Special to The Flash
TarletonSports.com
STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton picked up right where it left off from the Houston Winter Invitational last weekend by sweeping Friday’s doubleheader away from Arkansas-Fort Smith to improve to 9-2 on the year – matching the best 11-game start to a season in the last six years.
“The kids did a nice job of finding a way to win two hard-fought games today,” said head coach Bryan Conger. “It was good to see us continuing to get better and making strides in certain areas that we’ve been working on. The next step is for us to show up with good energy and intent tomorrow.”
Led by a career-high eight strikeout performance by Nathan Hickey, Tarleton blanked the Lions in the first game to mark the first time in the school’s modern era of baseball that a Texan pitching staff has posted three shutout victories over the first 10 games of the season. Hickey has been a part of two of them.
Hickey had it working early as the junior right-hander from Granbury opened the game with a 1-2-3 opening frame. From there, he went on to allow just four baserunners – three singles and a walk – over the next five innings to get a season high six innings of work. The junior struck out eight and improved to 3-0 on the season.
The offense came to his aid in the third inning when Ben Mauseth and Jose Reyes sparked things from the bottom of the Tarleton order.
Mauseth led off the inning with a double into the right center gap and moved to third on a single up the middle from Reyes. The runners took a free base on a balk, bringing across the only run Tarleton would ultimately need.
Francisco Rodriguez drove in some insurance with a sacrifice fly to plate Reyes two batters later.
With Tarleton on top 2-0, Tarleton turned it over to closer Eddie Avila in the seventh inning and the junior shut it down with two ground balls and a strikeout for his third save of the season.
Reyes led the offensive with a two-hit performance from the nine hole while Jake Hasbrouck, Dylan Lemons, and Mauseth had the rest of Tarleton’s five hits.
Game 2: Tarleton 4, Arkansas-Fort Smith 2
With the teams locked in a 2-2 tie late in the ballgame, Tarleton’s senior third baseman answered the ‘Call’ – pun intended – as Austin Call blasted off for his second home run of the season to lift the Texans past the Lions in game two.
Tarleton got on the board first when Dylan Lemons came around to score from second on an RBI single into center from Mauseth in the bottom of the second for a quick 1-0 Tarleton lead. The Lions answered right back with one in the third to even things up at 1-1, which stayed until the sixth inning.
Fort Smith took a lead on a two-out error in the sixth to take a 2-1 advantage, but Tarleton responded in their half of the inning off a Fort Smith miscue. Rodriguez led off the inning by going all the way to third on an infield single that sailed into right field and then came in to tie the game on a wild pitch.
After a scoreless inning and a half, Call stepped into the box with Hasbrouck on first following a one-out single and crushed one to deep left field for the game-winning home run.
Eli McLane came on to close out the game with a three-up, three-down ninth inning for his first career save. Alex DeBell earned the win after throwing two innings of scoreless relief. Colby Fowler earned the start and tossed six innings, allowing two runs – one earned – while striking out four.
Tarleton will look for the series sweep of Arkansas-Fort Smith at 1 p.m. Saturday in Stephenville.
Be the first to comment