The Teams: Tarleton Texans (0-0, 0-0 WAC) vs. UTSA Roadrunners (0-0, 0-0 C-USA)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Baseball Complex (Friday-Sunday)
Times: 6 p.m. CT (Friday); 6 p.m. CT (Saturday); 1 p.m. CT (Sunday)
 
Texan Baseball Game Day
The Tarleton Texan baseball team hits the field for a season opening series vs. UTSA this weekend at the Tarleton Baseball Complex. The Texans get the season started with three games, the first of  which begins Friday at 6 p.m.
 
The games will be streamed at wacdigitalnetwork.com and can also be followed via live stats. There will be concessions available this weekend with Petty's Limited Menu food truck selling hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and drinks near the softball and baseball complexes. With Tarleton softball hosting a tournament, the weekend will be busy at both complexes.
 
On Sunday, fans will have the opportunity to bring their favorite furry friend and watch some baseball as 'Bark at the Park' debuts this season for every Sunday home game at baseball and Saturday at softball.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
    - Tarleton opens the 2022 season with a home series vs. the UTSA Roadrunners. The meeting on Friday will be the first in program history between the schools.
    - UTSA finished the 2021 season with a 22-26 overall record and went 14-17 in Conference USA play. The Roadrunners finished third in the West division behind Louisiana Tech and Southern Miss.
    - This is Tarleton's first season opener at home in Stephenville since the 2017 season when they hosted Arlington Baptist on Feb. 3 and won 9-0.
    - UTSA will be the first Conference USA squad that Tarleton has ever faced. The Texans have two players on their roster that started their collegiate careers at Conference USA schools in Bryan Aguilar (Marshall) and Riley Boyd (Western Kentucky).

QUICK HITS

• There are nine different players that made the transition and have played in both NCAA Division I and Division II games for the Texans.
• Tarleton will have two new coaches roaming the turf on game days when the 2022 season begins. Dallas Reed is an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator who comes to Tarleton from Pittsburg State where he was an assistant for three years. Reece Garvie slides into the Director of Baseball Operations role for the 2022 season after his playing career at Tarleton came to an end last season. Garvie transferred to Tarleton from Pittsburg State where he played three seasons.
• The Texans kick off the 2022 season with a nine-game home stand. They host UTSA this weekend for a three-game series, UIW on Feb. 22 for a midweek matchup, Eastern Illinois on Feb. 25-27 for a four-game set, and cap it off with Washington State coming to town on March 2. The Cougars will be only the second ever Power 5 opponent to play at the Tarleton Baseball Complex (April 6, 2021, vs. TCU).
• Some of the most talented arms for Tarleton last season are back again to try and make their mark in 2022. The Texans 2021 leaders in appearances (Zach Poe), strikeouts and wins (Luke Baley), and innings pitched (Bryce Hackett) are all back and hope to headline the Texan pitching staff in 2022.
• The Texans roster is nearly evenly split in terms of experience. There are 22 returners and 18 newcomers. There are 21 underclassmen (11 freshmen, 10 sophomores) and 19 upperclassmen (nine seniors, 10 juniors).
• Tarleton's projected starting pitchers for the weekend are Friday: junior RHP Bryce Hackett, Saturday: freshman RHP Kyler Mentzel, and Sunday: freshman LHP Aiden Adams.

 
WAC UPDATES

• NEW LOOK WAC: After finishing seventh out of 10 teams in its inaugural season in the WAC, Tarleton will now compete in the Southwest division as the conference split into two divisions after the addition of four fellow Texas universities.  Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin begin their first year of competition in the WAC in 2022, joining Tarleton and UTRGV.
• WAC PRESEASON POLL: Tarleton was chosen to finish sixth out of six schools in the WAC preseason poll for the Southwest division. The poll was released on Feb. 9.  The Texans received seven total votes.
• CONFERENCE DOUBLEHEADERS NO MORE: COVID-19 still played a part in the 2021 season, forcing some conferences, including the WAC, to schedule four-game conference series with doubleheaders on Saturday. 2022 should bring some normalcy back to the college baseball landscape as the WAC and most other Dl conferences are back on the traditional three game Fri./Sat./Sun. series.

 
NOTABLES

• PRESEASON HONORS: Perfect Game USA named senior outfielder London Green and junior right-handed pitcher Bryce Hackett to its preseason All-WAC team. D1Baseball.com named the duo to its list of top 2022 MLB draft prospects in the WAC. Green came in at No. 8 with Hackett following behind at No. 18. D1Baseball also ranked freshman pitcher Kyler Mentzel No. 2 on its "Impact Freshman" in the WAC list. Tarleton did not have any players selected to the All-WAC preseason team which is voted on by the league's coaches.
• TRANSFER PORTAL: Of the Texans 18 newcomers for the 2022 season, five of them come from other DI schools (Boyd, Campa, Crews, Daniell & E. Turnage) and five come from junior college (Dobrinski, Hickey, Kurahashi-Choy Foo, Ross and Williams).
• HOT ON THE RECRUITING TRAIL: Speaking of newcomers, the Tarleton coaching staff hit the recruiting trail hard this past season in pursuit of signing an instant impact 2021 class. There were seven freshman who signed with the Texans (Adams, Burcham, Garcia, Krowka, Mentzel, Morrison, Perez) and the class garnered recognition from Baseball America on their "Notable Under-The-Radar 2021 College Baseball Recruiting Classes" write-up. Mentzel and Adams will take the mound on Saturday and Sunday, respectively, in the Texan's season-opening series.
• YOUNG BUT STILL THE BOSS: Tarleton head coach Aaron Meade is the fifth-youngest NCAA D1 baseball coach in the country at 33 years and 292 days old as of Feb. 18, 2022. Meade pitched in the minor leagues for four years and was an assistant coach at the NCAA D1 and D2 level for a combined six years before becoming the head man at Tarleton.
• CUTTING OUR TEETH: Tarleton is in its second season at the Dl level, but you wouldn't know it from looking at their schedule. The Texans take on five different Power 5 opponents in the 2022 season. Early in the season Tarleton has a stretch of five straight games against Power 5 opponents as they host Washington State (March 2), have a series at Missouri in Columbus (March 4-6), and head back to Bryan-College Station to play Texas A&M for a second consecutive season (March 8).
• RETURNING FIREPOWER: Three Texans on this season's roster garnered honorable mention All-WAC in 2021. Bryan Aguilar, Kemuel Thomas-Rivera and London Green figure to lead the Texan offense this season as they accounted for nearly 30 percent of Tarleton's hits last season.
• SEMI-FAMILIAR FOE: Of all the teams in the WAC Southwest division, Tarleton is most familiar with the team from Abilene. Tarleton is now in the same conference and division as longtime opponent Abilene Christian. ACU leads the overall series 21-16. Three of the games came in 2021 when Tarleton played ACU in Abilene. These games were the first meetings with both schools being Division l, and ACU won the series 2-1. This season the teams will play a home and away series.
• TRANSITIONING: Tarleton is eligible to win a regular season conference title, but will not be eligible for post-season play until the 2024-2025 season due to the four-year reclassification process from NCAA Division II to Division I.

 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will welcome Incarnate Word to the Tarleton Baseball Complex on Tuesday, Feb. 22 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.