- Tournament Central
- Complete Game Notes
 
TARLETON STATE TEXANS (29-22) vs. WEST TEXAS A&M BUFFS (35-19)
SUPLIZIO FIELD • GRAND JUNCTION, COLO.

SCHEDULE: Thursday, May 15 • 4:30 p.m.
RADIO: KTRL 90.5 FM (Casey Hogan Play-by-Play)
LIVE AUDIO: www.kxtr.net
LIVE VIDEO: www.cmumavericks.com
LIVE STATS: www.cmumavericks.com
SERIES HISTORY: Texans lead 57-39
SERIES STREAK: Texans have won four straight.

LEADING OFF
         The Tarleton State Texans travel to Grand Junction, Colo. to participate in their second NCAA Division II South Central Regional Tournament, which will be held at Suplizio Field on the campus of Colorado State.
         The Texans, who earned the No. 5 seed in the tournament, will play an all-too-familiar opponent in the first round, taking on No. 2-seeded West Texas A&M this Thursday, May 15 at 4:30 p.m. (CDT).
         Also in the field of six teams is host and No. 1 seed Colorado Mesa, No. 3 seed Texas A&M-Kingsville, No. 4 seed St. Edward's and No. 6 seed New Mexico Highlands.
 
FOLLOWING THE ACTION
         • RADIO - Fans can listen locally on KTRL 90.5 FM or around the world at www.kxtr.net... Casey Hogan will call play-by-play, while Nathan Bural adds color commentary to the broadcast... Pregame show begins 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
         • INTERNET - CMUMavericks.com will provide a tournament central webpage for fans to find links to radio broadcasts, live stats and a live video feed.
 
TEXANS IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT
         This marks just the second time in school history for the Texan baseball team to reach the South Central Regional Tournament and first appearance since 2011. The Texans are 0-2 in its only two games played when the championships were held in San Antonio back in 2011.
 
A LOOK BACK
         The Texans are coming off a 4-3 victory over West Texas A&M in the championship game at the Lone Star Conference Tournament that was held in Kingsville this past weekend. The win vaulted the Texans to its first LSC Championship Tournament title in school history after the team went 3-0 in the double-elimination tournament.
         The win would give Tarleton the LSC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division II Baseball Championships as well.
         Tarleton relief pitcher Garrett Kelly was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player after he shutdown the buffs in the ninth inning to preserve the win and record his second save of the tournament.
 
SERIES NOTES
         Thursday's game will mark the 97th meeting between the two clubs, with Tarleton leading the all-time series 57-39 and have won four straight games against the Buffs. The Texans lost the season series to WT, 3-4, but following a pair of wins over the maroon and white in the LSC Championships, the Texans have pushed its record to 5-4 against WT for the entire season.
         Tarleton is 4-3 against WT in postseason play, with all of those games coming in the LSC tournament.
         When facing each other this season, the Texans are hitting .300 as a team, while WT is batting .307 through nine games. The Texan pitching squad is fairing far better than the Buffs heading into the regional tournament game as Tarleton has posted a 3.71 earned run average against WT, while the Buffs have registered a 5.13 ERA in the series.
         Tarleton's Garrett Kilgore is playing great against the Buffs as he heads into Thursday's game hitting .586 with 17 hits that have gone for four doubles and a home run. He has drove in 11 runs and scored nine runs against WT as well.
         In six mound appearances against WT, Garrett Kelly has yielded just a 0.79 ERA and has tallied four saves. He has struck out 12 batters and given up just two runs in his 11.1 innings of work against WT so far this season.
 
PUTTING IT IN NEUTRAL
         At neutral sites this season, Tarleton has gone 4-2 overall and is hitting .289 heading into Thursday's opener. That record includes going 2-0 against WT this past weekend in Kingsville.
         The pitching staff has yielded just a 3.71 ERA and opposing hitters are batting just .271 in that six-game span.
         The Texans are 21-15 overall at neutral sites under the direction of head coach Bryan Conger, which includes a mark of 17-8 over the past three seasons.
 
POSTSEASON NOTES
         The Texans had six players earn All-LSC honors following the 2014 regular season. Earning first team honors were: senior pitcher Robert Baker, senior catcher Jared Musgrove, and senior outfielder Rustin Thomas. Named to the second team were: senior third baseman Alvaro Moreno and senior pitcher Garrett Kelly. Senior second baseman Luke Slentz was an honorable mention selection as well.
         Moreno earned academic honors being named the LSC All-Academic team.
 
UP NEXT
         If the Texans win on Thursday, Tarleton would play the winner of Texas A&M-Kingsville/St. Edward's on Friday at 8 p.m. (CDT). If the Texans lose, Tarleton would play the loser of New Mexico Highlands/Colorado Mesa in an elimination game at 1 p.m. (CDT) on Friday.