Texas State Welcomes Nevada Wolf Pack to Bobcat Ballpark
by, Joshua Flanagan
SAN MARCOS, Texas – After jumping out to a 9-3 start in the Sun Belt Conference, Texas State will take the weekend off from conference play to welcome non-conference opponent Nevada to Bobcat Ballpark for a three-game set starting at 6 p.m. Friday.
Game Info: Texas State vs. Nevada
Site: Bobcat Ballpark – San Marcos, Texas
Date: Friday, April 8 – Sunday, April 10
Time: Friday – 6 p.m. | Saturday – 3 p.m. | Sunday – 1 p.m.
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday: #21 RHP Lucas Humpal (2.33 ERA, 5-1) vs. #12 LHP Christian Stolo (3.89 ERA, 1-4)
Saturday: #27 RHP Jeremy Hallonquist (1.66 ERA, 3-1) vs. #35 RHP Trevor Charpie (3.21 ERA, 2-1)
Sunday: #9 LHP Cory Geisler (1.16 ERA, 2-0) vs. #13 LHP Trenton Brooks (5.88 ERA, 2-3)
The Series
Texas State and Nevada have only met one time in their history, a 7-1 loss for the Bobcats on a neutral field back in 1997. Head CoachTy Harrington has never faced the Wolf Pack.
On the Wolf Pack
Nevada stands at .500 for the season with a 13-13 record but is coming off a hot streak. The Wolf Pack has won six of their last seven games, dropping an 8-5 game to Saint Mary’s on Tuesday before facing the Reno Aces in an exhibition that evening. Nevada swept UNLV and has a win over Arizona State this season.
The Wolf Pack has been pretty offensive this season with T.J. Friedl leading the squad with a .400 batting average and 38 hits but only 11 RBIs. Three others are hitting in the .300s even as high as .396. As a squad, they are hitting .284 with the same amount of runs as Nevada opponents: 135. Nevada is also active around the base paths with 31 steals on 40 attempts and a strong fielding percentage of.978.
The pitching staff has put together a team ERA of 4.62 with Friday night starter Christian Stolo leading the team in strikeouts with 32. Opponents are hitting .271 against him and .311 against the Sunday starter Trenton Brooks. Evan McMahan looks to be the team’s closer with three saves this season in 13 appearances, notching 11 strikeouts to six walks. The team’s strikeout-to-walk ratio is pretty good at 172-77.
On the Bobcats
Texas State is amid a five-game winning streak and sitting still early in the midst of a nine-game home stand, having played two of the nine this past week. The team’s offense is still popping with a .298 team batting average led by Jonathan Ortega at .352. Against UTSA this past Tuesday, the Bobcats showed off the long ball with two home runs from Ryan Newman and one each from Tanner Hilland Theodore Hoffman. With his latest, Hill has 10 home runs on the season to rank tied for eighth in that national standings. He leads the conference, but he is not the only Sun Belt leader on the squad.
Pasquale Mazzoccoli has eight saves this year to lead the conference and put himself tied for third on the all-time Texas State list for most saves in a season. As a closer, he has put together a 2.57 ERA with 20 strikeouts to 12 walks and an opponents’ average of just .181. In addition to Mazzoccoli, the Bobcats have a strong trio of senior weekend starters to throw at Nevada in Lucas Humpal (2.33),Jeremy Hallonquist (1.66) and Cory Geisler (1.16).
A Look Ahead
Next week, the Bobcats host Rice in the Tuesday midweek game before welcoming SBC opponent Little Rock to Bobcat Ballpark.
