THE GAMES
Tarleton Baseball's defense of the second Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship and NCAA Regional appearance officially begins on Friday when the Texans take the field at the Houston Winter Invitational at Minute Maid Park, the home of the Houston Astros. The Texans, who are coming off a 35-17 season, will open and close the tournament with a 10 a.m. game on Friday against Arkansas Tech and the 5 p.m. game on Sunday against St. Mary's with a 10 a.m. game against St. Cloud State in between on Saturday.
 
ABOUT THE WINTER INVITATIONAL
This is the seventh year the Winter Invitational has been hosted at Minute Maid Park and Tarleton is one of a handful of teams to have received an invitation every year. The Texans are 10-8 all-time at Minute Maid, including 2-1 trips in each of the last two seasons. Central Missouri is the host institution for the tournament. Houston Astros owner, Jim Crane, is an alumnus of Central Missouri.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.mlb.com/astros/tickets/winter-invitational and will also be available at the gate on the day of the game. Direct links to online tickets can also be found on the baseball schedule page at TarletonSports.com.
 
GAME COVERAGE
There will be live stats available for the games, courtesy of University of Central Missouri. Links to live stats can be found at the links on the Game Day preview story and Game Day graphics on Tarleton's Facebook and Twitter pages, as well as on the team schedule page at TarletonSports.com. There will not be audio or video of the games.
 
COACHING CHANGES
For the first time in over a decade, the Texans will take the field without head coach Bryan Conger donning his traditional No. 31 in the dugout. Conger recently accepted a coaching position within the Texas Rangers organization. First-year assistant coach Brennan Rogers was named the interim head coach for the spring and will make his head coaching debut this weekend. He is joined on the staff by graduate assistant coach Ruben Rodriguez, who was an all-conference 2B for the Texans last year.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES: ARKANSAS TECH
Tarleton and Arkansas Tech will renew a rivalry which has only ever taken place on the big-league diamond of Minute Maid Park. The Texans and Wonder Boys played three games against each other in the first three seasons of the Winter Invitational and Tarleton took one of three – a 5-2 win in the first-ever meeting in 2013, which was the opening day win of Tarleton's first LSC championship season.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES: ST. CLOUD STATE
Another series that began in Houston, Tarleton and St. Cloud State (MN) have one previous meeting in the record books and St. Cloud won 12-3 in 2016.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES: ST. MARY'S
Tarleton and St. Mary's have a rich tradition that dates back to 1992 and encompasses 61 games. The Texans trail the all-time series 42-23 but are 3-0 all-time against the Rattlers at Minute Maid Park.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will pick up right where they'll be leaving off in Houston as the Texans get set for three more games against St. Mary's next weekend in San Antonio at Dickson Stadium, beginning Friday, Feb. 8 at 3 p.m.