THE MATCHUP
 
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (12-23, 6-9 WAC) vs Wiley Wildcats (5-35-1, 4-23 Red River Athletic)
       
Date & Time: 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday, April 19
                         
Location: Tarleton Baseball Complex in Stephenville, Texas.
 
TEXAN BASEBALL GAME DAY
The Tarleton Texan baseball team is coming off a series loss to St. Thomas and needs a get-right game as they take on the Wiley College Wildcats in their midweek contest.
 
The game is the first of four that will be played at the Tarleton Baseball Complex this week, with a three-game series with Sam Houston set for the weekend.
 
GAME COVERAGE & TICKETS
WATCH: WAC Digital Network
LIVE STATS: LINK
TICKETS: LINK

 GAME NOTES
• Tarleton will take on Wiley College, an NAIA program, on Tuesday night for a midweek matchup. The game will count as an exhibition match for the Wildcats.
• The Texans are 3-5 in midweek games this season, 2-4 at home.
•  Overall, Tarleton is 9-12 at home and 3-11 away.
•  The first place Sam Houston Bearkats come to town for the weekend series. It will be the first ever visit to the Tarleton Baseball Complex for the Kats. Tarleton was swept by Sam        Houston in Huntsville in the first WAC series of the season for either team. The Bearkats lead the all-time series 7-0.

QUICK HITS

• Tarleton sits in fifth place in the Southwest Division of the WAC with a 6-9 conference record. They are 1.0 game back of 7-8 ACU and UTRGV, both of who they took a series from previously.
• Since Kemuel Thomas-Rivera made his return to the Texan lineup from injury on 3/25 vs. ACU, he has hit safely in 14 of 16 games, while currently being on an 18-game reached base safely streak. He leads the Texans in batting average (.373) among players that have met the minimum requirements of 2 PA/G and 75% of games played.
• Senior outfielder London Green has been on another level. Since 3/9 vs. Texas A&M, Green has hit safely in 22 of 24 games. He homered in four straight games from April 9 to April 15, with two multi-home run games mixed in that stretch.
• Good luck keeping Alec Williams off the basepaths. The outfielder has started all 35 games for the Texans this season, and has a hit in 27 of them, reaching base in 32. He leads the team with 16 multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games, as well as having 11 stolen bases. The 11 base swipes rank third in the WAC.
• How Tarleton fields the baseball is critical to them winning or losing. In contests where the Texans have made 0-1 errors, they are 9-8. When they have 2+ errors they are 3-15.

NOTABLES
SPARKPLUG:
Outfielder Colby Feris was inserted into the starting lineup on April 6 vs. UT Arlington and has started seven of the next eight games in left field. He has a hit in six of those seven games, with four straight multi-hit games from April 10-15. The junior is now hitting .370 with 10 hits and six RBI.
 
SPARKPLUG X2:
Another player that was inserted into the Texan lineup and has made the most if it is redshirt freshman 1B Jake Escalon. Since game one of the SFA series, Escalon has started at first base in 12 straight games. He has four multi-hit games, including two three hit games. He is hitting .357 with 15 hits, four home runs, 10 RBI and is slugging .690% on the season after only playing in three games before this span.
 
THE CLOSER:
Tarleton has turned to the arm of junior RHP Matthew Hickey to close games out this season. He earned his fourth save of the season in game one vs.  ACU. He has 22 K's and one walk. His four saves are tied for fourth best in the WAC.
 
WALK IT OFF:
Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo leads the Texans with two walk-off swings this season, both home runs. One was a bit more dramatic than the other. The first came in a run-rule victory over UTRGV on March 20 when he hit a two-run shot over the left field wall to help Tarleton take down UTRGV 13-3.
The second came on April 15 vs. St. Thomas in the 10th inning. He led the bottom half off with a solo blast on a 1-0 count to left field to help ensure Tarleton left happy.
 
BEGINNING OF THE GAME WOES:
Tarleton has been outscored 116-72 in the first three innings of games this season. They are 3-12 when trailing after the first inning and 3-16 when trailing after the third.
 
On the flip side, the Texans are 3-4 in games where they lead after the first and 8-3 in games where they lead after the third inning.
 
TRIPLE DIGIT HITS:
     Senior London Green reached 100 hits in his Tarleton career on April 3 vs. SFA. The hit came in the sixth inning on a single up the middle.
 
THE YOUNG ONES:
True freshmen Jaime Perez and Jake Burcham have taken on significant roles this season for Tarleton.
     Perez has started 16 games behind the dish. He is hitting .317 with 19 hits to go with eight walks and a .425 on-base percentage.
     Burcham is tied for second on the team with 14 appearances and sits second on the team with a 4.85 ERA among eligible pitchers. He has 25 K's to 11 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.
 
EXTRAS
 
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 10 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
The Texans will host the first place Sam Houston Bearkats this weekend at the Tarleton Baseball Complex. The first game comes at 6 p.m. CT on Friday. All games will be streamed on WAC Digital Network.