STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton baseball has reached the most important time of the season, conference play.
The Texans are set to host the UT Arlington Mavericks in UTA's first WAC game since rejoining the conference this season.
First year head coach Clay Van Hook leads the Mavericks into Stephenville as UTA is coming off a win over No. 10 TCU on Tuesday. The Texans are 8-0 at home.
All three games of the series will be streamed on ESPN+. Friday's game is a Purple Out game at the Tarleton Baseball Complex with fans encouraged to wear purple. Rally towels will be given out at the game.
Tickets can be purchased on site or over the phone ( as the online ticketing service is currently experiencing issues.
The Teams: Tarleton Texans (10-3, 0-0 WAC) vs. UTA Mavericks (5-7)
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 10-12):
FRI: TAR RHP
Will Stevens (Jr., 14.0 IP, 1-0, 0.64 ERA) vs. UTA RHP Gabe Starks (Jr., 13.2 IP, 1-0, 5.27 ERA)
SAT: TAR LHP
Dylan Delvecchio (Soph., 14.2 IP, 1-1, 6.14 ERA) vs. UTA RHP Brayden Brooks (Sr., 8.0 IP, 0-1, 5.63 ERA)
SUN: TAR RHP
Hunter Day (Jr., 17.0 IP, 2-0, 2.65 ERA) vs. UTA LHP Caden Noah (Jr., 15.2 IP, 2-0, 3.45 ERA)
Matchup Notes
• Tarleton and UTA will kick off WAC play with a weekend series at the Tarleton Baseball Complex. Tarleton will then play at UTA on Tuesday, March 21 in a game that does
not count towards WAC standings.
• Tarleton is 0-3 all-time vs. the Mavericks. UTA got the best of the Texans twice last season, once in Stephenville, 16-13, and once in Arlington, 7-5. In Tarleton's first season at the D1 level in 2021, UTA defeated the Texans 14-1 at Globe Life Field.
• The Texans are coming off a 17-1 win over Randall University on Tuesday and have won four straight. They are 8-0 at home and are averaging 15.8 runs per game at the Tarleton Baseball Complex.
• UTA is coming off an 8-7 win over No. 10 TCU at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth. It was their first top-10 win since 2017, which came against No. 4 Texas Tech. The Mavericks have played three series vs. Southland Conference teams. They went 1-2 vs. TAMUCC and McNeese and 2-1 vs. Northwestern State.
• The Texans play four WAC schools from Texas (UTA, SFA, SHSU, UTRGV) and host all but UTRGV at home.
Quick Hits
• As a team the Texans are hitting .331 with a .453 on-base percentage. Offensively the transfer duo of
Jack Wagner and
Mason Hammonds lead the way. Hammonds, a Bossier Parish CC transfer, hits .457 with 21 hits, 11 RBI, five doubles and two triples. Wagner, a Kansas transfer, leads the Texans with 18 RBI and four home runs, hitting .412 with a team-high .551 on-base percentage.
• The 8-0 start at home for the Texans is the best start dating back 2018 when they started 9-0 at home. That year Tarleton won the LSC Tournament title and earned an auto bid into the NCAA D2 playoffs.
• Of the 10 pitchers that have the most innings pitched this season for the Texans, seven of them are newcomers. The entire staff has an ERA of 3.82, with a 153/61 K/BB ratio.
•
Jaime Perez has started seven games for the Texans at catcher, splitting time with
Mason Crews. Perez is hitting .417 with 10 hits, nine runs scored and eight RBI. He has struck out just once in 24 at bats.
•
Mason Hammonds is on an 11-game hit streak and leads Tarleton with six multi-hit games,
Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo leads Tarleton with five multi-RBI games,
Jack Wagner is on a nine-game hit streak and an 11-game reached base streak.
Notables
STACKING UP IN THE WAC
Ahead of Tuesday's game with Randall, Tarleton led the Western Athletic Conference in team batting average (.328), slugging (.566), on-base percentage (.441), runs (135), hits, (135), RBI (112), doubles (29), home runs (19), total bases (233), hit by pitch (32), stolen bases (33) among other offensive stats. On the pitching side the Texans lead in opponent batting average (.222) and rank second in strikeouts (142).
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 Oral Roberts in a Tuesday midweek matchup following the series with UTA. First pitch is at 3 p.m. CT on WACInternational.TV.
