STEPHENVILLE – The Texans dealt the Lancers their first loss in conference play to knock California Baptist out of first place.
Tarleton State (12-10, 3-4 WAC) took Game 1 against California Baptist (13-9, 3-1 WAC) with a 4-1 final on the Friday evening matchup at the Tarleton Baseball Complex in Stephenville.
Piercen McElyea got the start for the Texans with four strikeouts, no walks and one run allowed on five hits in 5.1 innings on the mound. Grant Garza earned his sixth win of the season, keeping his perfect record on the bump. In 2.2 innings, Garza compiled a pair of strikeouts, no walks and no runs on three hits. Jack Driskell earned his second save of the season with a perfect outing of no hits, no walks and one strikeout facing three batters in 1.0 inning.
Lukas Pirko (L, 3-1) saw the first 5.1 innings on the mound, giving up two runs on five hits, one walk and three strikeouts.
Tarleton State compiled four runs on nine hits while CBU totaled one run on eight hits and three doubles.
The Purple and White found the board early with a single from the leadoff hitter, Tyson Drake, to see the first runner on for the home team. A pair of groundouts saw Drake at third and a passed ball tallied the first run for the Texans.
The next four innings went scoreless but in the top of the sixth, California Baptist made their way onto the board with a long run to tie the game up, but not for long. A couple of doubles saw a pair of runners in scoring position with one out recorded. A fly out to left field tallied the first for the Lancers but a pop up to right field left a runner on, leaving the game tied up at 1-1.
In the bottom of the sixth, Cris Enriquez singled to second and shortly advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Cole Miears. Austin Russell walked and the pair of runners each advanced on a passed ball to put two Texans in scoring position. With two outs on the board, an RBI single from Ike Shirey sent Enriquez home to regain the lead for the home team. Mason Crews was next at the plate with an RBI single of his own to bring Russell home to see the Purple and White up 3-1.
The final run of the game came in the bottom of the seventh for Tarleton State. Hammonds got things moving for the home team with a single and made his way into scoring position after an error from the pitcher. With one out recorded for CBU, Enriquez singled to center field to see Hammonds cross the plate to add the final run of the evening with a 4-1 score.
Game 2 will see a 3 p.m. start time on Saturday.
Be the first to comment