THE MATCHUP
 
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (13-27, 6-12 WAC) at UTRGV Vaqueros (23-18, 9-9 WAC)
       
Dates & Times:
Friday, April 29, at 7 p.m. CT
Saturday, April 30, at 6 p.m. CT
Sunday, May 1, at 12 p.m. CT
                      
Location: UTRGV Baseball Stadium in Edinburg, Texas.
 
TEXAN BASEBALL GAME DAY
Tarleton will head to Edinburg, Texas to take on UTRGV in a three-game series this weekend. The Texans previously swept the Vaqueros in Stephenville March 18-20.
 
UTRGV enters the series sitting in third place in the WAC Southwest division at 9-9. Tarleton is in sixth, 3.0 games back of the Vaqueros with a 6-12 record.
 
Tarleton made its first visit to the UTRGV Baseball Stadium last season, where they played four games. The Texans took one of the four as London Green and Cody Vannoy led the way with two RBI each in a 7-6 victory.
 
GAME COVERAGE & TICKETS
WATCH: ESPN+
LIVE STATS: LINK
TICKETS: LINK
 
PROBABLE PITCHING MATCHUPS (April 29 - May 1:)
FRI: TAR RHP BRYCE HACKETT (JR., 2-5, 6.91 ERA) VS. UTRGV RHP KEVIN STEVENS (SR., 5-2, 3.40 ERA)
SAT: TAR RHP JAKE BURCHAM (FR., 0-2, 6.00 ERA) VS. UTRGV RHP JESUS ALDAZ (JR., 4-3, 5.44 ERA)
SUN: TAR TBA VS. UTRGV TBA
 
GAME NOTES
 

• Tarleton comes into the game on a four-game losing streak as they were swept by Sam Houston this past weekend and fell to UTA on Tuesday. They are 4-6 in their last 10 games. They sit in sixth place in the WAC Southwest division, 1.0 game back of SFA.
• UTRGV enters having lost two straight games. They hosted Texas on Tuesday and then traveled to Corpus Christi to take on TAMUCC Wednesday. In their last WAC series, they took two of three from Abilene Christian in Abilene to to move ahead of the Wildcats in the standings.

QUICK HITS

• London Green ranks third in the WAC with 12 home runs on the season. His previous season-high was three in the 2021 season. Since March 9 vs. Texas A&M, Green has hit safely in 26 of 28 games. His three multi-HR games lead the Texans.

 

• Kemuel Thomas-Rivera has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games. The senior ranks second in the WAC with a .451 batting average in conference games only, and third in the WAC with a .517 on-base percentage in conference games.

 

• Good luck keeping Alec Williams off the basepaths. The outfielder has started all 40 games for the Texans this season, and has a hit in 31 of them, reaching base in 36. He leads the team with 17 multi-hit 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 10-11. When they have 2+ errors they are 3-16.

 

• Tarleton ranks third in the WAC with 55 home runs on the season.

 
NOTABLES
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 on March 25 vs.  ACU. Hickey's four saves are tied for fifth best in the WAC. He has 27 K's vs. just three walks.
     Hickey made an appearance that was different than any he had seen all year vs Sam Houston on April 23. He threw 5.1 innings of relief, allowing one run on three hits, striking out five. The closer showed that he could throw in any situation to help the Texans.
 
SPARKPLUG:
Outfielder Colby Feris was inserted into the starting lineup on April 6 vs. UT Arlington and started seven of the next eight games in left field. He hit in six of those seven games, with four straight multi-hit games from April 10 to April 15. The junior is now hitting .316 with 12 hits and seven 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. From game 3 of the SFA series until now, Escalon has started 14 of 15 games. He has four multi-hit games, including two three hit games. He is hitting .333 with 19 hits, five home runs, 11 RBI and is slugging .649% on the season after only playing in three games before this span.
 
WALK IT OFF:
Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo leads the Texans with three walk-off swings this season, two home runs and a double. 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 tenth 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.

The third was vs. Wiley as he enacted the ten-run rule on a two-run double.
 
BEGINNING OF THE GAME WOES:
Tarleton has been outscored 132-78 in the first three innings of games this season. They are 3-15 when trailing after the first inning and 3-20 when trailing after the third.
 
On the flip side, the Texans are 3-4 in games where they lead after the first and 9-3 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.
 
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 head to Waco to take on the Baylor Bears at Baylor Ballpark on Tuesday. The game is set for 6:30 p.m. CT and will be streamed on Big 12 Now/ESPN+.