Can baseball sleeping giant Texas State reach its potential in Pac-12?

Texas State was officially introduced as the reborn Pac-12’s ninth member for the 2026-27 athletics season on Monday.

The Bobcats will wrap up their final season in the Sun Belt Conference before joining current Pac-12 members Oregon State and Washington State, Boise State, Colorado State, Fresno State, San Diego State and Utah State of the Mountain West and Gonzaga of the West Coast Conference.

As a relative newcomer to high-level athletics, how will Texas State fit in with some of the top programs outside the Power 4 conferences?

Boise State Broncos on SI is taking a look at how the Bobcats stack up with the rest of the Pac-12 in football, men’s basketball and baseball.

We already covered football and men’s basketball and will now move on to baseball.

Texas State’s Pac-12 baseball outlook

Under longtime head coach Ty Harrington, Texas State routinely ranked among the top baseball programs in the Southland Conference and Sun Belt.

Harrington coached the Bobcats from 2000 to 2019 and compiled a 657-516-2 overall record with NCAA Tournament regional appearances in 2000, 2009 and 2011. Texas State won 30 or more games in 16 of Harrington’s 20 seasons at the helm.

Following Harrington’s retirement, the Bobcats promoted Steven Trout to lead the program. Texas State has continued to succeed under Trout with a 172-137 overall record over the last six years.

The Bobcats finished 47-14 during a breakthrough 2022 season, including a dramatic upset victory over then-No. 1 Texas. Texas State cruised to the Sun Belt title with a 26-4 record and came within three outs of winning the Stanford Regional.

Texas State should be able to compete right away in a Pac-12 that features just five other baseball-playing schools: Fresno State, Gonzaga, Oregon State, San Diego State and Washington State.

Oregon State — one of the top programs nationally — projects to be the class of Pac-12 baseball. The Beavers have won three national championships (2006, 2007 and 2018) with seven College World Series appearances since 2005, including this year.

Fresno State won the 2008 CWS title and has qualified for the NCAA Tournament each of the past two seasons. Gonzaga made back-to-back regional appearances in 2021 and 2022 under longtime head coach Mark Machtolf.

San Diego State and Washington State have struggled in recent seasons but are historically strong programs.

Sitting in the middle of a baseball recruiting hotbed, Texas State could emerge as a baseball power as it transitions to the Pac-12. An Oregon State-Texas State rivalry has a chance to emerge in future years.