Texans fall twice to No. 6 West Texas Sunday afternoon

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STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton dropped both games of Sunday’s doubleheader to settle for a series split with No. 6 West Texas A&M.

Game 1: No. 6 West Texas A&M 6, Tarleton 3

A valiant seventh-inning rally fell just short for the Texans in the third game of a four-game series with No. 6 West Texas A&M as Tarleton left the bases loaded and fell 6-3 to begin Sunday’s doubleheader.

West Texas A&M scored four runs in the second and third innings before tacking on a two spot in the sixth to extend its lead out to 6-0 after six.

Meanwhile, the Tarleton offense was held in check over the first six innings before a Luke Morton double with one out in the seventh sparked a rally. Francisco Rodriguez singled up the middle to plate pinch-runner Jake Shelby for the first run of the game and the Texan offense went on a roll with two outs.

Jake Hasbrouck followed up with an RBI double to the right-center gap to plate Rodriguez and after Tyler Fowler battled his way to a full-count walk, Hunter Hudson singled through the right side to bring home Hasbrouck’s pinch-runner, Jaxsen Davis, from second and cut the deficit in half.

Blake Adams kept the game alive with a walk to load the bases and force West Texas to dip into the bullpen. The rally would come up just short in the next at bat, however, as a hard line drive with eyes for the middle kicked off the pitcher’s leg and stayed in the infield for a groundout.

Tarleton had five hits in the game – one each from Morton, Rodriguez, Hasbrouck, Fowler, and Hudson – while Nathan Hickey suffered his second loss of the season after six innings of work. Alex DeBell worked the final inning on the mound and struck out two.



Game 2: No. 6 West Texas A&M 4, Tarleton 3

Tarleton dropped a 4-3 heartbreaker to close out the series against No. 6 West Texas A&M Sunday afternoon.

The teams started the game by trading single runs in the first inning. West Texas scored on back-to-back triples before a strike-out, throw-out double play got the Texans out of a jam in the first. Tarleton answered back when Blake Adams wore a pitch, stole second, and then scored on an RBI single through the right side from Luke Morton.

After WT tacked on single runs in the second and third to take a 3-1 lead, Tarleton knotted things up with a two spot in the bottom of the fourth. Francisco Rodriguez stayed alive by running out a potential double play and then came around to score on an RBI double in the left-center gap from Jake Hasbrouck. Two batters later, Hudson plated Hasbrouck with an RBI single into right field to tie things up at 3-3.

The Buffs tried to answer with a threat in the top of the fifth, but Chris Reed danced out of danger with a strikeout and a groundout with runners on the corners. The 3-3 tie carried into the sixth inning when WT loaded the bases and scored one on a sacrifice fly before Trent Stafford worked around any more runs. The damage was done, however, as the Buffs took a 4-3 lead.

Tarleton got a runner on in the seventh but couldn’t cash in to finish off the twin bill and split the series.

Morton, Hasbrouck, and Fowler led the offense with two hits each while Ruben Rodriguez, McCarver, and Hudson had one hit each. Tarleton used seven different pitchers to navigate through the game with Chris Reed leading the way with three innings of scoreless relief.

Tarleton will close out the regular season next weekend with a four-game series at Cameron, beginning Friday at 7:30 p.m.


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