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KINGSVILLE – The Tarleton State Texans erased an early 2-0 deficit and came back to down West Texas A&M 4-3 at Nolan Ryan Field in Kingsville to claim the program's first Lone Star Conference Tournament title and earn the league's automatic bid into next week's South Central Regional Tournament.
 
"The kids did a great job this weekend," head coach Bryan Conger said. "This may have been the best pitching job we did all weekend and it is exactly what we needed. When you are in a situation like this, you just go to your guys and ask them to give them everything they can give you and what they did today was amazing."
 
The Texans, who moved to 29-22 overall with the win, will head to a site yet to be determined next week to compete in the program's second regional championship tournament. The championship field will be announced Sunday evening at 9 p.m. on NCAA.com.
 
WT would knock on the door first, scoring a run in the top of the second inning on a Heath Davis single to make it a 1-0 game. The Buffs then added to its lead in the top of the third inning on a sacrifice fly from David Hebert that put WT on top 2-0.
 
Tarleton would counter though in the bottom half of the third inning, plating home a pair of runs when Dalton Weeks walked with the bases loaded and Luke Slentz drove home a run on a sacrifice fly to notch things up 2-2.
 
Tarleton would take its first lead in the bottom of the sixth inning when Rustin Thomas doubled home Evan Robinson, but WT came right back with a run scoring groundout from Matt Redfearn to tie it up at 3-3.
 
The Texans countered in the bottom of the seventh inning when Alvaro Moreno plated home Luke Slentz to give Tarleton a one-run lead and ultimately the game winning run for the Texans.
 
Garrett Kelly, who was later named the LSC Tournament Most Valuable Player, earned his second save of the championship tournament allowing just one hit and closing out the rest of the order to preserve the win and send the Texans to the regional championship.
 
Also named to the LSC All-Tournament team following the championship game was catcher Jared Musgrove, third baseman Moreno, outfielder Kevin Meredith and starting pitcher Robert Baker.
 
Moreno finished the championship game going 2-for-5 with a run batted in and Musgrove went 2-for-5 as well with a run scored. Thomas recorded a pair of hits with a run scored and one RBI.
 
Colton Burleson earned a no-decision, giving up just a pair of runs on six hits in three full innings of work, while Troyal Yosko earned the win to move to 3-3 on the season, allowing just one run on two hits in four complete innings. Kelly earned his fourth save of the season, yielding just the one hit in the final inning of the contest.
 
The regional tournament will get underway this Thursday, May 15 and will run through Sunday, May 18