SAN ANTONIO – Tarleton won its second series of the season against a nationally-ranked opponent by taking one of two against the No. 12 St. Mary's Rattlers Saturday.
  
The reigning Lone Star Conference pitcher of the week kept on rolling in his first outing since striking out 12 Henderson State Reddies last weekend as Trevor Renfro kept another national power under control with a complete game win against No. 12 St. Mary's in game one Saturday afternoon.
 
Tarleton got on the board first with an unearned run in the top of the second, which was quickly matched by the Rattlers in the ensuing half-inning for the only scoring over the opening four innings of action.
 
While Renfro continued to deal, allowing just one run on two hits and an error through the first four innings, the Texan offense broke through in the top of the fifth inning.
 
Senior captain Landon Thompson, in his first start of the year, led off the inning with a single into left. After a sacrifice bunt and a groundout move his pinch runner, Forrest Perron, to third base, Stacy Heinatz broke the tie with an RBI double to right field. Tarleton tacked on another when Alec Humphreys reached on an inning-extending error that ultimately cost the Rattlers another run when Landon Merka singled to right field to score Heinatz for a 3-1 Texan advantage.
 
The Rattlers got one runner on in the fifth and sixth innings before Renfro danced out of danger and tacked on one in the seventh with a two-out, RBI sacrifice fly but could get nothing more off Renfro, who froze the final batter of the game for a strikeout to secure the Tarleton win.
 
Renfro went all seven innings, allowing five total hits and two runs. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter.
 
Meanwhile, his offense supplied seven hits with two each coming from Jake Hasbrouck, Landon Thompson, and Stacy Heinatz. The Merka RBI single rounded out the Tarleton offense.
  
Despite having the Rattlers down to their final out, Tarleton surrendered a game-tying home run in the bottom of the ninth and a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10^th inning to drop the series finale.
 
The game was an offensive shootout over the opening five innings as Tarleton jumped out to a 3-2 lead after two.
 
Hasbrouck drove in the first run of the game with an RBI single up the middle to plate Merka, who reached on an error to make the first run an unearned one. After the Rattlers evened the score in the bottom of the first, Stacy Heinatz untied it with a two-out swing of the bat for a two-run home run to left field for a 3-1 Tarleton lead.
 
After the Rattlers cut the Tarleton lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the second, the offenses were kept quiet until the bottom of the fourth when St. Mary's scored a pair to take a 4-3 lead – it's first of the day.
 
Tarleton would respond in the next half-inning when Hunter Seales, Hasbrouck, and Thompson came up with RBI hits in back-to-back-to-back at bats. Seales and Thompson had RBI singles while Hasbrouck doubled to right to take the lead right back at 6-4.
 
The Rattlers plated two more in the next half-inning for a 6-6 lead that would carry to the top of the eighth inning.
 
That's when the Texans would take the lead once again – this time on another RBI double from Heinatz.
 
A groundout and a foul out to start the ninth put the Rattlers down to their final out before a solo home run forced extras. A two-out double from Heinatz in the 10^th couldn't come around to score and the Rattlers ended the game with a one-out home run to left.
 
The Tarleton offense got 13 hits in the game, including four from Heinatz in a career day for the Texan third baseman. Heinatz also had three RBIs and a run scored for the game. Merka, Hasbrouck, and Thompson each had two hits while Humphreys, Seales, and Zach Fleet had one each.
 
Callaway Kirkpatrick got his first start as a Texan and went the first four innings, allowing five runs – only two earned – on three hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts. Daniel Bogue came out of the bullpen for an inning of one-unearned-run relief.
 
Zach Freeman pitched 3.2 innings out of the bullpen, which were on pace to be a scoreless, no-hit effort, before the ninth-inning home run and a triple chased him from the game. Hunter Houston pitched the final 0.2 innings before allowing the final home run.
 
Tarleton will return to action next weekend when the Texans make their home debut against No. 38 Emporia State at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex, beginning Friday at 3 p.m.