Game Four
NM State (1-2) at Texas State (3-5)
Tuesday, March 2 | 5:00 p.m. | San Marcos, Texas | Bobcat Ballpark
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | Weather Forecast | NM State Game Notes
Pitching Matchup | RHP Ian Mejia (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Garrett Herrmann (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
LEADOFF HITS
• Eyeing its first winning streak of the 2021 campaign, the NM State baseball team's next stop on its seven-game stretch in Texas is Bobcat Ballpark in San Marcos, Texas, for a Tuesday evening entanglement with Sun Belt Conference foe Texas State. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. MT.
• ESPN+ and the ESPN app will stream the sixth all-time meeting between the Aggies and Bobcats with Brant Freeman and Ty Harrington providing play-by-play and analysis.
• NM State is 0-1 in the Mike Kirby coaching era in mid-week contests. The Aggies' lone midweek showdown of the 2020 season (Kirby's first at the helm of the program) came on Tuesday, Feb. 25, when NM State dropped a narrow 6-5 decision at eighth-ranked Arizona State.
SERIES HISTORY
• Texas State leads the all-time series between the two teams 4-1.
• Tuesday night marks the first meeting between the two programs since May 23, 2003. That day, the Bobcats got the better of the Aggies by a 9-4 score in the opening game of the WAC Tournament in Grand Prairie, Texas.
• Through the all-time series, NM State has averaged 6.4 runs per game while Texas State is averaging 8.8 runs per game.
• Tuesday marks the first time the Aggies will play the Bobcats in San Marcos.
HITTIN' #PUMPS
• For the first time since Feb. 23, 2020, NM State blasted four homers in a game. The Aggies' long ball extravaganza occurred Sunday in the team's 12-2 seven-inning romp over Abilene Christian.
• Jake Baer, Ethan Mann, Tommy Tabak and Cal Villareal each hit their first homers in an Aggie uniform Sunday.
• Villareal's blast was a grand slam - the Aggies' first since Nick Gonzales hit an inside-the-park grand slam in a 14-5 victory over IPFW on Feb. 29, 2020.
• After scoring a total of 28 runs through their first three games of the season, the Aggies' average of 9.3 runs per game ranks 17th nationally.
GOING THE DISTANCE
• Senior right-hander Chris Jefferson became one of just 15 NCAA Division I pitchers to toss a complete game in 2021 after he worked all seven innings in the Aggies' 12-2 victory over Abilene Christian Sunday afternoon.
• Jefferson's complete-game effort was the first by an Aggie pitcher since May 5, 2019, when Chance Hroch tossed a seven-inning one against UTRGV.
THE MANN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND
• Through his first three games in an Aggie uniform Ethan Mann has already established himself as one of the team's best batters.
• The infielder out of McKinney, Texas, is the WAC's leader in hits per game (1.87), and RBI per game (1.67). He's currently batting .385/.429/.615 on the year.
LEADERS OF THE WAC
• NM State leads the WAC in home runs per game (1.33, 31st nationally), scoring (9.3 runs per game, 17th nationally), slugging percentage (.446, 53rd nationally) and triples per game (0.67, 38th nationally).
SCOUTING TEXAS STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• The favorites to lay claim to the Sun Belt's West Division crown in 2021, Texas State has gotten off to a 3-5 start through the early stages of its latest campaign. The Bobcats split a four-game home series with BYU during the season's opening week and were most recently swept in a three-game set at Sacramento State this past weekend.
• Headlined by NCBWA Preseason Season Team honoree Wesley Faison, the Bobcats' lineup is slashing .235/.316/.341 through its first eight games of the year. Infielder Justin Thompson (.385/.448/.462) is Texas State's top bat thus far having already generated 10 hits and 10 RBI.
• Outside of Thompson, no other member of Texas State's squad has driven in more than four runs through the team's first eight outings. Senior outfielder Will Hollis (.321/.464/.406) heads
into Tuesday evening's tilt armed with a six-game hitting streak.
• Starting pitcher Garrett Herrmann will be making his first appearance of the season for Texas State. Last season the right-hander posted a 2.45 ERA in three appearances on the hill. Through 11 innings of action in 2020, Herrmann fanned 10 and allowed just three walks.
• Elsewhere in the Bobcats' bullpen sits junior righty Tristan Stivors. Named to the NCBWA Preseason Stopper of the Year Watch List in mid-February, Stivors is the owner of a 4.50 ERA as well as an 0-1 record through three appearances in 2021. He has recorded one of the Bobcats' three saves thus far.
ON DECK
• The Aggies' seven-game swing through the Lone Star State concludes this weekend when NM State travels to College Station for a three-game set at SEC foe Texas A&M. Friday's night's series opener is set for 5:30 p.m. MT.
++NM State++
