Baseball 5/21/2026 9:50:00 PM Grant Cohen

Tarleton State Baseball shuts out Sacramento State, secures spot in WAC Semifinals

MESA, Ariz. – It was dry outside at Hohokam Stadium, but Tarleton State Baseball stayed hot and defeated No. 4 seed Sacramento State 9-0 on Thursday in the Western Athletic Conference Quarterfinals.

Tarleton State pitchers Cort Lowry, Jackson Elizondo, and Ben Bosse only allowed one hit to Sacramento State. It was the fewest given up to an opponent in the Division I era and it was the fewest the Texans allowed in a conference tournament. It is also the fewest hits given up in a Tarleton State game since 2019.

Senior outfielder Jake Tatom and sophomore infielder Cage McCloud led the Texans' offense. Tatom hit his eighth home run of the season to go with three RBIs while McCloud went 2-for-3 at the plate in addition to two RBIs.

Tarleton State, the tournament's top seed and WAC Regular Season Champions, will face No. 2 seed California Baptist on Friday at 1 p.m. in the WAC Semifinals. The winner moves on to Saturday's championship game.

The Texans did not let an hour delay from its scheduled first pitch slow them down, loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the first inning. Senior infielder Carson Lorch capitalized with a single to center field to put the Texans on the board, with sophomore infielder Cage McCloud hitting a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat to make it a two-run game.

After a walk loaded the bases again for Tarleton State, senior catcher Sergio Guerra drove in two runs with a double down the right field line to put the Texans up 4-0 in the bottom of the first inning. Redshirt junior infielder Raphaël Smeenk hit a sacrifice fly to left center to drive in the Texans' fifth run to cap off the half-inning.

Tarleton State followed suit in the bottom of the second inning, with senior infielder Slade McCloud hitting a double and advancing to third base on a wild pitch. Cage backed up his brother, hitting a single that drove in Slade and put the Texans ahead 6-0.

The Texans kept the scoring spree going in the bottom of the third inning. Guerra led the inning off by getting hit by the pitch and sophomore outfielder Kendyl Johnson drew a walk to put two runners on. Tatom finished the job by homering to deep right field, driving in three runs to give the Texans a nine-run lead.

Lowry forced Sacramento State into a pair of three up, three down innings, striking out three batters in the process. The sophomore right-handed pitcher forced the Hornets to ground into a double play to end the sixth and seventh innings, obtaining his second win of the season.

Elizondo came into relief and shut down all three batters he faced in the top of the eighth inning to keep the shutout alive. Bossee closed out the top of the ninth inning by getting a strikeout and forcing Sacramento State to hit into a left field fly out to seal the Texans' win.

Friday's semifinal game will be available to watch on ESPN+ and available to listen on Tarleton Sports Network. If the Texans lose in Friday's semifinal, they will play at 9 p.m. CT later that night for a spot in the championship game.

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