Following its first conference series of the season, Tarleton will now turn its attention to a Tuesday midweek game with the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles in Stephenville.
 
The game will be the second meeting of the season for the two teams, with the first coming on March 1 in Tulsa as ORU won it 6-5.

Tuesday's 3 p.m. game can be streamed on WACInternational.TV for free. You must create an account to watch.
 
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (11-5, 1-2 WAC) vs. Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (9-7, 0-0 Summit)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Baseball Complex
Day and Time: Tuesday at 3 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: WACInternational.TV

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS (March 14):
TAR RHP Isiah Campa (Jr., 1.0 IP, 0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. ORU RHP Evan Kowalski (Sr., 6.1 IP, 0-0, 2.84 ERA)

  Matchup Notes
 
•  Tarleton and Oral Roberts will meet for the second time this season on Tuesday afternoon. The Texans and Golden Eagles previously played on March 1 in Tulsa, with ORU getting the 6-5 win in the two schools first ever meeting.
•  The Texans found themselves down 6-0 before scoring their first run in the seventh inning at J.L. Johnson Stadium vs. ORU earlier this season. Tarleton went on to score five unanswered runs in the final three innings but ultimately fell short 6-5. Jack Wagner led Tarleton offensively with two RBI, hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning. Matt Haley and Zane Badmaev combined to hold ORU scoreless in the final 3.0 frames.
•  Tarleton is coming off a series loss to UT Arlington in which they stole the final game from the Mavericks, walking it off 5-4 in the ninth inning. Oral Roberts was swept this past weekend by Dallas Baptist in Dallas. They will head to Abilene Wednesday to take on ACU after Tuesday's match-up with Tarleton.
 
Quick Hits
•  Tarleton's Isiah Campa will get the start for the Texans on Tuesday. It will be his second start of the season after throwing an inning vs. Randall last week. That was Campa's first outing dating back to the 2022 season as his season ended early due to injury in April 2022.
•  Kooper Shook had a solid series at the plate vs. UTA, going 5-12 (.417) with three runs scored. Shook's big game came on Saturday when he had three hits and scored two runs. The Breckenridge, TX native also played a part in the Texans comeback on Sunday, hitting an RBI single in the eighth and tying the game later in the inning, scoring from third base on a passed ball.
•  Mason Hammonds continued to be a focal point of the offense in the conference opening series. The Bossier Parish CC transfer was 4-13 (.308) with four hits, two RBI, two runs scored and eight total bases. Hammonds leads the Texans in batting average (.424) and hits (25) among other statistics.
•  Hammonds ranks third in the WAC in batting average (.424), slugging (.695) and hits. He ranks fifth in on-base percentage (.500) and fourth in doubles (17). Kooper Shook is tied for the WAC lead with 11 stolen bases.
•  Jack Wagner and Hammonds have reached base in all 14 games they have played. Hammonds leads the Texans with eight multi-hit games. Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo leads Tarleton with six multi-RBI games.
 
 Notables

STACKING UP IN THE WAC
     Tarleton leads the Western Athletic Conference in team batting average (.318), slugging (.547), on-base percentage (.436), runs scored (167), hits (174), RBI (139), doubles (39), triples (9), total bases (300). and stolen bases (40).
 
On the pitching side, Tarleton is third in ERA (4.39), second in opposing batting average (.242) and second in strikeouts (176).
 
FACILITY UPGRADES
    The Tarleton Baseball Complex saw a significant facelift in the offseason. Capacity was increased with the complex now seating over 1,000. A cantilever roof structure providing cover was added and a new press box was installed. This comes after new turf, lights and outfield wall were installed prior to the 2022 season. This scope was phase two for the baseball facility that will continue to see renovations over the coming months.
 
DIVISIONS NO LONGER
    After playing in the Southwest Division of the WAC in 2022, the conference moved to scrap the divisions ahead of 2023. The Texans will play GCU, NM State, California Baptist, Seattle U, Utah Valley and newcomer UT Arlington this season, teams they did not see in 2022.
 
WAC PRESEASON POLL
       Tarleton was chosen to finish 10th out of 13 schools in the WAC preseason poll. The poll was released on February 10.  The Texans received 40 total votes and slotted in ahead of Utah Valley, Seattle U and Stephen F. Austin. Grand Canyon was picked to win the league, followed by Sam Houston and California Baptist.
 
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
       Three Texans saw their names on preseason 2023 MLB Draft prospect lists released this preseason. RHP Will Stevens came in as the No. 11 2023 MLB Draft prospect in the WAC by D1Baseball.com. He was followed by LHP Dylan Delvecchio at No. 22. Jordan Andrade was rated as the No. 10 2023 MLB Draft prospect in the WAC by Perfect Game. All three players are transfers new to the team in 2023. Stevens is a Kansas City, Mo. native that played last season at Wichita State. Delvecchio comes to Stephenville by way of Palomar College in California, a juco. Andrade transferred to the Texans following a three-year stint at UNLV and figures to see time at second base and shortstop.
 
TRANSFER PORTAL
The Texans added 17 newcomers to the roster via the transfer portal. 10 come from the junior college ranks while seven come from other four year universities.
 
A STORY TO WATCH
Grant Kerry is a newcomer to the Texan roster in 2023 after playing the last two seasons at Northwest Nazarene, a D2 school in Idaho. Kerry was born in Hong Kong, his family hails from England and he has lived in Kuwait, Australia and the United States. He played his high school ball in Australia before coming to the United States to play for a Boise State baseball program that was revived in 2019 after being dormant since 1980. After the covid-19 pandemic hit and the Broncos had played just 14 games, Boise State officials moved to cut the baseball program, citing budget issues. Kerry transferred to NNU where he was an All-American and helped lead them to the Division 2 World Series in 2021. Kerry is a utility player that could see time at first base as well as in the outfield.
 
BIG TIME BASEBALL IN STEPHENVILLE
Tarleton will host the likes of Oral Roberts (March 14), TCU (April 4), NM State (April 21-23), Grand Canyon (May 5-7), Baylor (May 16), and Sam Houston (May 18-20) this year at the newly renovated Tarleton Baseball Complex.
 
PLAYING FOR POSTSEASON
The Western Athletic Conference announced that for the 2022-2023 calendar year, Tarleton Athletics will now be postseason eligible for all conference postseason events despite the Texans being in year three of a reclassification period from Division 2. That means that if the Texans finish in the top eight of the WAC standings, they will travel to Mesa, Arizona, to participate in the 2023 WAC Baseball Tournament at Hohokam Stadium.
 
FRESHMEN
       Tarleton added six true freshmen to its roster ahead of the 2023 season. Five of the six hail from the great state of Texas. Tyson Drake is an outfielder that won the 2022 Texas 6A state championship at Southlake Carroll. Landry McKittrick led Godley to a regional semifinal appearance in 2021, hitting .427. Reece Elston hails from Stephenville where he was an all-state pitcher and all-state wide receiver. Tyler Sudderth struck out 70, holding a 2.22 ERA his senior season at Granbury. Breck Bradshaw played at Lake Dallas HS and shined for the travel ball team USA Prime. Dominic Corgiat played at Fenwick HS in Illinois where he was ranked the No. 15 LHP in the state in 2022 by Perfect Game.
 
BROADCASTING ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
Part of the latest renovations to the Tarleton Baseball Complex and Tarleton Softball Complex included the capability to match ESPN standards of multiple camera angles on the broadcast. With that, Tarleton will stream select 2023 baseball and softball home games on ESPN+ for the first time ever.
 
BEHIND THE DISH
  Last season the Texans featured two catchers primarily. Mason Crews and Jaime Perez each started 19 games as both missed time with injury. The 2023 season has been much of the same as Crews has started eight games and Perez seven.


GREAT PLAINS TO THE COWBOY CAPITAL
Redshirt junior utility player Jack Wagner has seen his fair share of experience at the Division 1 level. He spent four seasons as a member of the Kansas Jayhawks in the Big 12. Wagner missed last season due to an injury and took a redshirt, but prior to that he performed well in Lawrence. As a redshirt sophomore in 2021, he appeared in 43 games, starting 31 and hit .257 with 17 RBI and a .385 on-base percentage. Thus far in 2023 for Tarleton, Wagner has impressed, leading the Texans with 18 RBI, four home runs and is on a nine-game hit streak.
 

NEXT UP 
The Texans will host the UIW Cardinals for a three-game series in Stephenville, beginning Friday at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN+.