STEPHENVILLE – Pitching dominated the day.
 
Beginning with a ceremonial first pitch strike fired by head coach Bryan Conger's son, Jacoby, to kick things off all the way through the final pitch from Evan Pontley to cap off his first career complete-game shutout, the Texans were in control. Tarleton won the first game 12-1 and the second 2-0.

"My family would like to thank Nate Bural, Justin Boyd, and the entire Tarleton family for allowing us to begin to raise awareness for about CFC," said head coach Bryan Conger. "Today holds a special place in our hearts. We would also like to thank the boys for the love and humanity they have shown towards Jacoby this whole year. On the field, the boys came out today and played really good baseball. They showed what they have the ability to become."
   
Jacoby Conger got the day started by throwing out the first pitch and Nathan Hickey took it the rest of the way as an 11-run fifth inning backed Hickey's fifth win of the year.
 
The teams traded goose eggs over the first three innings of the day, but Ruben Rodriguez got the scoring started in the fourth with a solo home run to left for a 1-0 Tarleton lead.
 
After Hickey put up another zero in the fifth, the offense came alive with a remarkable 11-run inning with two outs, beginning when Blake Adams singled up the middle to keep the inning alive.
 
Francisco Rodriguez followed Adams with a two-run home run to start the big inning. Two walks and single loaded the bases for Dylan Lemons, who delivered two RBI of his own with a double down the left field line to extend the lead to 5-0 and chase the Javelina starter.
 
The new Kingsville arm was welcomed by a walk and an RBI single from Hunter Hudson. Then an error by the shortstop scored Lemons and opened the flood gates for five more runs on a three-RBI double from Adams and a two-RBI single by Jared McCarver to push the lead out to 12-0.
 
Hickey went on to finish it out, throwing all seven innings allowing one run on seven hits and two walks. The senior struck out nine.
 
Tarleton scored 12 runs on nine hits, highlighted by two-hit efforts from Adams and McCarver. Francisco, Ruben, Lemons, Tyler Fowler, and Hudson had one hit each.
   
Evan Pontley started on the mound and dominated with his first career complete game shutout. Pontley went all seven innings and held Texas A&M-Kingsville to only two hits while striking out four with only two walks. Pontley had the Javelinas off balance all game, forcing 11 fly outs and five ground outs, including a double play ball.
 
Pontley (5-3) never allowed an A&M-Kingsville base runner to advance past second base in the game and had a pair of three-up, three-down innings. The two hits Pontley allowed were a pair of singles – one in the third inning and one in the seventh.
 
Offensively, Pontley only needed one run to get the win, but instead the Texans gave him two.
 
In the second inning, the Texans got on the board when catcher Luis Rivas drilled a one-out triple to deep center and later scored on an error for the game's first run.
 
An inning later, the Texans got a one-out double from Jared McCarver, who advanced to third on a wild pitch. Dylan Lemons followed with an RBI single through the left side for a 2-0 Texan lead.
 
The Texan offense collect six hits in the game by six different players. In addition to Rivas, McCarver and Lemons, Ruben Rodriguez, Blake Adams, and Jake Hasbrouck each recorded a hit.
 
The Texans will look to sweep the four-game series with the finale on Sunday, March 25 at 12 p.m.?