THE GAMES
Tarleton (3-3, 3-3 LSC) looks to build off its first series sweep of the season this weekend when the Texans host the UAFS Lions (4-2, 4-2 LSC) for a four-game series beginning Friday at 2 p.m. This is the first four-game series of the season. The format will be 1-2-1, which includes a Saturday doubleheader of back-to-back seven inning affairs. The series will begin Friday at 2 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday's games starting at 1 p.m.
 
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for Tarleton Baseball games are available in advance and at the gate. Prices are $5 for adults and $3 for youth (ages 8-18). Children (ages 7 and under) and Tarleton students with a valid ID will receive free admission. Advanced ticket sales are available at TarletonSports.com/Tickets. All seating is general admission.
 
GAME COVERAGE
There will be live stats and video available for the games, courtesy of the home team. 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 baseball schedule page at TarletonSports.com.
 
CONFERENCE PLAY RIGHT OFF THE BAT
For the first time in program history, Tarleton will be playing a closed conference schedule. With the addition of seven new baseball teams to the Lone Star Conference – bringing the total to 14 – every series of the season will count towards the Lone Star Conference standings.
 
THE NEW-LOOK LONE STAR
The Lone Star Conference has doubled its amount of baseball teams following its expansion to becoming the largest NCAA Division II conference in the country. The LSC, which has 19 total members, now boasts 14 members that sponsor NCAA Division II baseball. New member Dallas Baptist sponsors NCAA Division I baseball and will not compete in the Lone Star. The LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games. The LSC Championship will be a two-week tournament featuring eight teams with the opening round on campus on May 1-2. The winners of each opening round series will advance to The Depot in Cleburne, Texas for a double-elimination tournament that will be played May 7-9. The winner of the postseason tournament will be recognized as the LSC Tournament Champion and receive the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason.
 
ABOUT THE TEXANS
Tarleton is coming off their first series sweep since 2018 after taking all three games against UT Permian Basin in last weekend's home opener. The Texans outscored the Falcons 39-16 for the weekend and hit .400 as a team while holding the Falcons to a .291 team average. Blake Burns paced the offense with one of the more spectacular outings in recent memory. The senior from Keller hit .583 with seven runs scored, three home runs and 10 RBI – including nine in game two of the series. Justin Waltmon paced the Texan pitching staff with a complete game shutout in the opener while Luke Baley picked up a win and a save with four innings of work out of the bullpen.
 
ABOUT ARKANSAS-FORT SMITH
UAFS is a public university in Fort Smith, Arkansas. It is part of the University of Arkansas System. UAFS is the sixth-largest four-year university in Arkansas, with a fall 2017 enrollment of approximately 6,637 students. This is the first season for UAFS in the Lone Star Conference after joining the league on July 1, 2019. The Lions are in sixth place in the LSC standings with a 4-2 record after sweeping the first series of the season at Texas A&M International and taking the middle game of last weekend's series with UT Tyler. As a team, UAFS is hitting .218 and boasts an ERA of 5.05.
 
ONE FOR THE TROPHY CASE
Tarleton head coach Aaron Meade earned his first career victory as the lead man in the dugout on Friday, February 7 in a 10-0 shutout of UT Permian Basin in Stephenville. Justin Waltmon threw a complete game shutout in the win.
 
COACHING FAMILIARITY
The UAFS coaching staff is very familiar with Tarleton. Lions head coach Todd Holland was the head coach at Cameron for 11 years and Brennan Rogers, an assistant on the UAFS staff, was Tarleton's graduate assistant and interim head coach last spring. The coaching familiarity goes both ways in this series. Tarleton's top assistant coach Jon Ubbenga spent two seasons as an assistant coach for UAFS. Ubbenga was a part of UAFS head coach Todd Holland's first two coaching staffs with UAFS.
 
BURNS WINS TWITTER
A voting contest on twitter, courtesy of @diviibaseball, named Blake Burns' performance against UT Permian Basin last Saturday the best in the nation. In game two of last weekend's sweep, Burns went 3-4 at the plate with two home runs including a grand slam that led to a career high nine RBI.
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
Tarleton and Arkansas-Fort Smith are relatively new rivals, despite UAFS head coach Todd Holland having seen Tarleton a significant amount in his career. The Texans and Lions began the series at the Winter Invitational at Minute Maid Park in Houston. The teams played the finale and Tarleton won 13-5 and then the next series of the season for both teams continued in Stephenville where Tarleton earned a sweep. Tarleton went 1-3 in a road trip to Fort Smith last year. Tarleton owns a 5-3 record against the Lions since 2017, including a 3-0 mark in Stephenville.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will hit the road for the first time since the season opener next weekend with a trek out west for a four-game series at Eastern New Mexico.