Special to The Flash
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STEPHENVILLE (February 4, 2017) – Tarleton got things rolling in the right direction Friday afternoon as the Texans handled Arlington Baptist to the tune of a 9-0 shutout at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.
“It was a good first day for us,” said head coach Bryan Conger. “I was proud of our energy and our intent. Obviously, it’s opening day so there are a lot of things to work on as we continue to grow as a team, but there were a lot of positives.
“We beat out a couple of infield singles with good hustle,” said Conger on the positive things he took from the opening day win. “We got hit by a couple pitches, which was good to see. We played really good defense. Our pitchers threw competitive strikes and as far as our offense as a whole, I was proud of their intent at the plate.”
The Texans wasted no time in supplying starter Nathan Hickey with plenty of run support as Tarleton opened the flood gates with an eight-run second inning, highlighted by the season’s first home – a grand slam off the bat of Austin Call.
Call started the inning with the team’s first base hit of 2017 before a sacrifice bunt, a walk, and single loaded the bases for Ben Mauseth. Mauseth, a senior shortstop from Rio Rico, Arizona, laced an RBI single back up the middle, which plated a pair when the Patriot fielder mishandled the ball for a 2-0 Tarleton lead.
After an RBI groundout by Jose Reyes pushed the lead to 3-0, Blake Adams extended the inning by outrunning a routine ground ball to short for an RBI infield single. A single from Francisco Rodriguez and a hit by pitch from Jake Hasbrouck loaded up the bases for Call, who promptly unloaded them with a long ball to left-center for an 8-0 Tarleton advantage.
Meanwhile, Hickey was in complete control on the bump.
The junior from Granbury didn’t allow a runner to reach base until a single in the fourth inning. He pitched the first five innings to earn his first Tarleton victory before giving way to Alex DeBell out of the bullpen. DeBell went three innings, striking out three, before Matt Herrick finished it off with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
The Texan pitchers tossed Tarleton’s first opening day shutout of Conger’s head coaching tenure and the first since 2007 when Tarleton beat Texas A&M International 8-0 to open the season 10 years ago to the day. It’s the fourth opening-day shutout of Tarleton’s modern era.
Tarleton tacked on its final run in the fifth inning when Jon Tauzin doubled to left field to plate Call from second base for the final 9-0 score.
Call went 3-4 at the dish with three runs scored and four RBIs, all of which came on his second-inning homer. Adams, Rodriguez, and Tauzin each had two base hits while Mauseth and Jose Reyes added one each to round out Tarleton’s 11-hit attack.
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