STEPHENVILLE – In their first game action in two weeks, the Texan Baseball team dropped a Saturday evening doubleheader to No. 8 Angelo State in Tarleton's LSC-opening series at the Cecil Ballow Complex.
  
Tarleton State suffered its third shutout of the season in the series opener Saturday afternoon as the Rams scored 14 total runs in the fifth and sixth innings en route to an 18-0 loss for the Texans.
 
Matt Herrick threw up goose eggs over the first three innings as the Tarleton sophomore was locked in a 0-0 pitcher's duel over the first third of the game. Tarleton had a chance to go on top early when Dalton Weeks laced a double into the left center gap and Kevin Meredith reached on an error and stole second, but a pair of strikeouts ended the Tarleton threat in the second inning.
 
Meanwhile, Angelo State broke through with a pair of runs in the fourth inning before exploding for eight in the top of the fifth to take a 10-0 lead.
 
Tarleton got a another golden chance in the sixth when a walk Landon Merka, an Andrew Jacobi hit by pitch and a wild pitch set the Texans up with runners on second and third with one away, but a strikeout and groundout brought the rally to a close once again.
 
The Rams added six more in the sixth and two in the top of the seventh to bring the game to the final score.
 
Tarleton managed only three hits on the day with two of them – both doubles – coming from Weeks while Landon Thompson added a two-bagger of his own in the fifth inning for the third and final base hit of the game.
 
Herrick took the loss, falling to 2-1 on the year, after throwing 4.2 innings and allowing 10 runs on 11 hits while walking three and striking out three. Quade Adams pitched a third of an inning and was touched for five runs – four earned – on three hits and a walk.
 
Austin Drolette and Cole Foster threw the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, allowing five combined hits and three combined runs.
  
A nine-run second inning proved to be the difference as Tarleton dropped the night cap of Saturday's twin bill against the Rams 10-2.
 
After a scoreless first inning, Angelo State took advantage of Tarleton's only error of the game by scoring five unearned runs – to go along with four earned runs – for a 9-0 lead after the top of the second inning. Troyal Yosko came out of the bullpen in the second and stabilized the pitching staff by throwing the final 5.1 innings of the game allowing one run on seven hits and two walks.
 
Tarleton got its first run of the game in the sixth when Merka singled home Alec Humphreys and, after Angelo's final run in the seventh, the Texans added one more in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Matt Olive to plate Meredith.
 
Kyle Gottardy took the loss after throwing the first 1.2 innings and allowing nine runs – four earned – on six hits and two walks. Yosko relieved him and finished the contest.
 
Tarleton mustered five hits for the game at the dish, including a 2-3 effort from Merka. Humphreys, Weeks and Thompson had the rest of the Tarleton base hits in game two.
 
The Texans and Rams will return to action tomorrow at 1 p.m. for a nine-inning affair at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.