TARLETON STATE PULLS AWAY TO TAKE SERIES OPENER

Friday, February 20

Stephenville, Texas

3 p.m.

South Dakota State University

1-5

Tarleton State

4-1

South Dakota State

Tarleton State

Photo by: Dave Eggen/Inertia

2/20/2026 7:57:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Tarleton State's Carson Lorch went 4-for-6 and drove in four runs to lead the Texans to a 9-2 victory over South Dakota State in the opening game of a nonconference baseball series Friday afternoon.

With the win, Tarleton State improved to 4-1 on the season. SDSU dropped to 1-5.

The Texans never trailed, drawing first blood in the bottom of the second when Lorch drove in Jake Tatom from second base with a base hit. Tatom was originally called out on a bang-bang play at the plate after a strong throw from Jackrabbit left fielder Carter Taylor, but the call was overturned after video review.

An inning later, Tarleton struck for two more runs against Jackrabbit starter Ty Madison on RBI doubles from Sergio Guerra and Kendyl Johnson.

SDSU made it a one-run game with single tallies in the fourth and fifth innings. Nolan Grawe led off the fourth inning with an opposite-field double and came around to score on a base hit by Dayton Franke.

An error allowed Luke Wroblewski to reach base to open the fifth inning and the Jackrabbit newcomer later scored on a base hit by Owen Siegert. SDSU would load the bases later in the frame, but Franke lined out to center field to end the threat.

Tarleton State pulled away thereafter by getting a run back on a Lorch RBI single in the home half of the fifth and plating four runs off the Jackrabbit bullpen in the sixth. Setting the table with a hit batter and two walks, Tatom singled in the first two runs of the sixth, followed by run-scoring singles by Johnson and Lorch.

Lorch capped the scoring with a solo home run in the eighth.

Brady Englett also notched four of the Texans' 14 hits, with Tatom and Johnson each posting two hits.

Owen Siegert was 3-for-5 to lead SDSU's seven-hit effort. Taylor added a pair of hits in three trips to the plate.

Madison bounced back from a rough first start of the season to log 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits. He struck out two and walked two. Jacob Sjuts surrendered two runs over the final 2 2/3 innings for the Jackrabbits.

Karsen Davis picked up the victory in relief of Brian Panneton after shutting out the Jackrabbits over 2 1/3 innings of work. Panneton struck out six batters in 4 2/3 innings.

Aden Lucas added two shutout frames to close out the win for the Texans.

UP NEXT

Tarleton State leads the all-time series, 3-1
The two squads met for the first time since 1992
Grawe has reached base safely in 22 consecutive games dating back to last season
Taylor is 9-for-14 at the plate over the last three games and is batting a team-best .526 overall
Tarleton State pitchers did not issue any walks in the game, but did hit two batters

-GoJacks.com-