COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The Aggies open a four-game homestand on Tuesday when the Maroon and White host the Texas State Bobcats on Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
A&M is hoping to maintain the momentum gained in a four-game road trip that saw the Aggies win three of four games against Top 25 teams, including one win at then-No. 16 Rice and two wins at then-No. 21 Mississippi State. Cole Lankford helped spark the road success, batting .500 (9-for-18) in the four games. Blake Allemand is batting .412 (7-for-17) over the span with five runs.
A pair of emerging pitchers made an impact last week. Corey Ray appeared in two games, including pitching 6.0 innings in the Aggies’ win at Rice. The junior allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits and three walks while striking out three over 7.2 innings, posting a 1.17 ERA and .207 opponent ERA. Ty Schlottmann pitched in all three of A&M’s road victories last week and picked up saves in both wins at Mississippi State. The sophomore pitched 6.0 innings on the week, allowing one run on four hits and two walks while striking out four. He logged a 1.50 ERA and .200 opponent batting average on the week.
TEXAS A&M AGGIES (27-18, 10-11 SEC) vs TEXAS STATE BOBCATS (24-20, 12-9 Sun Belt)
Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park (6,100) • College Station, Texas
SCHEDULE – Tuesday 6:35 pm
RADIO – WTAW-AM 1620 (Dave South – play-by-play)
LIVE VIDEO – aggieathletics.com (premium subscription)
LIVE AUDIO – radioaggieland.com (free)
RANKINGS – A&M – unranked; Texas State – unranked
SERIES HISTORY – Texas A&M leads the series 38-13
SERIES STREAKS – Texas State won the most recent meeting
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS
• TUESDAY: #22 Corey Ray (Jr., RHP, 4-0, 1.31) vs #30 Chad Young (Jr., LHP, 0-1, 3.65)
TEXAS A&M/TEXAS STATE SERIES NOTABLES
Texas A&M owns a 38-13 advantage in the all-time series against Texas State. The Bobcats took the previous meeting last season in San Marcos. The Aggies hold a 6-2 edge over the last eight contests, but have split the last four matchups. Among returnees, Cole Lankford was the top offensive performer in the 4-1 loss at Texas State a year ago, going 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Matt Kent, Parker Ray, AJ Minter and Jason Jester combined for 6.1 innings of scoreless relief, yielding only four hits and two walks total, but the Aggies were unable to make up the deficit, being held scoreless for the last eight innings.
MORE ON TEXAS STATE
The Bulldogs enter the fray with a 24-20 overall record and a 12-9 mark in their first season in the Sun Belt Conference. The Bobcats are third in the Sun Belt standings behind No. 4 Louisiana-Lafayette (18-3) and Arkansas State (14-7). Last season the Sun Belt Conference sent four teams to the NCAA Tournament, including Louisiana-Lafayette, South Alabama, Troy and Florida Atlantic.
This marks the Bobcats third conference in three seasons. In their final season in the Southland Conference in 2012, Texas State tied for third place with a 19-14 overall record and posted a 32-24 overall mark. Last season the Bobcats played in the Western Athletic Conference, finishing 29-29 overall and third in the conference with a 16-11 ledger.
Texas State is batting .256 as a team with a .338 on-base percentage and .350 slugging percentage. Garrett Mattlage is the lone every day starter hitting over .300 with a .322 batting average, 30 runs, eight doubles, one triple, three home runs, 35 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Part-time starter Cory Geisler is batting .313 (31-for-99) with 15 runs, two doubles, one home run, 13 RBI and six stolen bases in 25 games. Granger Studdard is hitting .293 with a team-high six home runs and 29 RBI.
The pitching staff owns a 3.49 ERA and is holding opponents to a .250 batting average. Tuesday’s probably starter LHP Chad Young is 0-1 with a 3.65 ERA and seven strikeouts in 12.1 innings. Closer Hunter Lemke is 5-3 with nine saves and a 3.37 ERA in 22 appearances. Geisler is 3-0 with 21 strikeouts and a 1.78 ERA in 17 relief appearances.
TUESDAY’S PROBABLE STARTER: #22 COREY RAY
Making his 12th career start, and third of the season, owning a 4-0 record with a 1.31 ERA and 17 strikeouts over 20.2 innings… Picked up a pair of wins in midweek games against Texas Pan American and Columbia after coming out of the bullpen… Earned wins in starts against Abilene Christian and Rice… Held Rice to two runs (one earned) on five hits, with three walks and three strikeouts in his most recent start… Also pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief against Mississippi State on Sunday.
PROTECTING THE HOMEFRONT
The Aggies are 19-9 in home games in 2014. Offensively, the Aggies are hitting .307 at home with seven players logging batting averages of .300 or higher. Jace Statum (.371), Nick Banks (.338), Logan Taylor (.333) and Blake Allemand (.321) are all batting .320 or higher. Lankford leads the team with 25 RBI with five doubles and three home runs. Blake Allemand leads the team with 19 runs at home. Logan Nottebrok (.269) has five doubles, five home runs and 20 RBI.