STEPHENVILLE, Texas – In the midst of the longest start at home in program history, the Texans are set to host their final of three tournaments this season in the Tarleton Invitational Thursday-Sunday.
 
Tarleton State will welcome three different programs to the Cowboy Capital of the World in New Mexico, North Dakota and Texas Southern.
 
Last time the Texans were in action, the Purple and White earned their first two run-rule walk-off victories of the season defeating Houston Christian 10-2 (5), South Dakota State 10-1 (6). Tarleton State currently sits at 6-4 as the season is early on.
 
The freshman hurler Shelby Schultz continues to sit batters down as she leads the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in strikeouts with 36 through 22.2 IP. Her 36 strikeouts puts her 13th in the nation and makes her the fourth best freshman rock slinger in the nation. She also sits at No. 12 in the nation for strikeouts per seven innings averaging 11.1 making her the fourth-best freshman in the category as well as leading the WAC.
 
On the offensive side, Austin Germain leads the WAC in four different categories. Germain leads the WAC in batting average (.531), doubles (5), doubles per game (.50) and sacrifice flies (2). She is currently hitting .531 which ranks her inside the top-50 in the nation at 49th. Doubles wise, the senior currently has five putting her at 11th in the nation, just two behind the nation's leaders who are tied at seven apiece. Germain isn't leading the WAC in sac flies alone but sits atop with fellow senior and Texan Kiana Gibson at two each with the nation leader tallying four in Julia Knowler of Clemson.
 
The Texans currently have five of the top-20 spots in batting average in the WAC. The five student-athletes are, Germain (.531), senior Bella Hernandez (.455), freshman Jaelynn Duke (.400), senior Kalyn Hill (.355) and freshman twin sister of Shelby, Casey Shultz (.346).
 
The four-team tournament is set to get underway on Thursday at 2 p.m. as the Texans will take on the Hawks of North Dakota. After a day off on Friday, Tarleton State will return to action on Saturday with two games.
 
The Texans will first take on Texas Southern to open Day 3 of the tournament with first pitch scheduled for 10 a.m. The Saturday matinee features the Hawks for the second and final time of the weekend for the Texans as things are scheduled to get underway at 2:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon will bring the Texans' homestand to an end when the Purple and White host New Mexico at 12:15 p.m. and Texas Southern for a 2:30 p.m. first pitch.
 
Season tickets, tournament passes and single-game tickets are on sale now and can be found at tarletonsports.com/tickets. The first game for the Texans on Thursday will air live on ESPN+ with the middle two contest on Saturday airing on WAC International. The final two games will move back to ESPN+ on Sunday. Live stats will also be available for all games as well. For the full 2025 schedule click here.
 
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