— By Bill Cornwell
With the two teams part of a three-way tie for seventh place in the Sun Belt Conference standings, Marshall and Texas Stare clash in a three-game series to conclude the regular season starting Thursday in San Marcos, Texas.
The Thundering Herd and Bobcats meet at 7 p.m. (EST) in Game 1, again at 7 p.m. Friday for Game 2 and at 2 p.m. Saturday for the series finale inside Irvine-Rasmussen Ballpark.
Marshall (23-28, 13-14) and Texas State (31-22, 13-14) are deadlocked with Old Dominion in the Sun Belt standings, and while all three are fairly safe at this point to be among the top 10 teams that qualify for the SBC Tournament, nothing will be official until the near future.
Marshall won two of three in its most recent series last weekend against UL Monroe, though the Herd fell in the series finale.
The Herd had been scheduled to host Virginia Tech on Tuesday, but the Hokies opted out of the matchup.
Texas State played its midweek matchup, but it was not one the Bobcats wish to remember as they were drubbed by UTSA 19-4 in seven innings.
Marshall hopes to continue to get strong efforts this weekend from its weekend rotation of starting pitchers in Bryce Blevins, Drew Harlow and Kenyon Collins.
Blevins will start Thursday and hopes to continue a successful senior season that’s seen him compile an 8-3 record with two complete games, 83 strikeouts and only 17 walks.
Harlow and Collins have been less effective with ERAs hovering around 5 and sub-.500 records.
Marshall’s offense got a big boost last weekend from Jackson Halter, who hit three home runs throughout the series with the Warhawks.
Halter reached the 10 home run mark this season with a round-tripper on Sunday and he has driven in a team-high 48 runs.
Evan Bottone continues to have a solid year and leads the Herd with a .389 batting average, 77 hits and 111 total bases.
The Bobcats’ top offensive threat is outfielder Rashawn Galloway, who has a .341 batting average with 76 hits, 23 doubles, 12 home runs and 45 RBI.
Sophomore Cade Smith is a key to the Texas State pitching staff with a 4-2 record across 20 appearances. Junior Jesus Tovar will also have a weekend start and is 7-2 with a 5.59 ERA in 56.1 innings.
The Sun Belt Tournament begins starts Tuesday at Dabos Park in Montgomery, Alabama — home of the Montgomery Biscuits, the Class AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays.
This is Texas State’s final season in the Sun Belt before it moves on to the Pac-12.