Baley leads Tarleton to first WAC win of the season

STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton held UTRGV scoreless for eight innings on the way to their first Western Athletic Conference victory of the season on Friday night as they took down the Vaqueros 6-2 at the Tarleton Baseball Complex.

Tarleton (5-12, 1-3 WAC) starting pitcher Luke Baley (1-1) earned the win, throwing 6.0 scoreless innings, allowing only five hits.

Baley blanking the Vaqueros (11-7, 2-2 WAC) along with Tarleton plating a run in the second inning to take the 1-0 lead was the recipe for success the Texans have been looking for all season as they have allowed opponents to score in the first inning in 11 of 17 games.

The Texans were matched up with UTRGV starting pitcher Kevin Stevens, who was the WAC preseason pitcher of the year and came into the contest with a 2-1 record. That did not faze them at all as they had seven hits and two runs off the right-handed pitcher.

The scoring for Tarleton got started in the second inning as Carter Dobrinski doubled to lead the inning off and Spencer Bloom followed it up with a single to push Dobrinski to third. Taylor Daniell flew out to center field but earned an RBI as Dobrinski came home to give Tarleton the 1-0 lead.

Tarleton pushed another run across in the sixth when Jaime Perez ripped a single through the right side to score Bloom.

The offense exploded in the seventh after Stevens exited the game for UTRGV. Bryan Aguilar led things off with a single, Trace Morrison was hit by a pitch, and Alec Williams pushed the runners up on a bunt that he singled on to load the bases.

London Green hit a ground ball down the left field line for a two-RBI double, Bloom hit a double to left field that scored Green, and the Texans were rolling at 6-0.

Jake Burcham got Tarleton out of the top of the eighth inning unscathed, but when he returned for the ninth to try and close things out, he walked two Vaqueros and allowed a single to load the bases. The next batter doubled to score two and make it 6-2.

Matthew Hickey entered the game and got three outs to earn his second save of the season.