SAN ANGELO – Tarleton Baseball swept a Saturday doubleheader against Angelo behind a pair of pitchers' duels to take a 2-1 series lead over the Rams. The Texans improve to 16-16 and 10-12 in the Lone Star Conference. Tarleton will close out the four-game series with Angelo tomorrow at 1 p.m.
  
After Friday's 6-0 loss to Angelo that featured Tarleton having little answers for the Rams' pitching, it was the Texans' turn to shut down the Rams with a pair of dominating performances on the mound.
 
Alec Humphreys' RBI single to right scored Jonathan Schmitz to open the game and give the Texans the early lead to get behind starter Kyle Gottardy.
 
With Dalton Weeks' single and Landon Merka reaching base on a hit by pitch, Peter McMahon delivered with a two-out double that drove home Weeks and Merka for a 3-0 lead after two innings.
 
Jonathan Schmitz went 2-for-4 in the opener to raise his Lone Star Conference-leading average to .389.
 
Gottardy (2-5) made his ninth start for Tarleton and gave the Texans five solid innings on the mound, limiting the top-ranked Angelo offense to only five hits while matching his season high with five strikeouts.
 
Angelo got on the board in the third and appeared to be in position to add more with runners at second and third for leading hitter Paxton De La Garza (.385 average). Gottardy got De La Garza to strike out and Derek Tyner flew out to center to end the threat and the Texans maintained their 3-1 lead.
 
Gottardy faced another jam in the fifth when Angelo had the bases loaded with one out. But the senior right-hander didn't buckle under pressure and got Tyner to line out to Merka at second and Merka flipped it over to Evan Robinson at short to double-up Sam Kohler and end the inning.
 
Hunter Houston relieved Gottardy in the sixth and retired the Rams in order.
 
The Rams had one final push left to try and steal a win from Tarleton, but Houston and his team-leading 0.83 ERA shut the door on the comeback. With runners on first and second and no outs, Houston got Nehwon Norkeh to hit into a 4-6-3 double play.
 
Kohler grounded out to Houston for the sophomore closer to earn his fourth save of the season.
 
  
Trevor Renfro was coming off a win against Eastern New Mexico where he tossed eight innings and only gave up two runs.
 
Those numbers would be hard to top against anyone, even more so against the LSC-leading offense that Angelo boasts. But the junior right-hander came through with his best outing of the season.
 
In fact, Renfro (4-2) was unhittable through the first four innings before an Angelo double in the fifth.
 
With both pitchers dealing zeros on the scoreboard through the first two innings, the Tarleton offense was able to manufacture a run on three hits in the third.
 
Dalton Weeks led off with a single through the left side and stole second to get in scoring position. Schmitz singled to right and advanced Weeks to third before Evan Robinson's sacrifice fly to right scored Weeks for the game's first run.
 
Angleo's second hit of the game was a big one—a solo home run to lead off the seventh by Paxton De La Garza to tie the game at one.
 
Later in the seventh with the go-ahead run at third with two outs, Renfro got David Goggin to strike out for his final hitter that ended the seventh with the game still notched at 1.
 
Renfro's night ended with only two hits allowed in seven innings while striking out eight for the second consecutive game.
 
The Texan offense was determined to get the win and not spoil Renfro's performance on the mound.
 
Weeks reached base to start the eighth after he was hit by a pitch and stole his second bag of the game. Weeks advanced to third on a wild pitch, paving the way for senior shortstop Evan Robinson with two outs.
 
Robinson drove in his second run of the game when he singled to left to score Weeks with the go-ahead run.
 
After pitching two innings in the opener to earn the save, Hunter Houston came on in a save situation in the eighth to close out the game.
 
Houston threw a scoreless eighth inning and struck out three to earn his team-best fifth save.
 
Alec Humphreys and Jonathan Schmitz each went 2-for-4 in Tarleton's win.