STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton baseball is hosting its final non-conference series of the season beginning Friday as the Incarnate Word Cardinals come to town for a three game series.
 
Tarleton will be capping off an eight-game home stand as they will hit the road for seven straight following Sunday's series finale.
 
Friday's game will feature a St. Patrick's Necklace Giveaway, with first pitch set for 6 p.m. CT. All three games will be streamed on ESPN+ as the Texans look to get back in the win column.
 
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (11-6, 1-2 WAC) vs. UIW Cardinals (10-7, 0-0 SLC)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Baseball Complex
Day and Time: Friday at 6 p.m. CT; Saturday at 3 p.m. CT; Sunday at 1 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS (March 17-19):
FRI: TAR RHP Will Stevens (Jr., 17.0 IP, 1-1, 2.65 ERA) vs. UIW LHP Kayden Cassidy (RSr., 18.2 IP, 1-1, 3.86 ERA)
SAT: TAR LHP Dylan Delvecchio (Soph., 20.2 IP, 1-1, 6.10 ERA) vs. UIW RHP Isaiah Zavala (Sr., 22.1 IP, 3-0, 3.63 ERA)
SUN: TAR RHP Hunter Day (Jr., 23.0 IP, 2-0, 3.13 ERA) vs. UIW TBD 
 
Matchup Notes
 
•  Tarleton and Incarnate Word will meet for the 33rd time in the two schools' histories on Friday. UIW holds the all-time advantage 17-15, with games going back to 2004 in the online database. Tarleton is 3-0 vs. UIW in its D1 era. The Texans won once in Stephenville and once in San Antonio in 2022. They took down the Cardinals previously this season on Tuesday, February 21, winning 5-3.
•  The victory over UIW earlier this season in San Antonio saw Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo finish with three hits and two RBI. Devon Patel was the starting pitcher and struck out a career-high seven batters. Grant Garza earned the win after pitching 2.2 scoreless with a season-high five strikeouts.
• The Texans fell to Oral Roberts 9-6 last time out. Jack Wagner led Tarleton with two   hits and three RBI while Devon Patel tossed 2.0 scoreless innings, but Tarleton could not overcome 12 ORU hits and being held scoreless over the final 5.0 frames. UIW is coming off a 5-4 win at PVAMU on Tuesday and have won 4 consecutive games.
 
Quick Hits
•  The Texans will employ the same three starting pitchers they have all season in RHP Will Stevens, LHP Dylan Delvecchio and RHP Hunter Day. Stevens leads the Texans with a 2.65 ERA, which is good for ninth best in the Western Athletic Conference.
•  Jack Wagner continues to lead Tarleton at the plate. The junior Kansas transfer leads the WAC in slugging (.837) and is second in RBI (22) and on-base percentage (.529). He leads the team with five home runs, 18 runs scored and 11 walks. Mason Hammonds and Wagner have reached base in all 15 games they have played in.
•  Tarleton is 9-3 at the Tarleton Baseball Complex. They got off to a 9-0 start at home before dropping two to UTA and losing a midweek contest to Oral Roberts.
•  The Texans have over 10 hits in 11 of 17 games played and are 9-2 in those games.
•  Tarleton is 4-0 in games that Hunter Day has started on the mound. Day has struck out 22 batters compared to just five walks in 23.0 innings pitched.
 
Notables

FRESHMAN COMING IN STRONG
     Stephenville native and true freshman LHP Reece Elston has made a strong impact out of the Texan bullpen thus far in 2023. In five appearances, the lefty has allowed just one run, striking out 11 and walking just five.  Opponents are hitting .185 off him and he holds a 1-0 record.
 
STACKING UP IN THE WAC
     Tarleton leads the Western Athletic Conference in team batting average (.315), slugging (.540), on-base percentage (.435), runs scored (173), hits (182), RBI (145), doubles (40), triples (9), total bases (312). and stolen bases (41).
 
On the pitching side, Tarleton is third in ERA (4.55), second in opposing batting average (.247) and second in strikeouts (184).
 
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 nine.

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 22 RBI, five home runs and 18 runs scored.
 
NEXT UP 
Tarleton hits the road for a midweek contest on Tuesday at UT Arlington with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. CT on WACInternational.tv. The game will not count towards WAC standings.