Published: May 06, 2008 11:29 am            

Slumping Bobcats visit 4th-ranked Rice

After suffering a three-game sweep at last place Stephen F. Austin last weekend, the Texas State baseball team has little time to nurse its losing hangover.

Texas State takes on fourth-ranked Rice tonight in Houston, which means the Bobcats will have a tough time ending what has developed into a mid-season slump. The Bobcats have lost four straight games going back to last week’s 11-0 loss at Texas and have dropped eight out of its last nine games.

Thanks to last weekend’s sweep by SFA and a 2-1 series loss to Lamar the weekend before, the Bobcats have dropped from first to third place in the Southland Conference West Division race, fifth in the overall standings.

SFA beat the Bobcats by scores of 6-3, 13-9, and 3-2, as the Lumberjacks held a 33-26 edge over Texas State in the hitting column and batted in 22 runs over the weekend, doubling the Bobcats’’ total.

Texas State’s pitching staff fell behind with a 7.50 ERA compared to SFA’s 4.67 ERA. Zach Tritz closed out Sunday afternoon with his third complete game of the season, allowing eight hits and three runs, but the ‘Cats offense was halted in its final rally.

Texas State now stands at 24-22 overall and 14-10 in league play.

Adam Witek finished the week 6 for 13 and improved his batting average to .347 on the season. Witek notched multiple hits in game one and two and belted his second home run of the season in game three for a .462 batting average against SFA.

Collectively, the Bobcats are batting .318 and have a .488 slugging percentage.

Kane Holbrooks will take the mound tonight and is 2-5 overall with an 8.29 ERA. The right-hander last pitched a week ago at Texas and has made eight starts so far this season. Holbrooks tossed a combined shutout against Texas-Pan American earlier this season and has 45 strikeouts to date.

Rice has won 14 of its past 15 contests and will enter Tuesday night 34-11 overall and 15-3 in Conference USA. The Owls took 2 of 3 from Central Florida last week and will have over a week’s rest entering Tuesday’s contest.

Rice is batting .309 as a team and has knocked 141 extra-base hits, 39 of which are home runs. The team outscores opponents 340-207 and jump on the board first with a 49-26 run margin in the first inning.

Rice’s offense is spearheaded by J.P. Padron. Padron will enter the game with an 18-game hitting streak, boasting a second-best .357 batting average. Padron went 6 for 14 in the past week of play, including a 3 for 4 Sunday outing against UCF.

Rice will throw right-handed pitcher Bryan Price against the Bobcats.

Price has a 3.31 ERA and is 2-4 overall. He has 35.1 innings pitched, walked 15 batters and allowed 15 runs. Price has 42 strikeouts and holds opponents to a .234 batting average.

The Owls took the last contest at Bobcat Field 13-3 and own the all-time series 39-11.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.