Tarleton State University Athletics

When the 2023 baseball season begins, Aaron Meade will begin his fourth season as the head baseball coach for Tarleton State University.

In his third season as head coach, Tarleton's second at the Division l level and in the Western Athletic Conference, the Texans took another step towards the building of a formidable program. Meade coached the Texans to a 14-17 home record at the Tarleton Baseball Complex that included series sweeps of WAC rivals UTRGV and Stephen F. Austin. The 14 wins at home for Tarleton was the most since the 2018 season. The 2022 schedule was highlighted by wins over UTSA, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Lamar and a series victory over Abilene Christian. The Texans welcomed a Power Five opponent in Washington State to Stephenville, and took a 7-5 lead into the ninth inning. They also hosted Wofford, who finished the 2022 season with 40 wins, and forced the game to extra innings before ultimately falling. Tarleton mashed 69 home runs which was good for third best in the WAC and the best for a Tarleton team dating back to the 2018 season.

Meade coached London Green and Kemuel Thomas-Rivera to the program's first All-Conference first or second team honors in the Division I era. Green earned second team All-WAC at-large honors as well as landing on the All-Defensive team. Thomas-Rivera landed on the All-WAC second team as a second baseman.
 
In his first full season at the helm, the Texans first at the Division l level, Meade and the Texans proved to be an up-and-coming force in the Western Athletic Conference. Comprising a schedule of multiple high-caliber teams including Texas A&M, TCU and Dallas Baptist, Meade's Texans showed the nation they were ready to compete at a high level. His team pushed Texas A&M to extra innings in their first midweek game of the year, took the series opener against #14 Dallas Baptist, and made a late-inning comeback against Meade's alma mater, Missouri State. The Texans also collected non-conference home wins over future WAC rivals Lamar and ACU.
 
Meade coached two WAC Players of the Week in London Green and Bryan Aguilar, as well as one WAC Pitcher of the Week after Alex Pinedo tossed a complete game two-hit shutout against Northwestern State. Meade also coached seven players to All-WAC Honorable Mention awards to close out the season.
 
His debut season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but his career was certainly off to a stellar start. Meade led the Texans to 14 wins in the first 24 games of the season for a win percentage of .583, which is the highest by a rookie head coach in Tarleton’s NCAA era. Meade’s first career coaching win was a 10-0 shutout of UT Permian Basin in his home debut. Justin Waltmon threw a complete-game shutout on the bump for Meade’s milestone victory.
 
Meade was announced as the eighth head coach in Tarleton’s modern era of baseball on July 23 and introduced at a press conference on July 24.
 
Meade came to Tarleton after a four-year career as the top assistant and pitching coach for Pittsburg State University (MIAA) in Pittsburg, Kansas. In his last two seasons, Meade helped the Gorillas to back-to-back 30-win seasons, their first since 2004, and led the pitching staff to its lowest team ERA since 2002 (3.91) in his final year. In 2018, Meade helped lead the Gorillas to their first NCAA regional tournament since 2002.
 
Prior to his four seasons at Pitt State, Meade spent one year at William Jewell College and helped the Cardinals to their first NCAA regional tournament berth in school history. He also spent a season as the volunteer assistant at his alma mater, Missouri State, where he helped the team reach the semifinals of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship Tournament.

In his coaching career, Meade has coached seven Major League Baseball draft picks including 2015 Toronto Blue Jays first-round RHP John Harris (29th overall). Meade's other draft picks include Matt Hall (2015 Detroit Tigers 6th round RHP), Colton Pogue (2018 Washington Nationals 28th round SS), and Alex Achtermann (2019 Colorado Rockies 30th round RHP). Hall reached the Major Leagues in 2018 with the Tigers. He also coached RHP Cal Quantrill during summer ball in 2014 prior to his selection as the eighth overall pick by the San Diego Padres in the 2016 MLB Draft.
 
Meade shined on the field for Missouri State from 2008-10 where he was a two-time All-MVC selection before being selected in the 10th round (324th overall) by the Los Angeles Angels. Meade pitched in the minor leagues for four seasons, winning nine games and striking out 165 batters in over 200 innings of work. He was named the Angels’ Instructional League Pitcher of the Year in 2010.
 
He resides in Stephenville with his wife, Katherine, and daughter, Joelle.

 

The Aaron Meade File
Hometown	Kansas City, Missouri
High School	Rockhurst High School ('06)
College	Missouri State ('10)
Family	Wife: Katherine
	Daughter: Joelle
Coaching History
Year	School		Position
2014	Missouri State		Volunteer Assistant Coach
2015	William Jewell		Assistant Coach
2016-19	Pittsburg State		Assistant Coach
2020-Present	Tarleton		Head Coach
NCAA Head Coaching Record
Year	School		Overall	Conf.	Home	Postseason
2020	Tarleton		14-10	14-10	9-4	Season ended due to COVID-19
2021	Tarleton		20-35	13-23	8-13	Inaugural D1 Season
2022	Tarleton		17-36	10-20	14-17
TOTAL	Tarleton: 3 Years		51-81	37-53	31-34