Troy baseball will return to Sun Belt Conference play with a three-game series against Texas State, beginning Friday, Apr. 9 in San Marcos, Texas.
The matchup is important for both teams as they look to strengthen their positions in the conference standings. Troy comes into the weekend after a decisive 12-2 victory over Florida A&M and a key series win against Arkansas State. Drew Nelson contributed significantly during these games, going 6-for-11 at the plate against Arkansas State and adding three runs batted in along with three shutout innings on the mound versus Florida A&M.
For this series, Troy will start Benjamin Stubbs on Friday and move Tommy Egan from his usual third game slot to Saturday’s second game. Stubbs has thrown at least six innings in each of his last six starts and is noted for pitching six consecutive quality starts—the first Trojan to do so since Grayson Stewart in 2023—while Egan ranks among the top strikeout pitchers in the conference with 55 strikeouts this season, including a career-high eleven last week. Head coach Skylar Meade has not yet named a starter for Sunday’s finale.
Texas State enters the weekend ranked second in the Sun Belt standings with an overall record of 23-10 and an 8-4 mark within conference play. The Bobcats recently secured midweek wins over Texas A&M and Stephen F. Austin and have hit sixty-six home runs this season, which places them sixth nationally.
Josh Pyne, Troy’s redshirt senior third baseman, leads college baseball’s active players with career totals of two hundred sixty hits and sixty-nine doubles; he also leads his team with eleven doubles this year.
Troy holds a historical edge over Texas State at nineteen wins to twelve but trails eight-to-five when playing in San Marcos. Last season, Troy won two out of three regular-season games before defeating Texas State again during the Sun Belt Tournament.
