STEPHENVILLE – The comeback season for Jacob French continued in a big way Friday afternoon as the senior right-hander from Kingwood tossed eight innings of three-hit baseball to lift the Texans over LSC rival Angelo State 3-2 Friday.
 
French, who missed all of last season due to injury, matched his longest outing of the season by tossing eight innings. Over that span, French allowed just two runs on three hits and six walks while striking out five. The eight innings matches his previous season-high, which he threw against Eastern New Mexico on March 13.
 
The senior righty also came up big in clutch spots throughout the game as Angelo State stranded nine base runners in nine innings – eight off French and one in the bottom of the ninth off Zach Freeman.
 
Freeman entered the game to close things out, but things got interesting with an infield single and an error that allowed Angelo State to put the tying run on second with just one away. Freeman answered the call, however, as the senior from Wylie got back-to-back looking strikeouts to end the game and give Tarleton win No. 13 on the season.
 
"We are very proud of the effort and energy the boys played with today," said head coach Bryan Conger. "They were into the game from the first pitch to the last one. That mental focus is what we will need for every pitch of every game from here on out."
 
Tarleton got a spark right away from Forrest Perron in the leadoff spot as the redshirt-junior second baseman led off the game with a walk and quickly swiped second base. After a productive groundout to the right side from Alec Humphreys moved him to third with one out, Hunter Seales put Tarleton on top 1-0 with an RBI sacrifice fly into right field.
 
The pitcher's duel continued until the fifth inning when Angelo State broke up the dueling no-hitters with a leadoff single into center field for the game's first hit. The Rams went on to score one in fifth on a sacrifice fly and one in the sixth on a two-out wild pitch to take a 2-1 lead.
 
But Tarleton's toughness rose to the occasion in the bottom of the sixth.
 
Once again, Perron led off the inning with a walk and advanced on a sacrifice bunt from Humphreys before Seales coaxed a walk to bring up Landon Thompson with two on and one out.
 
Thompson ripped a single into left field to bring home Perron for the game-tying run before Landon Merka came up with a two-out RBI single into right to bring home Seales for the go-ahead run.
 
French and Freeman combined to strand four Rams on base over the final three innings before the final strike was called. French improved his record to 3-2 while Freeman notched his second save of the season.
 
Offensively, Tarleton got one hit each from Humphreys, Thompson, Hasbrouck, and Merka.
 
The teams will square off tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. for a doubleheader at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex in Stephenville.