The expectations of the Texas Wesleyan baseball team are to replicate the success that the program is known for: conference championships and trips to the NAIA National Tournament.
Unfortunately for the Rams, the past two years have not met those expectations. After Friday's doubleheader sweep of Sterling, this year's team has a 5-1 record, the type of success that TWU coach Mike Jeffcoat hopes gets the Rams back into contention."We have been knocking on the door the last few years," Jeffcoat said. "We had to rebuild two years ago after winning the conference when every position had a senior. We had to reload, and some of the guys didn't end up as well as we expected."The lone loss for Texas Wesleyan was an 11-4 setback Tuesday at LaGrave Field to Oklahoma City, the Sooner Athletic Conference title favorite and a conference rival next season. The Rams swept a series against Mid-American Christian to open the season on Feb. 1-2 and are hoping to jell before they begin Red River Athletic Conference play on Feb.22"We have several big games coming up that we want to see if we can start jelling as a team," Jeffcoat said. "We are hoping to get our offense going before we enter conference play."TexAnns clinchThe Tarleton State women's basketball team (17-3, 11-2 LSC) clinched its 11th appearance in the Lone Star Conference tournament with a 75-48 win over Angelo State on Feb. 6.The TexAnns led wire-to-wire and featured Kiara Wright's 14th double-double of the season. She led the TexAnns with 15 points and 16 rebounds.Tarleton State is in position for the second seed in the tournament, which begins March 6 in Allen, and trails first-place Midwestern State by just one game.The TexAnns have seven regular-season games remaining, including a date with Midwestern State on Feb. 23 in Stephenville.Tarleton on a rollThe Tarleton State men (13-6, 6-5) have climbed into fourth place in the LSC with five consecutive victories, putting the Texans just two back of second place Incarnate Word.The Texans enter an important stretch of games in which they play three consecutive teams that are in position for the LSC tournament.Tarleton hosts Abilene Christian at 7:30 tonight, then faces Texas A&M Kingsville and Incarnate Word next week.Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
