KINGSVILLE – Blake Bass was dominant and the Angelo State offense erupted for 17 hits as the Rams advanced to the Lone Star Conference Championship finals with an 8-0 win over Tarleton State on Friday at Nolan Ryan Field.

The Rams (36-15) go into the finals unblemished after also earning a 6-5 win over West Texas A&M in the LSC opener on Thursday and will play at noon on Saturday against the Texans who staved off elimination by beating WT after their loss to the Rams. ASU will need to win one game, while an if-necessary game would be played if the Rams drop the noon game. The Rams, who are now 22-14 all-time in LSC tournament play and 405-228 in program history, will be playing in their sixth tournament final and will be looking to win their third tournament title.

"I was really proud of our guys at the plate for sticking with our approaches and of Blake for going out there and really battling," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "He was a real warrior for us throughout the day and fought through some early jams before our offense was able to get going. We used the whole field with the great approaches and had a lot of singles. We are a team with some power, but we also can hit like we did today when we stay focused."

Bass (10-2) earned the win after striking out eight and allowing only six hits in eight innings of work in the semifinal game. He now has 99 strikeouts on the season and leads the conference with 10 wins. Bass stranded eight Texans on base, including getting out of trouble in the first inning with TSU having two runners on before Kevin Meredith flew out to J.C. Snyder at third base to strand two. Bass, who also had a 10-strikeout win earlier this season against Tarleton, would once again preserve the shutout with a strikeout to end the fifth inning with two Texans on base and then ended the seventh inning with another strikeout with a runner on.

"They just kept putting up runs for me and that kept a lot of the pressure of the moment off of me throughout the game," Bass said. "I felt relaxed out there and just pitched my game. I wasn't forced to try and do too much with the lead. I settled into a groove after the first couple of innings and just concentrated on throwing strikes and getting outs. This was a big win to advance to the championship and our team is playing with a lot of confidence right now."

Paxton DeLaGarza led the Rams at the plate by going 4-for-5 with two RBI, while Nehwon Norkeh went 3-for-4 and scored three runs and drove in another. Sam Kohler, Derek Tyner, Cameron Massengill and Brett David each had two hits against Tarleton State pitching. Cody Semler and J.C. Snyder added one single to account for the 17 hits. DeLaGarza improved his conference-leading average to .394 and now has 74 hits on the season, while Norkeh is hitting .324 and leads the LSC with 52 runs scored.

ASU started its scoring in the third inning with Norkeh leading off the inning with a single through the left-side of the infield and then stealing second base. With Norkeh in scoring position, DeLaGarza drove in his first run of the game with an opposite-field single to right field. He would score the second run of the inning when Massengill singled through the left-side of the infield. ASU would lead 5-0 after a three-run fourth inning which started with Semler leading off the inning with a single through the middle of the infield which was followed by Norkeh driving him in with a single to right field. DeLaGarza would tally his 40th RBI of the season two batters later with another single and Snyder drove in the third run of the inning with a single to center to score Kohler who had reached on an infield single.

After three scoreless innings the Rams tacked on another run in the eighth with an RBI single by Kohler to right field before David hit a two-run home run in the ninth to cap scoring. David, who also hit a two-run home run in the eighth inning of Thursday's win over WT, now has six home runs this season and four RBI so far in the conference tournament. David's home run was the 38th home run of the season for the Rams, while the ASU pitching staff has allowed only six home runs.

ASU won the conference tournament in 2012 and 2007 and last played in the finals in 2013. Bryce Zak will start for the Rams on Saturday and comes into the game with a 2.24 ERA and 78 strikeouts. Zak earned LSC second-team honors this season. The Rams are hitting .368 through the first two games of the LSC tournament with Norkeh going 5-for-8 (.625), DeLaGarza 6-for-10 (.600) and David going 5-for-9 (.556) with two home runs. The opposition is hitting only .254 against the Rams in the first two games of the conference tournament.

"We feel good about ourselves right now and we are putting together consistent at-bats," Brooks said. "Defensively we're playing really well right now and our pitching continues to be great for us. We like where we are at and it's going to be a fun day for us on Saturday playing for a tournament championship."