THE MATCHUP
 
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (3-12, 0-3 WAC) vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders (10-7, 0-0 Southland)
 
Date & Time: 6:30 p.m. CT on Wednesday, March 16.

Location: Tarleton Baseball Complex in Stephenville, Texas.
 
TEXAN BASEBALL GAME DAY
The Tarleton Texan baseball team is back in Stephenville at the Tarleton Baseball Complex for a midweek game under the lights with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
The Texans are currently on an eight-game losing streak coming off a weekend series with Sam Houston after previously playing five straight games against Power Five opponents. They look to break out of it and get a win before resuming WAC play this weekend.

The probable starters for the two teams are, Tarleton No. 36 Landon Cody (So., RHP, 0-0, 5.00 ERA) vs. TAMUCC No. 37 Leo Perez (Sr., RHP, 1-1, 4.50 ERA).

LAST TIME OUT
Tarleton fell to Sam Houston in the series finale 12-2 in seven innings to complete the sweep for the Bearkats. London Green and Spencer Bloom each hit solo home runs for Tarleton.
 
GAME COVERAGE & TICKETS
Fans can access a live stream of the game at wacdigitalnetwork.com. All that is required is to create an account. Links to the stream as well as live stats can be found on the baseball schedule page on TarletonSports.com. Fans can purchase season or individual game tickets online at TarletonSports.com/Tickets, by going to the baseball schedule page and following the links, or by purchasing them in person at the Tarleton Athletic Ticket Office on the west side of Memorial Stadium.
 
SERIES NOTES

• Tarleton opens the week with a midweek game Wednesday vs. TAMUCC before continuing WAC play with a weekend series vs. UTRGV.
• Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV met once this season, with the the Vaqueros winning 4-0 in Edinburg.
• The meeting with TAMUCC will be the first meeting in program history for the Texans and Islanders.
• UTRGV and Tarleton have six meetings all-time with the most recent games coming last season in Edinburg. It was a WAC series, and the Vaqueros won the series 3-1. UTRGV leads all-time 5-1.

QUICK HITS

• Junior outfielder Alec Williams has reached base in every game aside from the first of the season. That's 14 straight games which is a team-high.
• Two different Texans, Carter Dobrinski and Alec Williams, have started in all 15 games this season. They both lead Tarleton with 18 hits apiece.
• Tarleton is glad to be home. All three of the Texans wins this season have come at the Tarleton Baseball Complex.
• Junior utility player Carter Dobrinski has played especially well at home. He is hitting .464, slugging .750 and has an on-base percentage of .516 in Stephenville.
• On the pitching side, freshman Aiden Adams is 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 10 innings pitched at home.
• Freshman catcher Jaime Perez made his first two starts in the final two games of the Sam Houston series and was impressive at the plate. The Edinburg native led the Texans in batting average over the weekend hitting .571. He had four hits on seven at-bats to go with two walks.

 
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.
 
NEW WAC ADDITIONS:
Starting on July 1, 2022, the Western Athletic Conference will add two more Texas universities to the fold. University of the Incarnate Word and UT-Arlington will join the conference to run the total of Texas universities to eight. UIW is coming from the Southland Conference and UTA from the Sun Belt Conference. With Sam Houston set for a July 1, 2023, departure to Conference USA, the conference will sit at seven in the Southwest Division for the 2023-2024 season.
 
CONFERENCE DOUBLEHEADERS NO MORE:
COVID-19 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
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). The class garnered recognition from Baseball America on their "Notable Under-The-Radar 2021 College Baseball Recruiting Classes" write-up.
 
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 that signed with the Texans as well as ten transfers. 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 DI baseball coach in the country at 33 years and 292 days of age as of February 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, and they are diving in headfirst. Tarleton takes 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 Columbia (March 4-6), and head back to Bryan-College Station to play Texas A&M for a second consecutive season (March 8). They play at Baylor (May 3) and at TCU (May 17) later in the season.
 
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% of Tarleton's hits last season.
 
FACILITIES UPGRADES: Tarleton installed Hellas Matrix Turf on its baseball and softball field and all bullpen areas before the 2022 season. Surrounding the new turf is brand-new, 10-feet high Champion Wall in the outfield and six-feet high, vinyl-coated chain-link fencing down the foul lines. The baseball field extends up to 16-feet high in centerfield for the batter's eye. The project also included a new Ephesus LED Lighting system at both fields. The upgraded lighting system enhances both venues and meets the requirements for hosting NCAA regional broadcasts.
 
UP NEXT FOR TARLETON
Tarleton will resume Western Athletic Conference play this weekend at home with UTRGV. The series begins Friday, March 18, at 6 p.m. CT. The game will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network. Tickets can be purchased here.