HOUSTON – The Winona State baseball team fell to Tarleton State 15-2 in the team's season opener Thursday at Minute Maid Park in Houston.

Despite the lopsided final, the Warriors were competitive early on as the two teams were scoreless after two innings and the Warriors were down just 3-2 after the fourth before the Texans countered with 12 unanswered runs.

WSU ace Chase Blazier (0-1) was strong through the first two innings, striking out the game's first batter before stranding a runner on third to end the first inning. He then rebounded from a leadoff single followed by a hit batter to leave the bases loaded in the second without giving up a run.

The Texans broke through for three runs in the third inning thanks to a leadoff triple by Landon Merka. After a hit batter, TSU got back-to-back RBI singles and an RBI flyout to take a 3-0 lead before Blazier struck out the final batter of the inning – and his final batter of the game.

Winona State cut the Texan lead to just one in the fourth. Travis Evanson produced a one-out single through the left side and Jesus Cazares followed with a single to left of his own to put a pair of runners on base for Jordan Plamann, who scored the season's first run with an RBI single to right center, scoring Evanson. Redshirt freshman Paul Mutch then recorded his first collegiate RBI with a groundout to the shortstop that plated Cazares.

That would be as close as the Warriors would get, as Tarleton State used a seven-run fifth inning to break open the game at 10-2 before scoring three in the sixth and two more in the seventh to force the 15-2 final score.

The senior Plamann recorded two of the Warriors' five hits in the game. The WSU pitchers struggled with their command playing outdoors for the first time this season, walking 10 batters and hitting three Texans.

Winona State (0-1) continues its four-game season-opening road trip Friday with a 6 p.m. first pitch against Central Missouri at Minute Maid Park in Houston.