The Teams: Tarleton Texans (1-2, 0-0 WAC) vs. University of the Incarnate Word Cardinals (0-0, 0-0 Southland)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Baseball Complex (Tuesday)
Time: 6:30 p.m. CT
 
Texan Baseball Game Day
The Tarleton Texan baseball team is back on the diamond for their first midweek game of the season as they host the UIW Cardinals on Tuesday at the Tarleton Baseball Complex. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.
 
The game will be streamed at wacdigitalnetwork.com and can also be followed via live stats. Tarleton came out of the weekend series vs. UTSA with a 1-2 record, winning the series finale 12-1.
 
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
-     Tarleton hosts UIW on Tuesday for their first of five home games this week. The stretch is part of nine home games to open the season. UIW and Tarleton last clashed on May 3, 2013, with Tarleton winning 3-1 in the first round of the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championships at Wilder Park in Canyon. Tarleton is 12-17 all-time vs. UIW.
-     The game will be UIW's first of the season after their home series vs. Bradley was cancelled due to travel issues within the Braves program.
-     UIW will soon be a conference rival of Tarleton as they are set to be a part of the Western Athletic Conference. The Cardinals accepted an invitation to become a member beginning July 1, 2022.
 
QUICK HITS
•     Two newcomers, both juco transfers, had impressive season debuts at the plate for the Texans vs. UTSA. Junior utility player Carter Dobrinski hit .600 with six hits, four runs scored, three walks and two RBI. He played the first two games at DH and the final one in left field. Sophomore outfielder Alec Williams manned the leadoff spot all weekend and hit .400 with four hits, two RBI and two runs scored. He played the first game in left field but slotted over to center for the final two.
•     True freshman LHP Aiden Adams made his first career start on Sunday and did not disappoint. The Bryant, Ark. native threw 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing only two hits to gain the first win of his collegiate career. The 4.0 innings was the most that any Texan threw over the weekend.
•     The Texans bullpen had a rough outing on Friday but showed well on Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday, sophomore Beau Ross threw 3.0 innings of one run baseball striking out four allowing only one hit. True freshman Jake Burcham finished the game off pitching 2.1 innings with zero ER and one hit allowed. Sunday the combination of Zane Badmaev and Matthew Hickey threw a combined 3.0 innings allowing one run (Badmaev) to shut the door on UTSA in the run-rule win.
•     Tarleton pitched 14 of their 18 pitchers in the weekend series.
•     Junior infielder Colby Seltzer finished the weekend with 11 putouts, flashing the leather at both corners as he started the first two games at third and slid over to first for the finale.
•     As a team vs. UTSA, Tarleton hit .307, totaled 31 hits and seven doubles, walked 16 times, and had an on-base percentage of .405. They had five multi-run innings in the series.
 
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.
• 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.

UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will welcome Eastern Illinois to the Tarleton Baseball Complex on Friday, Feb. 25 through Feb. 27 for a four-game weekend series. The first game is set for 4 p.m. on Friday, the doubleheader on Saturday is set for 2 and 5 p.m. and the series finale is Sunday at 1 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.