Sun Belt Conference Weekly News and Notes (Full PDF)
2016 Sun Belt Conference Media Guide
2016 Sun Belt Conference Composite Schedule
2016 Sun Belt Conference Standings
2016 Sun Belt Conference Statistics

Conference Play Begins; UL Lafayette's Moore, Texas State's Ortega Earn Honors
NEW ORLEANS - Sun Belt Conference play opened up this past weekend for all but one league baseball team, Georgia State. Georgia Southern, South Alabama and Texas State each opened up conference play sweeping its opponents (Appalachian STate, Little Rock and UL Monroe).

UL Lafayette and UT Arlington also came away with series wins as those teams won two-of-three from Troy and Arkansas State, respectively.

Georgia State did not have a series scheduled this weekend but did play four games, splitting the four, against Fairmont State and Jackson State. The Panthers originally had a series set with Lafayette (Pa.) but a campus-wide medical issue caused the Lafayette (Pa.) athletic department to cancel all weekend events.

Weather also played a vital role this past week as several midweek contests were either postponed or altogether cancelled due to inclement weather in many parts of the country. That same weather pattern continued through the start of conference play as four games were postponed due to weather issues.

The ULM/Texas State series was moved from Monroe, La. to San Marcos, Texas while the USA/Little Rock series was moved from Little Rock, Ark. to Mobile, Ala. Georgia Southern and App State played two games on Saturday to finish its series before weather moved into Boone.

Despite the weather, all teams were able to play the three scheduled conference games.

Another full slate of midweek contests is in store beginning on Tuesday and conference play will resume this weekend.

Two of the starts from the opening weekend was Texas State's Jonathan Ortega and UL Lafayaette's Dylan Moore. Ortega was named the Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week while Moore was named the Community Coffee Pitcher of the Week.

Ortega was 10-for-20 this week with a 4-for-6 performance at Big 12 opponent Baylor and a 5-for-6 performance in the series finale against UL Monroe. On those 10 hits, he hit four doubles and drove in two RBIs, but his true value came in the runs he scored. Being able to hit .500 for the week and score eight runs, two at Baylor and three in a single game against UL Monroe on Sunday. He added a walk, a steal and a sacrifice hit on the week along with some impressive defensive plays, twice catching a liner over his shoulder on the run for outs. He finished the week with an on-base percentage of .524 and a slugging percentage of .700.

Moore was lights out in relief for the Ragin’ Cajuns over the weekend earning two saves in two appearances to set a new school career record with 17. On the week, Moore struck out eight of the nine batters that he faced not allowing a single runner to reach in 3.0 innings. Moore struck out the side in the ninth inning of the series opener to ensure a 4-2 victory for the Cajuns. The right-hander tossed a six-out save in the rubber match of the series striking out five of the six batters that he faced with the only ball put in play against him not leaving the infield. The five strikeouts equaled a career high for Moore. Moore ranks 19th in the nation and leads the Sun Belt Conference with four saves.

Recent Results

March 8 (Tuesday)
Georgia Southern 10, Kennesaw St. 9 (12)
Georgia State 4, Mercer 3
Samford 20, Troy 6
Tulane 5, UL Lafayette 3
Mississippi St. 7, South Alabama 3
TCU 5, UT Arlington 1
Baylor 3, Texas State 12

March 9 (Wednesday)
Jacksonville St. 0, Troy 10
UNC Asheville 0, Appalachian State 8

March 11 (Friday)
Appalachian State 3, Georgia Southern 13 *
Troy 2, UL Lafayette 4 *

March 12 (Saturday)
Appalachian State 6, Georgia Southern 8 *
Appalachian State 1, Georgia Southern 5 *
Georgia State 1, Fairmont State 2 (10)
Georgia State 8, Fairmont State 5 (7)
& Little Rock 3, South Alabama 13 *
UT Arlington 11, Arkansas State 8 *
UT Arlington 2, Arkansas State 0 *
Troy 4, UL Lafayette 1 *
$ UL Monroe 2, Texas State 3 (11) *
$ UL Monroe 1, Texas State 6 *

March 13 (Sunday)
Georgia State 12, Jackson St. 13
$ UL Monroe 5, Texas State 7
UT Arlington 0, Arkansas State 4
Troy 3, UL Lafayette 8
& Little Rock 5, South Alabama 7
& Little Rock 6, South Alabama 10

March 14 (Monday)
Georgia State 11, Jackson State 5

& - moved to Mobile due to inclement weather
$ - moved to San Marcos due to inclement weather
* - denotes Sun Belt Conference game

Upcoming Games

March 15 (Tuesday)
Georgia Southern at Mercer - 4:00 PM
Savannah State at Georgia State - 4:00 PM
Appalachian State at North Carolina A&T - 5:00 PM
Central Arkansas at Little Rock - 6:00 PM
Southern Illinois at Arkansas State - 6:00 PM
UL Monroe at McNeese State - 6:00 PM
South Alabama at Southeastern Louisiana - 6:00 PM
Texas State at UTSA - 6:00 PM
UT Arlington vs. Texas Tech @ - 7:00 PM

March 16 (Wednesday)
UL Lafayette at Northwestern State - 6:00 PM
UL Monroe at McNeese State - 6:00 PM

March 18 (Friday)
Arkansas State at Georgia State * - 5:00 PM
Troy at Georgia Southern * - 6:00 PM
Little Rock at UL Lafayette * - 6:00 PM
Dallas Baptist at UL Monroe - 6:00 PM
Appalachian State at Texas State * - 6:00 PM
UT Arlington at South Alabama * - 6:30 PM

March 19 (Saturday)
Arkansas State at Georgia State * - 1:00 PM
Little Rock at UL Lafayette * - 2:00 PM
Appalachian State at Texas State * - 3:00 PM
Troy at Georgia Southern * - 6:00 PM
Dallas Baptist at UL Monroe - 6:00 PM
UT Arlington at South Alabama * - 6:30 PM

March 20 (Sunday)
Troy at Georgia Southern * - 12:00 PM
Arkansas State at Georgia State * - 12:00 PM
UT Arlington at South Alabama * - 12:00 PM
Little Rock at UL Lafayette * - 1:00 PM
Dallas Baptist at UL Monroe - 1:00 PM
Appalachian State at Texas State * - 1:00 PM

@ - Game played at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas
* - denotes Sun Belt Conference game

Week 4 Community Coffee Student-Athlete of the Week

Jonathan Ortega
Texas State | Freshman | 2B
Freshman Jonathan Ortega has been lighting it up for the Bobcats and this week was no different. He was 10-for-20 this week with a 4-for-6 performance at Big 12 opponent Baylor and a 5-for-6 performance in the series finale against UL Monroe. On those 10 hits, he hit four doubles and drove in two RBIs, but his true value came in the runs he scored. Being able to hit .500 for the week and score eight runs, two at Baylor and three in a single game against UL Monroe on Sunday. He added a walk, a steal and a sacrifice hit on the week along with some impressive defensive plays, twice catching a liner over his shoulder on the run for outs. He finished the week with an on-base percentage of .524 and a slugging percentage of .700.

Week 4 Community Coffee Pitcher of the Week

Dylan Moore
UL Lafayette | Sophomore | RHP
Sophomore Dylan Moore was lights out in relief for the Ragin’ Cajuns over the weekend earning two saves in two appearances to set a new school career record with 17. On the week, Moore struck out eight of the nine batters that he faced not allowing a single runner to reach in 3.0 innings. Moore struck out the side in the ninth inning of the series opener to ensure a 4-2 victory for the Cajuns. The right-hander tossed a six-out save in the rubber match of the series striking out five of the six batters that he faced with the only ball put in play against him not leaving the infield. The five strikeouts equaled a career high for Moore. Moore ranks 19th in the nation and leads the Sun Belt Conference with four saves.

Student-Athlete of the Week Archive
2.23 - Kyle Clement, UL Lafayette
3.01 - Luke Sherley, Texas State
3.08 - Ryan Scott, Little Rock
3.15 - Jonathan Ortega, Texas State

Pitcher of the Week Archive
2.23 - Chase Cohen, Georgia Southern
3.01 - Kevin Hill, South Alabama
3.08 - Lucas Humpal, Texas State
3.15 - Dylan Moore, UL Lafayette

AROUND THE SUN BELT CONFERENCE

• Community Coffee is the official coffee of the Sun Belt Conference. They are sponsoring this season’s baseball student-athlete and pitcher of the week awards as well as the Most Outstanding Player award at the tournament.
• Storms stretching from southwest Louisiana up through and over to the Northeast made for an interesting week as several teams were impacted included Little Rock and UL Monroe. Little Rock’s series with South Alabama was moved from Little Rock to Mobile and UL Monroe’s series with Texas State was moved from Monroe to San Marcos. Several other games were postponed on Friday night, but all teams were able to play their scheduled contests.
• South Alabama right-hander Kevin Hill struck out seven in Saturday’s win over Little Rock to pass former Jaguar Clark Girardeau for seventh on the career strikeouts (238) list at South Alabama.
• Texas State’s Lucas Humpal threw his second consecutive complete game. He struck out five and walked none to push his season strikeout-to-walk ratio up to 27-2.
• ULM will play its first midweek road games of the season as the Warhawks travel to Lake Charles, La., to face McNeese State... Game one of the midweek series is set for Tuesday at 6 p.m., followed by the finale on Wednesday at 6 p.m.
• With Georgia State’s next victory, head coach Greg Frady will tie Mike Hurst (293 wins from 1993-2006) as the winningest coach in GSU history, Frady is 292-238-1 in his 10th season as the Panthers’ head coach.
• Prior to last week, Appalachian State had not recorded two shutouts in a span of four games since 2012. Appalachian’s two shutouts already match its season total from 2015.