CANYON – The final score doesn’t do justice to the game between top-seed West Texas A&M and No. 6-seed Tarleton Thursday night, but regardless Tarleton dropped its regional opener 7-2 and will now look to stave off elimination the rest of the way through the tournament.
For the first seven and a half innings, there was a pitcher’s duel happening at Wilder Park between a pair of All-Lone Star Conference First Team pitchers – Conner Fletcher and Joe Corbett.
Over the first seven innings, Fletcher scattered three solo runs to the Buffs while the Texan offense was in search of a spark. In the eighth, it was an at bat by Tyler Fowler that sparked the bats.
The sophomore third baseman beat out a bobbled ball with one away in the eighth to bring up Hunter Hudson, who worked the first full-count of the night before lifting the 3-2 pitch over the left-center wall for a two-run home run to bring the Texans back within one at 3-2.
Blake Adams followed up with a one-out double and moved to third on a passed ball, but the Texans couldn’t bring the tying run across in the inning. West Texas A&M pulled away with four in the bottom of the eighth to bring the game to its final score.
Adams, Alamo, Francisco Rodriguez, Jake Hasbrouck, and Hudson each had one hit for the game while Fletcher finished with 7.1 innings of work and five strikeouts. Connor Flanagan got the final two outs of the eighth inning.
The Texans will have a quick turnaround with an 11 a.m. showdown with perennial RMAC contender Colorado Mesa, who lost 13-10 to Texas A&M-Kingsville in game two on Thursday. The winner will play at 3 p.m. on Saturday against the loser of Colorado Mines and Texas A&M-Kingsville.
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