- Tarleton 13, NSU 6
- Tarleton 14, NSU 4
STEPHENVILLE – The Tarleton Texans used six home runs on Saturday to help sweep the Northeastern State RiverHawks in a three-game Lone Star Conference series.
Tarleton (28-7, 18-6) had three home runs in the bottom of the third inning in game one, including two by Andrew Kapple, as a part of an 11-run inning as the Texans took game one, 13-6.
In game two, the Texans used two big innings scoring five in the bottom of the first and six in the bottom of the fifth to take a 14-4 victory to complete the sweep over the RiverHawks (5-27, 4-23).
With the two wins on Saturday, the Texans claimed first place in the LSC finishing the weekend one game ahead of Southeastern Oklahoma to hold sole possession of the top spot.
Tarleton will return to action Tuesday, April 12 at Texas Wesleyan in Fort Worth. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
Tarleton 13, Northeastern 6
Tarleton used an 11-run third inning to win the first of two games against the Northeastern Riverhawks played on Saturday.
Chris Cassaza put Tarleton on the board first with a two-run batted in double down the left field line that drove in Mark Jeffery and Zane Hensley. Cassaza was thrown out at the plate after Tim Rainey flied out to right field trying to score on the sacrifice. Tarleton led 2-0 at the end of two innings.
Northeastern retaliated in the top of the third with an RBI double to tie the game up. A two-RBI triple and a sac fly followed, and the Riverhawks took the 4-2 lead.
Kapple hit a homerun to lead off the bottom of the third inning. Jeffery took a four pitch walk with the bases loaded to tie the game at four runs apiece later in the inning. Hensley then doubled down the right field line to drive in Junior Dishmey and Ethan Stuckly and to return the lead to the Texans. Travis Hayes kept the inning going by driving in Jeffery with a single. Rainey drove in a run of his own with a single and Kapple came back to the plate and knocked the ball out again. He hit a three-run homerun to give him two homeruns in the same inning. Stuckly followed Kapple's lead and hit a two-run homerun of his own later in the frame. When all was said and done, the Texans scored 11 runs and ran away with the lead a 13-4 to finish the third inning.
The Riverhawks responded with a two-run shot of their own in the top of the fifth inning to bring the score to 13-6, still in favor of the Texans.
That score would hold to the end of the game as Tarleton took game one of Saturday's doubleheader.
Nathan Lewis got the win after pitching 5.0 innings and allowing six runs on seven hits with five strikeouts. Kenneth Stockton pitched 2.0 innings and allowed just one hit with two strikeouts.
Tarleton 14, Northeastern State 4
The Texans completed the three-game sweep of the Riverhawks with a 14-4 victory in seven innings in the nightcap.
Cassaza started off the second game by hitting a grand slam to straight away center field. Travis Hayes went back-to-back with Cassaza hitting a solo homerun to give the Texans a 5-0 lead after the first inning.
The Riverhawks led off the top of the second with a homerun of their own to make the score 5-1 after the top of the second.
Junior Dishmey came back in the bottom of the second and hit a solo homerun to give the Texans a five run lead at 6-1.
The Riverhawks scored a run in the top of the fifth on a single that drove in the runner from third and off of a single hit hard up the middle that allowed the runner to come home from second. Brandon Van Riper then walked the batter with the bases loaded to give the Riverhawks another run. Brandon Greer was called in for relief of Van Riper and induced a groundball to get a double and get out the inning, with the score now 6-4.
Hensley doubled off the wall in left field to drive home Jeffery from second in the bottom of the fifth. Landon McCall took a walk with the bases loaded that allowed Hensley to come home. Stuckly followed up with a bases-clearing double to drive in three runs. Dishmey then hit a double to drive Stuckly home giving the Texans a 12-4 lead after five innings.
Kapple hit a two-RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to drive in Nathan Hillie and Heath Petty which extended the lead to 14-4.
That lead was enough to end the game after the seventh inning on the ten-run rule.
Van Riper got the victory, pitching 4.1 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Greer pitched 2.2 innings and allowed a hit and a walk with two strikeouts.
