Box Score - Box Score
HOUSTON, Texas – Tarleton's
Pete Perez (RHP, Sr, River City, Calif.) struck out eight batters in his season debut to guide the Texans to a 5-2 win over Arkansas Tech at the Astros in Action D-II Invitational Friday night at Minute Maid Park in Houston.
“We are extremely proud of the kids and the effort they gave us tonight,” head coach
Bryan Conger said. “They did a really good job of grinding the whole game and not letting the game speed up on them.”
Despite giving up a run to ATU in the first inning, Perez managed to strike out the side and Tarleton trailed 1-0 heading into the bottom of the frame. The ATU lead did not last long though as
Ryan Small (INF, Sr, Longview) kicked off the season with a double down the right field line and later came around to score on
Rustin Thomas' (OF, Jr, Mansfield) triple to the left-center field gap.
Alvaro Moreno (INF, Jr, McAllen) then drove home Thomas on a sacrifice fly and the Texans led 2-1.
Perez (1-0) surrendered just four more hits to the Wonder Boys over his next six complete innings, striking out five batters and walking just one in the process.
“Pete was excellent tonight,” said Conger. “He really settle in after the leadoff triple and showed why he is a No. 1 [type pitcher].
Tarleton put up two more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as
Fola Lajide (OF, Sr, Grand Prairie) and
Jonathan Schmitz (C, So, College Station) each drove in runs to give the Texans a 4-1 lead. Moreno made it a 5-1 game after knocking in his second run batted in of the game with a solo home run to the left field stands at Minute Maid Park.
Garrett Kelly (RHP, Jr, Corpus Christi) shutdown the ATU eighth inning and
Landon Thompson (RHP, So, Helotes) yielded just one run to the Wonder Boys in the top of the ninth inning before closing out the game with a strike out to secure the three-run victory.
“We are very proud of the way both Garrett and Landon pitched tonight,” said Conger. “They did a great job of not letting the external environment affect them”.
Lajide finished the game going 2-for-4 at the plate, while scoring in a run and recording one RBI. Overall, the top five batters in the lineup went 6-for-17, knocking in four runs on the evening and scoring all five of Tarleton's runs in the contest.
Defensively, the Texans managed to work one double play and the pitching staff stranded eight ATU runners on base. Tarleton's defense did not surrender one error the entire game as well.
“Defensively we played very solid the whole game,” said Conger. “Offensively, we have a ways to go, but it is early and we showed some really good signs of being really good at the plate.”
ATU's Ryan Taylor (0-1) was saddled with the loss on Friday. He gave up four runs (all earned) on six hits in 6.1 innings of work, striking out four and walking three. Dustin Thomas relieved the starting pitcher, going 1.2 innings and fanning one. He allowed one run on one hit in the game.
The Wonder Boys fall to 0-1 overall on the season, falling in its season-opener.
Lone Star Conference schools (Tarleton, Abilene Christian, Incarnate Word, Texas A&M-Kingsville) were well represented on Friday as all four teams collected wins in the first day of the Astros in Action D-II Invitational.
The Texans will take the field again tomorrow at Minute Maid Park, facing Arkansas-Monticello (0-1) at 4 p.m. Senior
Miguel Ramirez (RHP, Sr, Gallup, N.M.) will take the hill for the Texans. Live stats of the game can be found by clicking this
link here.
Tarleton State 5, Arkansas Tech 2 (Feb 01, 2013 at Houston, Texas)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Arkansas Tech....... 100 000 001 - 2 8 0 (0-1)
Tarleton State...... 200 002 01X - 5 7 0 (1-0)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pitchers: Arkansas Tech - R. Taylor; D. Thomas(7) and C. Fergus. Tarleton State -
Pete Perez;
Garrett Kelly(8);
Landon Thompson(9) and
Jonathan Schmitz.
Win-
Pete Perez (1-0) Loss-R. Taylor (0-1) T-2:16 A-906
HR TARLETON -
Alvaro Moreno.
Weather: Roof open, 59 degrees, S 8 mph
