The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Texas State
Baseball preview: Texas at Texas State [March 27]
03.26.2018 | Baseball
The Longhorns head to San Marcos for the first of three midweek games against the Bobcats this season.
Texas (15-10) at Texas State (14-8-1)
March 27, 2018
Where: San Marcos, Texas
Time: Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT
Radio: 104.9 The Horn, AM 1260
All-time series: Texas leads, 47-11
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
TUESDAY— Texas State LHP Wes Engle (1-1, 3.71) vs. Texas RHP Nico O'Donnell (1-1, 3.38)
GAME NOTES
THE MATCHUP—The Longhorns head to San Marcos to face off against the Bobcats for the first of three scheduled midweek games this season.
A LOOK AT THE BOBCATS—Texas State is coming off a series sweep at the hands of Sun Belt Conference foe Coastal Carolina…the Bobcats fell, 8-0, on Friday, before dropping both games of their Saturday doubleheader…Texas State is led offensively by Derek Scheible's seven homers and 22 RBI…On the mound, Nicholas Fraze has a team-best four wins to go along with a 1.30 ERA while Cam Baird has 10 appearances out of the bullpen, compiling a 2.50 ERA in 18 innings of work to go along with 18 strikeouts.
A LOOK AT THE LONGHORNS—Texas is coming off a 3-1 week that included a win on Tuesday night over then-No. 25 Sam Houston State before picking up the Big 12 Conference series win over Oklahoma State over the weekend…Texas' lone loss came on Friday night…on Tuesday, usual weekend starter Nolan Kingham picked up his second save of the season and on Saturday, he followed with an eight-inning effort in the win…Kody Clemens continued his hot streak, hitting .400/.471/.800 for the week that included his career-high 7th homer…out of the bullpen, freshman Bryce Elder was stellar in two outings totaling 7.2 IP…he allowed just one run and 7 hits with 9 Ks.
NEXT UP—Texas will head to Manhattan, Kan., for a three-game Big 12 Conference series against K-State, whom Texas swept last season at home…K-State was swept last weekend by TCU in their first Big 12 Conference action.
KINGHAM CROWNED—Junior RHP Nolan Kingham was named Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week, the league announced Monday…Kingham started the week with a save on Tuesday night thanks to a perfect 9th inning against then-No. 25 Sam Houston State…he returned to the hill on Saturday and went 8 innings, scattering 7 hits and no walks while striking out 5 for his 4th win of the year…it is Kingham's second weekly honor of the year, but the first from the conference…he was named Perfect Game/Rawlings National Pitcher of the Week following his opening night start against Louisiana.
GO DJ, THAT'S MY DJ—After the first five attempted stolen bases against him were successful, junior catcher DJ Petrinsky has caught 7-of-10 since, improving his caught stealing percentage to 46.7 for the season.
CAN'T STOP CLEMENS—Clemens has opened the 2018 campaign on a tear at the plate…he opened 2018 with a 13-game hit streak, the longest for a Longhorn since Madison Carter's 15-game streak in 2014…he enters Tuesday's game on nine-game streak in which he's hit .354…Clemens has amassed 21 walks to just 16 Ks on the season, is 3-for-3 in stolen bases, and holds a team-best 1.202 OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage)…he has also reached base safely in all 25 games played this season, and 26 overall dating back to the 2017 campaign…he hit his 7th homer of the year Sunday, a new career-high after hitting 5 in 54 games last season…his .721 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 Conference…he leads the team in HR (7), average (.372), hits (32) RBI (24), walks (21), on-base percentage (.491), and walks (21).
ELLIS ELEVATING—After Duke Ellis compiled a .200/.231/.200 line in eight February games, the CF has hit .273/.470/.341 in 17 games in the month of March…his 19 walks rank second on the team, with 18 of those coming this month alone.
ZUUUBIA—Redshirt-freshman and designated hitter Zach Zubia has reached base safely in each of the last 24 games in his rookie campaign…over the weekend, he hit his fifth homer on Friday night and then walked twice in each of the next two games…he has 17 walks on the season, 5 of which came this weekend.
