STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton State Baseball team defeated Cameron in game one of a four-game series on Friday. The two teams met again Saturday afternoon and split a doubleheader at the Cecil Ballow Complex.
Game 1: Tarleton 2, Cameron 1
A day after the Texans had a walk-off three-run home run by
Brandon Villeneuve, Tarleton once again relied on late-game timely hitting and a dominating pitching performance by
Colton Burleson to defeat the Aggies 2-1 in game one of a doubleheader.
Burleson and Cameron starter Dirk Masters swapped shutout innings through the first four innings of the game, with Burleson retiring the first seven Aggie hitters he faced.
The Texans' breakthrough inning came in the bottom half of the fifth when
Landon Merka led off with a single up the middle. After advancing to second on a
Peter McMahon sacrifice, the junior infielder from The Woodlands stole third to put the Texans 90 feet away from the game's first run with only one out.
Leadoff hitter
Kevin Meredith later walked, paving the way for
Alec Humphreys' single through the right side to score Merka and put the Texans up 1-0.
A two-out error by the Cameron third baseman allowed Meredith to score and give the Texans (9-6, 3-2 in Lone Star Conference play) a 2-0 advantage.
Landon Thompson led the Texan offense going 2-for-3 at the plate in the opener.
Although the lead was small, it might as well have been by double figures with Burleson on the mound for the Texans.
The senior right-hander tossed 6.1 innings, surrendering only five hits and punched out three Aggies to move to a team-best 3-0 on the season.
Burleson didn't allow many Cameron baserunners, but when the Aggies did reach base, Burleson had an answer and trusted his defense to back him up.
Cameron only reached second base twice in the first six innings with Burleson on the bump. The Aggies struggled to make solid contact, resulting in 10 groundball outs. Of the 10 balls hit on the ground, none were bigger than the sixth-inning double play enforced by Burleson to get out of a potential rally generated by the Aggies.
After the Aggies were able to break through and produce a pair of hits that led to a run off of Burleson in the seventh and final inning, head coach
Bryan Conger went to
Hunter Houston to close the door on the Cameron comeback.
With runners at the corners and the Aggies down to their final out, Houston got Nate Hale to ground out to second to register his first save of the season.
Game 2: Cameron 9, Tarleton 5
Cameron put runs on the board in the final four innings and pounded 11 hits while taking advantage of five Texan errors en route to a 9-5 victory in the backend of the doubleheader at Cecil Ballow Complex.
The Aggies jumped out on top in the second inning after back-to-back errors on the Texans' infield and capitalized on a pair of walks to take a 2-0 lead.
Tarleton State (9-7, 3-3 in LSC play) responded in the bottom half of the second inning by taking a 3-2 lead without recording a hit in the inning.
The Texans loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of hit batters that allowed
Evan Robinson to drive in
Zach Fleet on a sacrifice fly to left field. Tarleton added two more runs on wild pitches from the Cameron pitchers. However, the Texans stranded three men on base to end the inning.
Cameron starter Javarias Banks lasted only one out on the mound after suffering and injury and had to leave the game. After 1.1 innings of relief from Zek Kleypas, the Aggies handed the ball over to Jordan Dailey – who pitched two innings against Tarleton on Friday – and the right-hander tossed the final 5.1 innings to pick up the win for the Aggies.
Once Dailey took the mound, the Texans were only able to scatter three hits heading into the final inning. With a 15 mph wind blowing in from center field, Dailey utilized the wind and got the Texans to pop out eight times.
Kyle Gottardy started on the mound for the Texans and went three innings before Conger went to his bullpen. Although Gottardy (0-4) gave up five runs, only two were earned against the senior right-hander.
The Texans fought back in the seventh, scoring two runs on two hits – an
Evan Robinson double and
Jonathan Schmitz's RBI single – but the six-run deficit entering the final inning was too much for the Texans to overcome.
Jonathan Schmitz went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Texans and drove in a run.
Peter McMahon reached base all three times (one hit, two hit by pitches) while racking up an RBI and scoring a run.
The Texans will host Cameron Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. for the final game of the four-game series at Cecil Ballow Complex.
