THE MATCHUP
 
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (4-12, 0-3 WAC) vs. UTRGV Vaqueros (11-6, 2-1 WAC)
 
Dates & Times:
6 p.m. CT on Friday, March 18
2 p.m. CT on Saturday, March 19
1 p.m. CT on Sunday, March 20

Location: Tarleton Baseball Complex in Stephenville, Texas.
 
TEXAN BASEBALL GAME DAY
The Tarleton Texan baseball team is geared up for a weekend series with the UTRGV Vaqueros at the Tarleton Baseball Complex. This will be the second Western Athletic Conference series of the season for both teams.
 
UTRGV took their opening WAC series 2-1 over Abilene Christian in Edinburg. Following that, they played Incarnate Word in San Antonio and lost 13-8. This will be the Vaqueros' first game played in Stephenville in program history.
 
All four of Tarleton's wins have come at home this season.

The probable starters for the two teams are,
Friday: TAR No. 32 Luke Baley (Gr., RHP, 0-1, 7.79 ERA) vs. UTRGV No. 5 Kevin Stevens (Sr., RHP, 2-1, 1.65 ERA).
Saturday: TAR No. 11 Isiah Campa (Jr., RHP, 1-0, 4.30 ERA) vs. UTRGV No. 11 Colten Davis (Jr., RHP, 3-0, 1.46 ERA).
Sunday: TAR TBA vs. UTRGV No. 24 Jesus Aldaz (Jr., RHP, 1-1, 5.91 ERA).

LAST TIME OUT
Tarleton snapped an eight-game losing streak off the bat of freshman Jaime Perez as he hit a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the ninth to score Rhett Gallagher and secure the 9-8 win for Tarleton over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
GAME COVERAGE & TICKETS
WATCH: wacdigitalnetwork.com and create a free account.
LISTEN: 90.5 FM / LINK
LIVE STATS: LINK
TICKETS: LINK / Purchase in person at the Tarleton Athletic Ticket Office on the west side of Memorial Stadium.

SERIES NOTES

• Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and UTRGV met once this season, with the the Vaqueros winning 4-0 in Edinburg.
• 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 the all-time series 5-1.

QUICK HITS

• Junior outfielder Alec Williams has reached base in every game aside from the first of the season. That's 15 straight games which is a team high.
• Two different Texans, Carter Dobrinski and Alec Williams, have started in all 16 games this season. Dobrinski leads Tarleton with 21 hits.
• Tarleton is glad to be home. All four 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 2.45 ERA in 11 innings pitched at home.
• Freshman catcher Jaime Perez made his first career start in game two at Sam Houston and has started each game since. The Edinburg native is hitting .583. He has seven hits in 12 at-bats to go with two walks. His RBI single gave Tarleton the walk-off victory over TAMUCC Wednesday.

 
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 skip the midweek game next week following the series with UTRGV. The next game will kick off the third WAC series of the season on Friday, March 25 at 6 p.m. CT vs. Abilene Christian at Crutcher Scott Field. The games will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network.