ABILENE – The Tarleton Texans will make their second straight and seventh overall appearance in the Lone Star Conference Championship when they travel to Abilene to face the No. 11 Abilene Christian Wildcats at Crutcher Scott Field.

ON DECK

The Tarleton Texan baseball will make a return trip to the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament this weekend, May 1-4, at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene.

The Texans downed Abilene Christian last weekend, taking three of four from the then No. 9-ranked Wildcats, finishing the season 25-23 overall and 21-19 in the LSC and earning the No. 6 seed into the tournament.

This makes the second straight season the Texans have advanced to the tournament under second-year head coach Bryan Conger. Before Conger arrived, the Texans had not been to the tournament since 2003.

The Texans will face tournament host ACU at 7 p.m. on Saturday. If Tarleton wins on Saturday, the Texans would face the winner of the Angelo State/Southeastern Oklahoma game at 3 p.m. on Sunday. Should the Texans lose on Saturday, Tarleton would then face the loser of the Cameron/Texas A&M-Kingsville game in the tournament's first elimination game at 11 a.m. on Sunday.

TARLETON IN THE LSC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Tarleton is 7-12 all-time in the Lone Star Conference Championship Tournament. The Texans have been to two finals (1998, 2002), but have never won the championship. Tarleton fell to Texas A&M-Kingsvile during the 1998 championship and then fell to Abilene Christian in 2002.

Last season, the Texans surprised a lot of people, winning its first two games of the tournament - including a 6-3 victory over the No. 1-seeded Cameron Aggies in the first round. Tarleton went on to defeat Southeastern Oklahoma, 7-3, in the second round before falling, 5-4, to Abilene Christian. The Texans were then eliminated from the tournament by Angelo State, falling 5-3 to the Rams.

Chris Casazza and Danny Morris were each named to the all-tournament team following the championship.

TEXANS AGAINST THE FIELD

Tarleton went 7-9 in 2010 against the teams in this year's tournament. The Texans went 1-3 against both Angelo State and Southeastern Oklahoma before splitting its series, 2-2, with Texas A&M-Kingsville. Tarleton's series with Cameron was rained out and the Texans then ended the season with a 3-1 series win over Abilene Christian.

The Texans are 5-9 overall against the teams in the LSC Championships. Tarleton is: 1-0 vs. Cameorn; 0-1 vs. Angelo State; 1-2 vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville; 2-1 vs. Southeastern Oklahoma; and 1-5 vs. Abilene Christian.

SEASON REWIND

The Texans opened the season at home with a 3-1 series win over Colorado Christian, but would not win their next series until Mar. 12-13, when Tarleton took all four games from East Central. Tarleton then split its season series' with West Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville before winning the final three series' (Central Oklahoma, Southwestern Oklahoma, Abilene Christian) of the regular-season.

Tarleton headed into the final series with ACU needing to win at least one more game than Eastern New Mexico, while avoiding a split and a Northeastern State sweep of UCO. Tarleton's third win over ACU put the Texans into the tournament.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

Saturday, May 1
Game 2 – Texas A&M-Kingsville (#4)?vs. Cameron (#3), 11 a.m.
Game 3 – Angelo State (#5) vs. Southeastern?Oklahoma (#2), 3 p.m.
Game 1 – Tarleton (#6)?vs. Abilene Christian (#1), 7 p.m.
 
Sunday, May 2
Game 4 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 11 a.m.
Game 5 – Winner Game 1 vs. Loser Game 3, 3 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3, 7 p.m.
 
If four teams remain after Game 6, the following schedule will be followed:
Monday, May 3
Game 7 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6, 11 a.m.
Game 8 – Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 6, 3 p.m.
Game 9 – Winner Game 8 vs. Loser Game 7, 7 p.m.
 
Tuesday, May 4
Game 10 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 9, 1 p.m.
Game 11 – If necessary, same teams as in Game 10, 5 p.m.
 
If five teams remain after Game 6 and two after Game 9, the following procedure will be observed:
Monday, May 3
Game 7 ­– Loser Game 5 vs. Loser Game 6, 11 a.m.
Game 8 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 3 p.m.
Game 9 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m.
 
Tuesday, May 4
Game 10 – Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 8, 1 p.m.
Game 11 – If necessary, same teams as in Game 10, 5 p.m.
 
If five teams remain after Game 6 and three after Game 9, the following schedule will be followed:
Monday, May 3
Game 9 – Winner Game 7 vs. Winner Game 6, 7 p.m.
 
Tuesday, May 4
Game 10 – Loser Game 9 vs. Winner Game 8, 1 p.m.
Game 11 – Winner Game 9 vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m.