- Box Score
- Photo Gallery (Tarleton Athletics Media Relations)
ABILENE – The Tarleton Texans fell to top-seeded Abilene Christian, 10-3, in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championships at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene on Saturday.
Tarleton (25-24) will now face Southeastern Oklahoma in the first elimination game of the championships, Sunday, May 2, at 11 a.m.
The Texans, coming off a 3-1 series win over the Wildcats last weekend, looked very good early in the game as they took a 3-0 lead over the host team. Chris Casazza got the Texans going with solo shot in the top of the second inning, his 15th of the season, to put Tarleton on top 1-0.
Tim Rainey then led off the third inning with a double and then later came home to score on Junnior Dishmey's ground out which led to a run batted in. Charlie Ulbricht then doubled to left field and then scored on Mark Jeffery's RBI-single through the left side. Unfortunately for the Texans, that would be the final runs scored on the evening.
Ryan Salt (L, 4-6) recorded a three-up-three-down in the first and faced just four hitters in the second before getting into trouble in the third inning.
With a runner on, ACU's Aaron Oliver blasted an opposite-field home run to right field to pull the Wildcats to within a run, down 3-2. Then in the bottom of the fourth, the Wildcats brought home a pair of runs to take a 4-3 lead.
ACU went on to score two more runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth innings to take the opening round game by seven runs.
Cameron Aspaas (W, 6-4) looked anything like the pitcher the Texans faced last Friday in Abilene after giving up four runs in 3.2 innings of work before leaving the game after getting hit in the back of the head on a throw from home to second by the catcher. Aspaas allowed the first three early runs, but then settled down and worked 7.0 full innings allowing just seven hits and striking out three to pick up the win.
ACU's Josh Crockett and Brad Rutherford worked a scoreless inning each to close out the game for the Wildcats.
Salt was saddled with the loss, allowing six runs on seven hits in 5.0 innings of work. Jake Sowell and Brandon Van Riper worked the final three innings for the Texans.
Ulbricht led the Texans at the plate, tallying three hits in four plate appearances. Nathan Hille went 2-for-2 on the evening as well.
The Texans and Savage Storm are set to get underway at 11 a.m. tomorrow morning.
