STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton boasted four two-run innings to take care of Adams State in Saturday night's series opener 8-5 at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.
"The boys did a really nice job today," said head coach
Bryan Conger. "It's never easy when you spend most of the day pushing water and getting a field ready like we did today, but we came out with good energy and responded several times to adversity. The challenge for us moving into tomorrow is to bring good energy and make sure we are ready to go for another full day."
The series, which was delayed by a day due to weather, also faced another minor setback as a quick power surge in the bottom of the first forced a 25 minute delay while the lights powered back on.
When the lights powered up, so did the Texans.
Tarleton erased a one-run deficit from the opening frame by scoring twice in the first on an RBI single by
Ruben Rodriguez and a bases loaded walk from
Luis Rivas to take a 2-0 lead. Tarleton extended it to 4-1 in the second with an RBI single from
Jared McCarver and a bases-loaded hit by pitch from
Jake Hasbrouck.
Adams State cut the Tarleton lead in half in the fourth but Tarleton answered right back with an RBI sacrifice fly from
Francisco Rodriguez and another RBI single from
Ruben Rodriguez to take a 6-2 lead. Tarleton would then go three innings without a run while Adams chipped into the lead with three runs to make it 6-5 heading into the bottom of the eighth.
Tarleton pulled away with a sacrifice fly from
Francisco Rodriguez and an RBI single from
Dylan Lemons to push its lead back to three at 8-5.
Then,
Eddie Avila locked it down for his third save of the season. The senior right-hander went three up, three down to put the stamp on the sixth win of the season. Avila saved the win for starter
Evan Pontley, who went six innings and struck out eight.
Chris Reed and
Conner Fletcher went one inning each in between.
Ruben and
Francisco Rodriguez, as well as
Jake Shelby, all boasted two hits on the night while
Luis Rivas, McCarver, and Lemons had one each to round out the nine-hit attack.
Tarleton will play a 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. doubleheader against the Grizzlies tomorrow afternoon at Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.