Program vs. Program                                                                                                                                                    
Overall: ASU leads 24-9                                                                                                                                                
In Stephenville: ASU leads 11-5
2012 Boxes: Split series 2-2 (14-13, 6-10, 6-8, 13-7)                                                                                                                                       
Last season: Tarleton State swept 3-0 (18-6, 11-1, 11-5)                                                                                   
 
SAN ANGELO, Texas – James Conlee and Craig Blair didn't walk a single batter and the No. 8 Angelo State offense pounded out 14 hits as the Rams took a 13-7 Lone Star Conference win over Tarleton State in the series finale on Sunday at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex.
 
Angelo State (29-13, 13-7 LSC) has still not lost a series this season and improved to 6-0 on Sundays and to 8-0 in the final game of series of more than two games. The Rams remain tied with No. 21 West Texas A&M atop the conference standing the same way they entered this weekend after the Buffs (26-12, 13-7 LSC) split their home series against No. 25 Texas A&M-Kingsville (24-11, 12-8 LSC). Tarleton State (17-18, 9-11 LSC) is tied for seventh in the conference race with Cameron (20-21, 9-11 LSC) after winning the middle two games of its series against Angelo State. The Aggies come to Foster Field for a four-game series against ASU starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. 
“This may have been the biggest game of the year thus far,” ASU senior Zach Cohen said. “After falling behind in the series we had to battle back and couldn't drop this one. It's a series that we all felt we shouldn't have had to win this game to finish with a split, but it's good that when we were in this position that we did come out and took care of business.”
 
Cohen led off the game by being hit for the eighth time this season and would score the first run after Doug Snover hit into a double play. The Rams would add five runs in the second inning on five hits, including a two-run single by Brett Parsons and a Lee Neumann RBI single. Parsons finished the game with RBI and with nine RBI for the four-game series. Neumann and Toby Semler led the Rams with three hits each in the game. Neumann finished the series with 12 hits and 10 runs.
 
“I was just trying to go back to the little things and concentrate on squaring balls up,” Neumann said. “I think when I do struggle at the plate that it's because I'm trying to just hit balls hard. When I square it up I'm a pretty good hitter. My confidence at the plate is through the roof right now.”
 
Conlee (4-1) earned the win for the Rams after managing through 12 hits in an 85-pitch, 7.0 inning performance. The junior right-hander allowed six earned runs, but did not walk a single batter after ASU had struggled with control in the first three games of the series. Blair, who made his 11th appearance of the season, didn't allow a hit or a runner in two innings to close down the game and series.
 
“He threw the ball over the plate for strikes,” said Brooks of Conlee. “It's as simple as that. If you throw strikes and they have to hit you to beat you, then you're chances are pretty good.”

Semler extended his hitting streak to 11 games with his three hits and take his season's average to .354. The senior from Mansfield has 18 multiple hit games this season and his current hitting streak is the longest for any Ram hitter this season. He also had two RBI in the game and now has eight multi-RBI games. Jake Feckley added two hits in the game, while Quaid McKinnon recorded two RBI.
 
Kyle Supak (0-3) claims the loss for the Texans after going only 1.1 innings against the Rams. The junior right-hander from LaGrange gave up six runs and walked three before exiting for the day. Blake Silguero led the Texans with four hits and four RBI, while Ryan Small had three hits to add to the team total of 12. Both teams committed one error in the game.  
 
 
Side notes:

• ASU is outscoring teams 74-28 in Sunday games and 91-36 in the eight finales
• Neumann now leads the Rams with a .378 batting average this season after hitting .750 in 16 at-bats this weekend; Neumann leads ASU with 13 doubles, 7 triples and 5 home runs
• Parsons has raised his average to .351 after hitting .417 against Eastern New Mexico last weekend and .600 against the Texans
• Semler continues to lead the Rams with 57 hits this season
• Ryan Greer stole only one base at Tarleton State but still leads the team and LSC with 23 this season; Greer hit .462 in the series with six hits
• Angelo State has raised its' season average to .310 after hitting .397 as a team against the Texans
• The Rams had six doubles, three triple and three home runs against the Texans
• ASU is now 10-8 on the road this season
• This was ASU's final road trip of the regular season

 
Additional Quotes

Kevin Brooks // ASU head coach
On the Rams' offensive production in Sunday's 13-7 win:
They gave us some free base runners and we did a good job of taking advantage of that. It was big for us to get those runs across and do what we are supposed to do when the other team is helping us out. It was important in this series to keep putting up runs whenever we got the chance to.
 
On James Conlee's pitching performance in Sunday's 13-7 win:
He threw the ball over the plate for strikes. It's as simple as that. If you throw strikes and they have to hit you to beat you, then you're chances are pretty good.
 
On Craig Blair's pitching performance in Sunday's 13-7 win:
It's a common theme with this game, but he came in and threw strikes. He got ahead of guys and made them swing the bat. He did a great job for us today.
 
On the Rams' winning Sunday's game to salvage a series split with Tarleton State:
We put ourselves in a position where this was a big game that we had to win. We responded really well and is a positive. We are disappointed because we think we should have won both those games on Saturday,  but we did what we had to do today based on the position we put ourselves in.
 
On Lee Neumann going 12-for-16 with two doubles, two triples and a home run in the series:
That's pretty good. He has been getting better and better as the season has gone on. He had a great approach this weekend and had consistent good at-bats.
 
On Zach Cohen hitting .500 during the Rams' series against Tarleton State:
Cohen getting going back to his old self was huge for us. He really changes the dynamic of our lineup when he is hitting like he did this weekend.
 
On Brett Parsons having nine hits and nine RBI in the Rams' series against Tarleton State:
He makes the middle part of our lineup really difficult to get through. He can really hurt teams with one swing of his bat.
 
On the Rams moving to 8-0 in the final game of series this season:
Our pitching depth is a strength of ours, so we like the matchups in the final game of series. We like our chances of winning in those games.
 
 
Zach Cohen // ASU senior short stop
On the importance of winning Sunday's game to secure a series split against Tarleton State:
This may have been the biggest game of the year thus far. After falling behind in the series we had to battle back and couldn't drop this one. It's a series that we all felt we shouldn't have had to win this game to finish with a split, but it's good that when we were in this position that we did come out and took care of business.
 
On holding off a Tarleton State team that never gave up this weekend:
We continued to score and keep them down in this one. They showed resilience all weekend and kept fighting back. They did that in this game too, but we stayed focused and kept scoring runs. We did a great job of keeping them at bay.
 
On going 6-for-12 at the plate against Tarleton State:
Obviously I haven't had the greatest start to the season but I'm finally slowing things down and getting my foot down early and am freeing my hands up and getting some hits. It's a lot more fun out there when I'm swinging like I know I can.
 
 
Lee Neumann // ASU junior center fielder
On going 12-for-16 with two doubles, two triples and a home run in the series:
I was just trying to go back to the little things and concentrate on squaring balls up. I think when I do struggle at the plate that it's because I'm trying to just hit balls hard. When I square it up I'm a pretty good hitter. My confidence at the plate is through the roof right now.
 
On the importance of winning Sunday's game to secure a series split against Tarleton State:
It was huge for us to get this win and stay at the top of the conference even though we let some games slip away from us here this weekend.
 
 
Brett Parsons // ASU senior
On the importance of winning Sunday's game to secure a series split against Tarleton State:
We would have liked to get those wins on Saturday, but we did a good job of fighting today and getting the split. We simply took care of business today.
 
On having nine hits and nine RBI against Tarleton State:
Everything is going well for me at the plate right now. I credit almost all of that to the guys in front of me in the lineup and behind me. They are always on base and I'm getting great pitches to just put in play and bring them in to score.