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SAN ANGELO – Who needs South Padre Island when you have Foster Field?

The Angelo State baseball team's Spring Break will consist of staying at home and playing seven games, including meeting up with a former conference foe in Southeastern Oklahoma State before opening Lone Star Conference play against Texas A&M-Kingsville at Foster Field.

The Rams (12-5) will open their three-game series against SE (11-8, 6-6 GAC) on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. before playing a doubleheader (7-inning/9-inning) on Wednesday which will start at 1 p.m. The Texas A&M-Kingsville series will follow the 1-2-1 conference format with a single game on Friday, a doubleheader on Saturday and the series finale on Sunday. SE is in its second year in the Great American Conference and finished last season with a 34-17 record

“I expect them to be really good again this year and it looks like they're pitching good right now,” said ASU head coach Kevin Brooks, who has led the Rams to a 317-171 all-time record since 2005. “All seven of the games are really big for us next week and we need to come out and get these three before Kingsville gets here.”

Angelo State, which is 5-3 at home this season, is 20-10 all-time against Southeastern Oklahoma State University, including possessing a 9-2 record against them at Foster Field. ASU is 171-64 all-time at home. The Rams swept a three-game series in Durant, Okla. last season (5-0, 4-3, 8-2). SE is coming off a 2-1 series win over Arkansas Tech which saw it take the final two games of the series 10-1 and 10-2. ASU is coming off two wins over Bellarmine University (4-0, 6-4) last Monday and Tuesday in San Angelo.  

“It's important for us to be smart about our series against Southeastern to not jeopardize our series against Kingsville,” Brooks said, “but we haven't played that many games in the last two weeks so we should be rested and ready to go. Getting three games in before conference is great for the hitters, but we will need some pitchers who haven't thrown too much to step up against Southeastern and give us some important innings. We'll go deeper in the staff and I'm looking forward to seeing who is ready to take advantage of their opportunities.”

Ram Notes
Right fielder Reggie Rodriguez and Lee Neumann lead the Rams in hitting through the first 15 games of the season. Rodriguez tops the team with a .386 batting average, 27 hits, three home runs and eight doubles, while Neumann is hitting .385 with a team-leading 19 RBI, three triples and 19 runs scored.

Neumann has a .388 career batting average with eight home runs, 12 triples, 24 doubles and 64 RBI through his first 74 games as a Ram after playing at Blinn College his first two years after graduating from Brenham High School. Neumann, who is the career leader in triples at ASU, has also stolen seven bases this season and has 24 steals at ASU.

Ryan Greer has been steadily raising his batting average after a slow start and is now hitting .344 with 21 hits this season. Greer has four doubles and a triple to his name along with seven stolen bases. The senior from Glendale, Ariz. has 36 stolen bases in his career and is currently fifth all-time in career stolen bases at Angelo State. Tyler Coughenour, a junior who has played a mix of second base and shortstop this season, has added another element of speed to the lineup and currently leads the Rams with 12 stolen bases on 12 attempts. Coughenour is also hitting .323 with 20 hits and nine RBI.

Christian Summers, a junior shortstop from San Angelo who played the last two years at the University of Texas, has provided production for the Rams with 14 hits, including two home runs, two triples and six doubles in 42 at-bats. Summers has been limited due to early-season injuries, but has shined when on the field. He has three three-hit games and has a .979 fielding percentage in 12 games played.  

ASU senior catcher and captain Andrew LaCombe has 17 RBI and 15 hits, while first baseman Quaid McKinnon is hitting .290 and leads the Rams with 13 walks. McKinnon is hitting .340 for his career at Angelo State and is currently eighth all-time with 54 career walks. Clay Calfee leads the walk category with 97 from 2006-08.

Angelo State's pitching staff enters the week with a 4.40 ERA through its first 141 innings of work. ASU has used 12 different pitchers this season and have only given up four first-inning runs in the first 17 games of the year.

Bryant Rutledge (1-1, 8.82 ERA) will start Tuesday's game and is coming off two solid starts which included his first win since the 2011 season. Rutledge struck out seven in five innings of work last Tuesday against Bellarmine to claim the win. He has 15 strikeouts in 16.1 innings this season and 80 strikeouts in his career at ASU after transferring from Texas State with two years of eligibility remaining.

“He kept the ball down and is mixing his pitches,” Brooks said. “He is getting stronger and is throwing like we know that he can. His breaking ball is back and we expect a solid outing from him. We'll just have to score some runs for him.”

Bryce Zak (3-0, 1.53 ERA) has been named the LSC's Diamond Pitcher of the Week the past two seasons following strong performances at Colorado State-Pueblo and last Monday against Bellarmine University at Foster Field. Zak has 18 strikeouts and has limited opponents to eight runs in 29.1 innings of work. Mike Weatherly (2-2, 2.33 ERA) leads the pitching staff with 21 strikeouts in 27 innings and has only walked seven batters. Weatherly, who has struck out 67 batters in 65 innings at Angelo State, has made four starts and made a two-inning relief appearance in Zak's win last Monday.

Michael Lange (2-0, 5.76 ERA) has not earned a decision since a 2-0 complete-game win over Southern Arkansas on Feb. 9. Lange, who is 11-1 in his career at ASU, has made two starts and a relief appearances since that win and currently has 19 strikeouts in 25 innings. Jake Feckley (3-1, 2.87 ERA) recorded his second save of the season in last Tuesday's win over Bellarmine and has become a valuable asset to the Rams out of the bullpen. Feckley, who earned wins over SE and A&M-Kingsville last season, has 18 strikeouts in 15.2 innings and has only walked six and given up five earned runs.

Storm Notes
Evan Ramsey, a sophomore outfielder from Denison, leads SE with a .379 batting average, five home runs and 19 RBI through 19 games this season. Ryan Salter is hitting .342 with a team-leading 25 hits, while Tucker Alexander has six doubles and 13 RBI from the left side of the plate. SE, which has 12 Texans on its roster, is hitting .262 as a team, while opponents have been limited to a .227 average.

Eddive Cerrantes (4-1, 2.74 ERA) has won each of his games out of the bullpen as a senior with Cameron Mann (2-0, 1.71 ERA) has only allowed five runs and 16 hits through 21 innings. Vance Woodruff (1-3, 1.82 ERA) hasn't found the win column as much as he should have this season. Woodruff has 27 strikeouts and has held opponents to 12 runs in 34.2 innings. The pitching staff has a 3.02 ERA through 160.2 innings with 134 strikeouts and 63 walks. Starters David Cagle (2-0, 2.55 ERA) and Brandon Marris (0-3, 3.67 ERA) could see time on the mound for SE at Foster Field. Marris is a senior right hander from The Colony who was a first-team all-GAC selection last season.

SE is 2-1 this season against LSC opponents with a doubleheader sweep of Tarleton State in Durant after a 10-9 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville in Corpus Christi.

UP NEXT: ASU is 20-12 all-time against Texas A&M-Kingsville, including an 11-4 record against them at Foster Field. The Javelinas and Rams split their series last season at Nolan Ryan Field in south Texas with A&M-Kingsville taking the first two games before ASU salvaged a split with wins in the final two games.