Texans take down Cardinals to notch five consecutive wins

STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State Baseball (9-9) came out victorious against the UIW Cardinals (9-9), winning 18-3 on Wednesday afternoon. 

Brendon Carter (1-0) received the start and the win. Carter pitched 3.0 innings of work before being relieved by Parrish Beagle. 

Tarleton State came out hot in the first inning, putting up a stellar eight runs on six hits. Tyson Drake started the game with a leadoff single. After Jaime Perez was hit by a pitch, Slade McCloud singled to center field, driving in Drake for the first run of the game.  

Sergio Guerra then tallied his second triple in two games, a two-run shot off the center field wall that scored McCloud and Perez. Trace Morrison kept his extra-base hit streak alive as well, launching an RBI double to give the Texans a five-run lead. 

Ike Shirey registered a single and a steal to advance Morrison to third. The inning was capped off by a no-doubter home run from Hunter Smith, his first deep ball of the season. Smith’s three-run shot gave the Purple and White an 8-0 advantage after the first stanza. 

Carter continued to control the mound for the Texans, producing a scoreless second inning. The Cardinals, however, tacked on three runs in the third inning thanks to two consecutive hits from Kegan Magee and JD Gregson. 

The Purple and White responded immediately in the bottom of the third with a base-clearing triple from Drake that scored Lane Brewster, Shirey and Smith. This marked Drake’s fifth triple of the season and his 14th extra-base hit, which are both team highs. With one out on the board, Rayner Heinrich drove in Drake via a sacrifice fly to make the game 12-3 in favor of Tarleton State.  

Beagle and Peyton Fiene pitched a scoreless inning apiece to keep the momentum in the Texans’ favor. Tarleton State scratched off four more runs in the bottom of the fifth. This scoring spurt included a double from Heinrich and two singles from Morrison and Shirey, coupled with a pair of walks from Smith and Guerra. 

The Purple and White didn’t take their foot off the gas in the sixth inning. Jaime Perez hit an inside-the-park home run off the right field wall to make the game 18-3. Matthew Guthmiller and Damian Castorena did their duties on the mound and closed out the game for the Texans. 

Tarleton State Baseball will travel to Los Angeles this weekend where they will clash against Loyola Marymount in a three-game series. All games will be streamed on ESPN+.