STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton held a 6-4 lead for four innings on Thursday night, but a late push from Stephen F. Austin saw the Lumberjacks gain all the momentum as they defeated the Texans 8-7 in 10 innings at the Tarleton Baseball Complex.
Tarleton (14-13, 1-7 WAC) lost its seventh consecutive game and gave up a two or more run lead for the third consecutive game. SFA (14-14, 8-5 WAC) used two late home runs as part of their 16 hits on the evening to secure the Western Athletic Conference series opener.
Tarleton led 6-4 entering the top of the eighth inning as
Ryan Jacobs had tossed 3.0 shutout innings in relief to that point. SFA's first two batters in the inning singled before Sam Adams stepped to plate and hit a three-run home run to give the Lumberjacks its first lead of the game at 7-6. Jacobs struck out the next batter he saw but allowed another single after that as he was pulled for
Zach Poe. Jacobs tossed 3.1 innings allowing three runs on five hits. He struck out five and walked none. The 3.1 innings pitched and five strikeouts were both career-highs for the junior. Poe threw 1.2 scoreless innings allowing a lone hit.
Tarleton was able to bring a run home in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game as
Dylan Kurahashi-Choy Foo laced an RBI single through the right side for his second hit of the game to score
Kooper Shook and tie the game at seven.
Zane Badmaev (L, 0-2) pitched the 10th for Tarleton and had the first two batters he saw strike out swinging. The third however, Nolan Brown, hit a solo home run to left field as the Jacks re-took the lead 8-7.
Tarleton stranded two runners on base in the bottom of the 10th as SFA completed the comeback win.
The Texans took an early 4-0 lead as they scored four in the second inning on three hits and two Lumberjack errors. SFA answered with three in the top of the third to make it 4-3 but the Texans made it 6-3 with two runs in the third, taking advantage of another error. Tarleton pushed SFA starting pitcher Joe Richter out of the game after only 2.1 innings as they brought home six runs (three earned).
Cris Enriquez led with three hits and two walks. Choy Foo,
Alec Williams and
Mason Hammonds each contributed two hits with Choy Foo adding two RBI and Williams one.
Payton Pennington had a hit and two walks.
Hunter Day got the start for Tarleton on the bump, going 4.0 innings allowing four runs on nine hits. He struck out four and walked one.
SFA reliever Benny Emmons lll tossed 5.2 shutout innings in relief for the Jacks.
The Texans will look to knot the series up on Friday at 3 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and can be listened to at TarletonSports.com/Watch and KTRL radio.
