HOUSTON – Plenty of Texans made their mark over the course of 27 outs in the final game of the 2018 Winter Invitational at Minute Maid Park and each one added up to an emotional bounce-back win for Tarleton Sunday night.
“The pace of this game and the pace of our team tonight was much more like the Texan Baseball teams that we’re accustomed to being a part of,” said head coach Bryan Conger. “They were resilient and tough and they showed that tonight.”
The LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year, Nathan Hickey, made his season debut and gave the Texans five innings of work, allowing two runs on four hits and four walks with seven strikeouts. He gave way to Connor Flanagan, who worked a clean sixth inning to send the game into the seventh with the Rattlers clinging to a 2-1 lead. Tarleton’s lone run of the first seven innings came on a Luis Rivas home run to lead off the fifth.
In the bottom of the seventh, St. Mary’s extended its lead to 3-1 and threatened for more with the bases loaded and two outs with pinch-hitting senior Bryce Brandl at the plate.
Conger went to the bullpen and turned to lefty Trent Stafford for his collegiate debut and the redshirt sophomore delivered by freezing Brandl with a full-count fastball for strike three to escape the jam and keep things at 3-1.
“Trent came in and did a tremendous job,” said Conger. “To make your first appearance at the NCAA level in a big-league park with the bases loaded in a big situation and strike that young man out was absolutely phenomenal. The momentum of the game changed with that at bat. The momentum of the dugouts completely changed in that moment.”
New life filled the Texans and, after a leadoff walk to Elvin Alamo, Blake Adams delivered a brand-new ballgame with a home run off the wall in the left field Crawford boxes at Minute Maid.
“(Blake) did a heck of a job in sticking to approach in that moment,” said Conger. “We’re extremely proud of the job he did to be able to stick to his routine and his breath at that moment.”
The Texans wouldn’t stop with a tie as they continued to pile it on with back-to-back walks from Francisco Rodriguez and Dylan Lemons and then back-to-back hit by pitches by Jake Hasbrouck and Jared McCarver to plate the go-ahead run at 4-3. After a fly ball to left, Luis Rivas also wore a hit by pitch with the bases loaded for an RBI before Ruben Rodriguez capped off the five-run inning with a sacrifice fly.
Now in control at 6-3, Conger turned to yet another senior – right-hander Eddie Avila – out of the bullpen to lock down the final six outs. Avila earned his first save of the year with two innings of work and two strikeouts to send the Texans into the win column for the second time this season.
“Eddie was phenomenal,” said Conger. “Eddie has a look in his eye when he’s in that particular place and then you’re comfortable as a coach. He had that look in his eye when he came out of the bullpen tonight. He really competed well and we’re really proud of him.
“Another guy of out the bullpen who played a big part for us tonight was Kurt Johnson and what he did for us yesterday,” he continued. “We talked with Kurt this morning at breakfast and told him that what he was able to do yesterday (with 5.2 innings of scoreless relief) allowed us to line up the game accordingly tonight. After the game, I told him this win is due in large part to what he did yesterday. He was phenomenal and I gave him a hug and said he had a part in this one tonight.”
Stafford got the win with his one-third inning of relief while Francisco Rodriguez and McCarver each led the way with two hits. Adams, Dylan Lemons, Hasbrouck, and Rivas had one hit each to bring the Texan hit total to eight.
Tarleton and St. Mary’s will be each other’s next opponents as the teams will meet in San Antonio for a three-game series next weekend, starting on Friday.
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