STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton baseball won its first series of the season after splitting Sunday's doubleheader against UC-Colorado Springs at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.
 
After sweeping the doubleheader on Saturday, the Texans (5-9) won the third game of the series 13-7 before falling in the series finale 7-2 in extra innings.
 
The Texans will travel to San Angelo to take on Angelo State for a four-game series on March 1-3.
   
Tarleton scored a season-high 13 runs behind a six-run fifth inning – including a grand slam home run by Tyler Parker – to open the afternoon.
 
After the Mountain Lions scored a pair of runs in the top half of the second, the Texans got on the board with an RBI single from Jacob Walker. The Texans took their first lead of the game in the third on a two-run single from Jordan Parker that brought home Tyler Parker and Abel Osoria for a 4-2 advantage.
 
UCCS added three runs of their own in the fourth to go up 5-4. In the bottom half of the fourth, the Texans had the bases loaded on a pair of hit by pitches and a walk for Blake Burns. Burns ripped a single to center to bring home two as part of another three-run inning for the Texans to lead 7-5.
 
The back-and-forth affair continued in the fifth as the Mountain Lions tied the score at 7-7 on a two-run homer.
 
The Texans broke the game open in the fifth as Colby Seltzer's sacrifice fly to right field to score Jake Spence ultimately ended up being the game-winning run. Later in the inning with the bases loaded, Tyler Parker smashed his third home run of the series – this time a grand slam to left center to put the Texans up 13-7. Parker finished the game 2-for-4 with two runs and five RBI in the win.
 
Tyler Fowler led all players going 3-for-4 at the played with two doubles, two runs and a walk. Jordon Parker also recorded a two-hit afternoon, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI.
 
Alex DeBell started on the mound for the Texans and went 3.2 innings with six strike outs. Only two of DeBell's five runs allowed were earned, however.
 
The bullpen shut the game down in the final two innings as Chris Reed (1-2) picked up his first win of the season throwing 1.1 innings. Connor Flanagan and Jacob Cornell threw the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, and each not allowing a hit to close out the game.
 
UC-Colorado Springs scored five runs in the ninth inning to take the final game of the series from the Texans.
 
It was a pitchers' duel through the first eight innings of play with Hunter Thomas leading the way on the mound for the Texans. Thomas went four innings, allowing only two hits and a run while striking out three in the no decision.
 
The Texans got their first run of the game in the fifth inning on Colby Seltzer's RBI single to left that brought home Jacob Walker after his two-out triple to tie the game at 1-1. Seltzer was the only Texan with a multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-5. The Mountain Lions regained the lead on a solo home run to right in the sixth.
 
Down to their last three outs in the seventh, the Texans took advantage of errant pitching to tie the score. Jake Spence led off with a walk and later advance to third and scored on a pair of wild pitches to tie the game and send it to extra innings.
 
After a scoreless eighth inning, UCCS used a three-run home run in the ninth as part of a five-run inning to take the game.