MEDIA COVERAGE
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SAN ANGELO – Before the season started, D2BaseballNews.com spotlighted the Angelo State-Southern Arkansas series as one of the best series of the season and for good reason. Both teams are coming off trips to the NCAA Division II tournament, have strong traditions of success and are highly ranked in the national polls. ASU and SAU both enter this weekend's series at Foster Field with 4-0 records and will look to use the weekend to establish themselves in the national picture early in the season.

“It's a huge series,” ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. “It's not very often that the eyes of college baseball are on Division II, but the Division I's are not playing and this is the marque series in the country. They are a really good team that we have never beaten. Luckily the pitcher who has beaten us three out of four times is graduated so we won't see him.”

The three-game series begins with a 3 p.m. game on Friday which is scheduled for nine innings and will resume with a doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

No. 11 Southern Arkansas, which has 12 straight 30-win seasons and has advanced to seven regional tournaments, holds a 4-0 advantage in the all-times series against No. 14 Angelo State and are making their first trip to San Angelo to play at Foster Field. The Muleriders and Rams met twice last season with SAU earning an early-season 7-0 win on its home field in Magnolia before taking a 7-2 win in the opening game of the NCAA DII South Central Regional in Warrensburg, Mo. SAU finished last season with a 37-17 record and is 2-0 against Lone Star Conference opponents this season after sweeping a series over Cameron last weekend. They improved to 4-0 on the year with a doubleheader sweep of Wiley College on Tuesday.

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Angelo State will be playing in its home-opener after taking care of business with a commanding sweep of Ouachita Baptist last weekend in Arkadelphia, Ark. The Rams outscored the Tigers 38-9 in the four-game series and outhit OBU 54-24. Lee Neumann led ASU with 10 hits and nine runs scored in the series, while Reggie Rodriguez added seven hits and three RBI in his first series as a Rams. Andrew LaCombe, who was named the Lone Star Conference's Hitter of the Week on Tuesday, led the Rams with 11 RBI and four doubles. Tanner Kalina, Quaid McKinnon and Tyler Coughenour each added six hits for ASU, while Ryan Greer, Luke Solomon and Hunter Choate provided four hits each.

While the offensive production provided the safe cushion, the Angelo State pitching staff also shined. The Rams used 10 pitchers in last week's series and finished with a pitching staff ERA of 1.97. Mike Weatherly, Jake Feckley and Michael Lange earned wins as starters, while Jake Albert earned a victory as a reliever. Weatherly, who has moved the Rams' closer last season to a starter this year, struck out five and didn't allow a run in the opening game of the series, while Feckley dominated the Tigers to the tune of three strikeouts and limiting them to three hits in five innings.

The Angelo State bullpen allowed only one run in 10.1 inning of work. James Conlee and Albert each went 3.0 innings of scoreless baseball, while Mason Leavitt had two strikeouts in two innings.

Southern Arkansas opened the season with 2-1 and 4-2 wins over Cameron in a series played in Fort Worth at LaGrave Field. James Baune struck out four Aggies in 5.1 innings of work in the opener with Justin Thomas coming in to close the game with four strikeouts and earn the save after going 1.2 innings. SAU was limited to four hits in the seven-inning game with Jackson McCurdy and Ryan Dardenne providing the RBI. Thomas earned the save again in the second game after throwing one inning and striking out two. He relieved Janson Carr who earned the win after striking out four in 5.0 innings of work. Jason Dahl had two hits, while Brady Capshaw, McCurdy, Dardenne and Ryan Bell each had RBI.

Thomas, a left-hander who pitched at Navarro College for two years after graduating from White Oak, also earned a save on Tuesday against Wiley to take his career total to 14 saves and establish a new SAU record. He was also named the Great American Conference's Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday.

Dahl leads the Muleriders with seven hits, while Chris Quinn (El Campo) has added six hits and five RBI. SAU is hitting .320 in its first four games of the season and has stolen four bases in seven attempts.

“They will bring in two 90-plus guys who have command in the first two games,” Brooks said. “They are a really scrappy and good team. We are going to have our hands full. It's going to be a really good test to see where we are at.”

Notes: Southern Arkansas has 18 players from Texas on its roster… SAU head coach Steve Browning also serves as the athletic director at Southern Arkansas… Angelo State is 166-61 all-time at Foster Field… The Rams are 309-166 all-time since the program started in 2005… Angelo State will travel to McMurry on Tuesday for a 3 p.m. game at Walt Driggers Field before hosting Lubbock Christian in a series next weekend from Feb. 15-17 at Foster Field.

Poll Watch: The Rams are currently ranked No. 14 by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and No. 16 by D2baseballnews.com, College Baseball Lineup and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper… The Muleriders are No. 11 in D2baseballnews, No. 15 in College Baseball Lineup, No. 19 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and are unranked by the NCBWA.