STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State split Saturday afternoon's doubleheader with West Texas A&M following another strong start from Kyle Gottardy in his last home start.
 
Due to the weather forecast, the Texans announced a change to tomorrow's schedule immediately following the game. Tarleton and West Texas A&M will play the final game of the series at 11 a.m. tomorrow. There will be a senior day presentation about 15 minutes prior to first pitch.
  
Home runs proved costly for the Texans in the series opener as Tarleton dropped the opening game of the series 9-3 to West Texas A&M.
 
Tarleton got the scoring started right away after Jonathan Schmitz led things off with a walk.
 
A sacrifice bunt and a single from Alec Humphreys set up the Texans with runners on the corners and one away before Zach Fleet dropped down bunt up the first base line. The West Texas A&M first baseman scooped up the bunt and charged Schmitz, who was hung up in between third base and home plate. Schmitz juked the tag attempt and beat the throw to the plate to score the Texans' first run of the game in the bottom of the first.
 
After West Texas A&M tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the top of the second, the Texans answered right back with an RBI single up the middle from Dalton Weeks to plate Elijah Christenson for a 2-1 Tarleton lead in the second. Christenson led off the second inning with a triple to right field.
 
From there, West Texas A&M answered with eight straight runs over the next three innings – with the big blows coming in the fourth and fifth with a solo homer and a two-run job, respectively – to take a 9-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
 
Tarleton got an RBI single from Weeks in the sixth to plate Landon Merka and bring the game to its final score.
 
Matt Herrick was saddled with the loss after allowing eight runs over the first 4.2 innings of work. Cole Foster pitched to two batters before Blain Bagley settled things down out of the bullpen. Bagley total 1.1 innings of work, allowing one run on two hits, before Quade Adams tossed the final scoreless inning.
 
Tarleton's offense tallied eight hits with Weeks leading the way at 3-3 with two RBIs. Merka added two base hits while Alec Humphreys, Elijah Christenson and Peter McMahon rounded out the offense with one hit each.
  
Tarleton State earned a split with the Buffs following a second-straight stellar start from Kyle Gottardy, who kept West Texas A&M in check with seven innings of work allowing just five hits and two unearned runs.
 
The offense gave Gottardy early support when Christenson poked a 2-RBI single through the left side to bring home Kevin Meredith and Landon Merka for a 2-0 Tarleton lead.
 
After West Texas A&M answered with one off Gottardy in the top of the third, Tarleton kicked the doors in with four runs on two outs in the bottom of the third. Kevin Meredith got the rally started with an RBI single to center before a wild pitch allowed a second run to come across. Landon Thompson had the big blow of the inning for Tarleton with a two-run double off the right field wall for a 6-1 Tarleton lead.
 
From there, the game became a pitcher's duel as an RBI single after a passed ball put a runner in scoring position was the only other run of the game off Gottardy before Hunter Houston came in and closed the door with the final two innings of work.
 
Tarleton's offense behind Gottardy's gem was powered with a 3-4 effort from Meredith and a 2-3 outing from Humphreys. Zach Fleet, Merka, Thompson and Christenson had the rest of Tarleton's nine hits in the game.