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Tarleton State University Athletics

CarlieBSBSemifinalRecap
3
California Baptist CBU 44-14
5
Winner Tarleton State TAR 36-19
California Baptist CBU
44-14
3
Final
5
Tarleton State TAR
36-19
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
California Baptist CBU 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 9 1
Tarleton State TAR 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 1 X 5 9 0

W: Wendel, Ethan (6-3) L: Peck, Bryan (7-2) S: Phetluangsy, Tai (8)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Grant Cohen

Tarleton State Baseball clinches spot in WAC Championship game with semifinal win over CBU

MESA, Ariz. – Tarleton State Baseball is back in the Western Athletic Conference Championship, securing a spot in Saturday's title game after defeating No. 2 seed California Baptist 5-3 on Friday at Hohokam Stadium. 

The WAC Regular Season champions and No. 1 seed will play for its second conference tournament title in the last three years on Saturday at 3 p.m. Tarleton State won the WAC Tournament title in 2024, becoming the first baseball program to win a conference tournament during NCAA Division I reclassification. A win on Saturday would allow the Texans to clinch a spot for the program's first-ever NCAA Division I Regional. 

Redshirt junior infielder Raphaël Smeenk led the Texans' offense with two solo home runs on Friday. Three additional Texans also had multi-hit games in Friday's semifinal, with seniors Slade McCloud and Carson Lorch along with sophomore utility Rayner Heinrich obtaining two hits each. 

Junior pitcher Ethan Wendel posted his sixth win of the season, collecting a pair of strikeouts in 5.2 innings pitched. Senior pitcher Tai Phetluangsy picked up his eighth save of the season. 

"Our guys were making plays and doing what we asked them to do: take it one game at a time," head coach Fuller Smith said. "Pitching was solid again. Wendel did a fantastic job and got a lot of early outs, which is what you have to do in this tournament. Treto came in and CBU did a good job of getting his pitch count up, but he was able to minimize and still pitch effectively. Ty got in some trouble early, but finished the job when it mattered most. 

"What a day from Raphaël Smeenk. He's a guy that hasn't played every day, but he started the offense and ended the offense for us on the biggest stage. It was an outstanding job from him." 

Looking to get off to another fast start in the WAC Tournament, the Texans got two runners on base with one out in the bottom of the first inning. CBU, however, prevented any damage by forcing a strikeout and a fly out to left field to end the opening inning. 

The top-seeded Texans still struck first, with Smeenk hitting a solo home run to deep right field to score the game's first run in the bottom of the second inning. Tarleton State followed by scoring a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning. After a single from McCloud, Heinrich hit an RBI triple to put the Texans up 2-0. Lorch followed with a ground-rule double to left center, scoring Heinrich from third base to put the Texans up by three runs. 

CBU answered in the next half-inning, doubling to left center following a leadoff single to score a run. Tarleton State countered a response in the bottom of the fourth inning, with senior catcher Sergio Guerra hitting a leadoff home run to deep left field to extend the Texans' lead 4-1. 

Three straight singles in the top of the sixth inning allowed CBU to make it a two-run game, putting a pair of runners on base. Coming into relief with two outs and a pair of CBU runners on, junior pitcher Anthony Treto came up with the strikeout to retire the side and keep the Texans' lead at bay. 

After Treto forced two fly outs and a foul out in the top of the eighth inning, Smeenk struck again. The Amsterdam, Netherlands, native hit his second home run of the afternoon with a two-out shot to right field to add insurance entering the ninth inning. 

CBU looked to keep its championship game hopes alive in the last half-inning, starting the top of the ninth with a leadoff double and later hitting a single to cut the deficit to two runs. Phetluangsy was unfazed, forcing three outs in CBU's next three at-bats to clinch the semifinal victory. 

Tarleton State's opponent will be decided at the conclusion of Friday's elimination games. If the Texans were to lose on Saturday in the 3 p.m. game, they will play a winner-take-all contest shortly after. 
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