The Teams: Tarleton Texans (17-16, 3-10 WAC) vs. Wiley College (19-16, 11-4 Gulf Coast Athletic)
Where: Stephenville, Texas
Stadium: Tarleton Baseball Complex
Day and Time: Wednesday at 3 p.m. CT
Streaming Platform: ESPN+

Tarleton baseball is back from a four-game stretch in California and is set for a home midweek game with Wiley College.
 
The Texans will look to get in the win column ahead of an important Western Athletic Conference series this weekend when NM State comes to town.
 
The game with Wiley has been moved up to a 3 p.m. CT start time. General admission tickets will be free.
 
Matchup Notes
 
•  Tarleton hosts Wiley College in a midweek tune-up ahead of a big WAC series as NM State comes to town this weekend.
•  The Wildcats are an NAIA program playing in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference and are currently in second place out of six teams in the GCAC.
•  Wiley is traveling to Stephenville for the second staright season. Last year Tarleton defeated Wiley 12-0 on April 19. Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo led the Texans with three RBI on two hits.
•  The Texans are coming off their first WAC series win of the season as they took two of three from California Baptist in Riverside. Tarleton won the first two games of the series  before falling in the series finale. Prior to the CBU series they defeated UC Riverside 8-2 on Wednesday, making for a 3-1 trip to California.
•  Wiley is coming off a three-game series sweep of Tougaloo. The Wildcats outscored Tougaloo 39-12 throughout the series.
 
Quick Hits
•  Texan first baseman Jack Wagner was named the TicketSmarter WAC Hitter of the Week on Monday after a stellar four game stretch at the plate in California. Wagner was 8-14 (.571) on the week with seven runs scored, three home runs, three walks and two stolen bases. He posted a .667 on-base percentage and a 1.214 slugging percentage. In Friday's series opening win over CBU, Wagner was 5-5 with two home runs, four RBI and four runs scored.
•  Tarleton used just two pitchers in its 7-4 game two victory over CBU. Dylan Delvecchio got the start and threw 6.0 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. He struck out four and walked two in his best start in conference play this season. Zane Badmaev entered in the seventh inning with Tarleton leading 7-4 and proceeded to throw 3.0 shutout innings, allowing just a lone hit. He struck out five and walked none, helping the Texans to the series victory.
•  Alec Williams has paced the Texans in WAC play with a .355 batting average. He has a .474 on-base percentage, 11 hits, six RBI and nine runs scored. Williams has more walks (7), than strikeouts (5) facing WAC pitching.
•   On the pitching side in conference play, Jake Burcham leads the pitching staff with a 2.08 ERA in a team-high tying five WAC appearances. He has a 1-0 record to pair with eight strikeouts in 8.2 innings pitched.
 
Notables

LOOKING DEEPER AT THE CBU SERIES
The Texans put pressure on the Lancer defense as they put the ball in play all weekend. The constant offensive attack forced CBU into eight errors on the weekend with four in game one and three in game two.
     The wins on Friday and Saturday were Tarleton's first WAC wins on either day this season. Their lone conference win before the CBU series was a Sunday 5-4 walk-off victory over UTA in Stephenville.
 
MR. RELIABLE
Mason Hammonds has been Mr. Reliable for Tarleton this season. The junior shortstop has started a team-high 31 games out of 33 and is hitting .351 with a team-high 46 hits and 12 doubles to pair with a team-high 32 runs scored. Hammonds leads the team with 14 multi-hit games and is currently on a six-game hit streak. He had four hits, three RBI and two runs scored in the CBU series.
 
STEPHENVILLE DUO
     Tarleton has two players from Stephenville HS on the roster that have made an impact this season.
     Sophomore outfielder Trace Morrison has started 21 games in left field and leads Tarleton with a .387 batting average. He has 36 hits, 14 runs scored, 13 RBI and is 8-11 on stolen bases. The .387 batting average is good for sixth best in the WAC.
     Stephenville native and true freshman LHP Reece Elston has made a strong impact out of the Texan bullpen thus far in 2023. He holds a 3.38 ERA. In 10 appearances, the lefty has allowed six earned runs, striking out 23 and walking 11 in 16.0 IP.  Opponents are hitting .246 off him and he holds a 2-1 record.
 
STACKING UP IN THE WAC
Tarleton is first in team slugging (.474), on-base percentage (.413) and stolen bases (75). They are third in team batting average (.304) and second in runs scored (277). On the pitching side the Texans are second in opponent batting average (.268), third in strikeouts (314) and fifth in ERA (5.78).
 
Jack Wagner is third in the WAC with 39 RBI, tied fourth with 10 home runs  and sixth in the WAC in on-base percentage (.474). Trace Morrison is sixth in batting average (.387). Mason Hammonds is tied-fifth with 12 doubles and tied-second with four triples. Kooper Shook is in second with 18 stolen bases.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 10 home runs, 19 walks, 39 RBI and is hitting .355 He is slugging 729 with an OPS of 1.203.
 
NEXT UP 
Tarleton will host NM State at the Tarleton Baseball Complex in a three-game WAC series this weekend. The first two games will air on WACInternational.tv with the third airing on ESPN+.