STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State slammed the Texas A&M International pitching staff to the tune of 10 runs and 18 hits to open the four-game set with a 10-7 victory over the Dustdevils at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex Friday afternoon.
The Texans, who were making the latest home debut since reinstating baseball in 1988, fell behind early when Texas A&M International put the first two runs on the board in the opening frame on a two-run error with two outs in the inning. Tarleton scraped back to get one run back in the bottom of the first when
Dalton Weeks ripped a single through the left side to plate
Jonathan Schmitz for a 2-1 game after the first.
After Tarleton starter
Matt Herrick kept the Dustdevils in check over the next two frames, Tarleton evened things up in the bottom of the third when Brandon Villenueve blasted an RBI triple off the center field wall to bring home
Alec Humphreys for a tie game at 2-2.
Herrick battled through the fourth, but surrendered three runs on an RBI single and a 2-RBI double to put International up 5-2.
Kevin Meredith started the rally right away in the bottom of the fourth inning when the senior outfielder blasted off to deep left field for his second home run of the season and the first at Cecil Ballow Field this season. After back-to-back singles and a sacrifice bunt,
Alec Humphreys and
Landon Merka drove in runs in two straight at bats on an RBI single and a sacrifice fly, respectively, to knot the score at 5-5 after four.
Over the next two innings, each team put up a run as International added one in the fifth and Tarleton got another RBI single from Humphreys in the sixth to keep things tied going into the final third of the ball game.
Eythan Lenz came on to pitch in the seventh and kept the Dustdevils off the board before the offense went to work in the bottom of the inning.
Dalton Weeks and
Kevin Meredith led off the inning with back-to-back base hits to put Tarleton up 7-6 before
Elijah Christenson provided some insurance with an RBI single to plate Meredith for an 8-6 Tarleton advantage after seven.
After
Hunter Houston worked a flawless eighth inning,
Andrew Jacobi and
Kevin Meredith each drove in a run in the bottom of the eighth to extend the Tarleton lead to 10-6.
John Kresta pitched the top of the ninth and surrendered a run, but closed out the win for Tarleton.
In Tarleton's 18-hit explosion, there were four different Texans with at least three hits in the game. Humphreys and Meredith each went 3-5 while Schmitz and Christenson were 3-4 at the dish. Meredith (3) and Humphreys (2) had multi-RBI games for Tarleton.
Villeneuve was 2-3 while Weeks went 2-4 and
Matt Olive and Jacobi had the rest of the Tarleton offense.
Herrick earned the starting assignment for the Texans and went the first four innings, allowing five runs – three earned – on five hits and two walks to go along with five strikeouts.
Cole Foster relieved Herrick in the fifth and allowing one run on two hits in the fifth.
Troyal Yosko, Lenz and Houston each pitched a full inning over the next three frames and combined to hold the Dustdevils to just one hit while striking out four total – including two from Houston in the eighth – as the offense rallied back. Kresta closed things out with one run on two hits and a strikeout in the ninth.
Tarleton will be back in action Saturday at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader against the Dustdevils.
Kyle Gottardy is the anticipated starting pitcher for Tarleton State.
