UPDATE: Thursday, Feb. 21, 12:55 p.m.
PUEBLO, Colo. – Snow has delayed the start and forced alterations to the Angelo State baseball team's series against Colorado State-Pueblo at Rawlings Field.
The Rams (8-3) and ThunderWolves (1-3) were set to begin the series on Thursday, but will now play doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday with both days. Friday's doubleheader will be a pair of seven-inning games and will start at 1 p.m. (CST), while Saturday starts at noon and will feature two nine-inning games.
“The conditions will be pretty cold with a high of maybe 40 on Friday,” ASU head coach
Kevin Brooks said. “I think the conditions only change the amount of clothing we wear. We will be ready to go handle the elements and go out and compete.”
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SAN ANGELO – The No. 15-ranked Angelo State baseball team returns to action this week with a four-game series beginning on Thursday against Colorado State-Pueblo at Rawlings Field in Pueblo, Colo.
The Rams (8-3) are coming off a 2-1 series loss to Lubbock Christian, while the Thunder Wolves (1-3) dropped their four-game series last weekend to West Texas A&M in Canyon. ASU and CSU-Pueblo met last season at Foster Field with the Rams sweeping the four-game series. The teams are schedule to play at 1 p.m. on Thursday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Friday and the series finale at noon on Saturday.
“It's a huge regional series for us that we have to win,” Brooks said. “We also get to how tough and focused we are. It's going to be a long trip for us and it's going to be different weather conditions than we are used to. I'm anxious to see how we handle everything this week.”
The Rams are 4-0 against CSU-Pueblo all-time, but this will be the first time the ASU baseball team has ever played in the state of Colorado. ASU is currently ranked No. 15 by D2BaseballNews, Collegiate Baseball and College Baseball Lineup. The Rams are ranked second in the South Central region by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association and were ranked No. 14 in its preseason national poll.
Angelo State comes into this week's series hitting .332 after being limited to a team batting average of .277 in the three-game series against LCU. The Rams stranded 20 runners on base during the series and know that executing at the plate will be important at CSU-Pueblo. The Thunder Wolves won their only game against WT behind a Jeremiah Struble start where he went 7.0 innings and struck out nine. Last season Struble started the second game of the series at ASU and struck out eight in 5.0 innings. It is unknown which game Struble will pitch this week, but the approach at the plate will not vary from pitcher to pitcher for the Rams.
“We just have to go up there and battle with good at-bats and try to get guys on base and create,” Brooks said. “He has a track record of being a workhorse and being really good. We just have to execute when we get guys on.”
Lee Neumann leads the Rams this season with a .465 batting average, 20 hits, 16 RBI and three triples. Neumann went 2 for 4 in the series finale last weekend against LCU and now has 101 hits in his career at Angelo State.
Reggie Rodriguez, who hit a two-out, two-run walk-off home run last Saturday to give ASU an 8-7 win, is hitting .404 this season with 19 hits and leads the team along with
Christian Summers with two home runs.
Tyler Coughenour (.372) has added 16 hits and is 11 for 11 on stolen bases, while
Quaid McKinnon (.341) and
Ryan Greer (.308) continue to be among the most consistent hitters on the team. McKinnon leads the Rams with seven doubles and hit .417 last weekend against LCU, while Greer hit .364 against the Chaps and stole four bases.
Angelo State has not set its daily pitching rotation, but will use
Michael Lange (2-0),
Mike Weatherly (2-1),
Bryce Zak (1-0) and
Bryant Rutledge (0-1) as starters at CSU-Pueblo. Weatherly leads the pitching staff with 17 strikeouts, while Lange has fanned 16 in 21.0 innings of work. Weatherly maintains a 0.90 ERA through 20.0 innings.
Wade Beauvais led CSU-Pueblo with seven hits in 12 at-bats in Canyon last weekend, while Dominick Bregar had six hits and Brett Montague had five. Chase Lacomb walked five times and had four hits, including two doubles. The ThunderWolves only attempted to steal two bases during the four game series with Cameron Buckles having the only successful stolen base.
Struble was named the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference's Pitcher of the Week on Monday after his effort in Canyon. CSU-Pueblo comes into the series with a .307 team batting average and with a 7.45 pitching staff ERA.
Following the series in Pueblo, the Rams will go on an eight-day break before hosting Bellarmine on Monday, March 4 and Tuesday, March 5 at Foster Field. Both games are scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m.
