Arkansas (362), Houston Baptist (336), SFA (300), Sam Houston (257), SLU (253), and ACU (211).
   
• Four Cardinals are hitting over .300 led by Kelby Weyler at .533. He is also tied for the team's RBI lead with four RBI with Reese Durand. Both JC Correra and Durand are hitting .438 apiece, and Avery George at .353.
   
• Lamar has had just one error in its first four games combined, a right field error that allowed a runner to advance from first to second against #22 Texas. Last season Lamar had three errors in its first series, and 26 games with two or more errors.
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• Lamar has had three Coles (Coker, Girouard, and Secrest) on the roster since the 2018 season, and Cole Marler is redshirting with the team in 2020. The Cards also have two Zachs (Sweet and Bravo), two Reec(s)es (Reese Durand and Reece Kemp), two Braxtons (Boudoin and Douthit), two Logans (LeJeune and Berlof), and two Kemps (Reece and Chase).
   
• Lamar was picked to finish 12th in the 13-team Southland Conference by both the coach/SID combined poll and by Perfect Game, and finished 10th in the D1Baseball poll. In 2019 the team predicted to finish in 12th place, Stephen F. Austin, finished sixth instead with a 1-2 mark in the SLC tournament, winning its first game against #3 Southeastern Louisiana before being eliminated in the next two games. Lamar was picked to finish anywhere between fifth and seventh  place by D1Baseball, Perfect Game, and the SLC in 2019.