Game One Box  //  Game Two Box

SAN ANGELO – Two strong pitching performances from starters resulted in a Lone Star Conference doubleheader split as Jake Feckley led Angelo State to a 7-3 win in the opener before West Texas A&M's Dylan James dominated the Rams for a 3-1 WT victory in the nightcap on Friday at Foster Field.

Feckley (5-3) struck out seven and scattered seven hits in his second complete-game of the season and Quaid McKinnon hit two doubles as the Rams (20-11, 6-5 LSC) opened the day with a win. Feckley now has 39 strikeouts for the season, but wasn't solely reliant of the strikeout in the win.

“With the wind blowing out I wanted to keep the ball down, but also still throw a lot of strikes,” Feckley said. “If I could keep them from elevating the ball and keep it on the ground I felt confident about us getting the win. I didn't worry about overthrowing and really just wanted to keep our defense involved and make outs for us.”

McKinnon now has 11 doubles on the season, while Christian Summers and Reggie Rodriguez also had two hits each for the Rams who scored first when David Goggin had a two-out double to left field to score Rodriguez.

ASU would tack on two more in the bottom of the third when Andrew LaCombe drove in two runs with a double to left-center field. Leading 4-3, the Rams put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the sixth with Lee Neumann and Summers driving in runs. Summers would score the third run of the inning after stealing second and then advancing home on a throwing error by the WT catcher.

Feckley got three fly outs in the top of the seventh inning to secure the win.

“He battled the entire game and never gave in to them,” Brooks said. “All we ask from our starters is to give us a chance to win the game and we was able to do above what we asked of him."

Angelo State would strike out a season-high 14 times against James in the nightcap and were limited to two hits. James, who led the nation in strikeouts last season at Otero Junior College, cruised through the game after allowing an unearned run in the first inning and getting out of a bases loaded jam. ASU, which has now struck out 230 times this season, went down in order in three of the final four innings and would have gone 1-2-3 in all four if not for Neumann reaching base on a strikeout that got away from the catcher.

James (1-1) has now struck out 46 hitters in 34.2 innings of work this season.

“He was really good tonight with a big-league curve ball,” said ASU head coach Kevin Brooks of James. “We are a team that strikes out a lot, so I really am not that surprised. He is a strikeout pitcher and we didn't adjust to him. We need to shorten up, take the ball the other way and swing at strikes but we aren't doing that.”

Tyler Coughenour and LaCombe were the only two Rams to get a hit off James in the game with both hitting singles.
David Hebert led WT at the plate with two hits, while Jarvis Smith hit a first-inning home run off ASU starter Michael Lange (2-2) who receives the loss.

The Rams and Buffs (17-13, 4-7 LSC) conclude the series with a 1 p.m. game on Saturday at Foster Field. Travis Stavinoha (0-0) is scheduled to make his first start and 10th appearance of the season for ASU. A win by the Rams would give them back-to-back 3-1 LSC series wins after last weekend's trip to Incarnate Word, while a loss would mean their second series split in three conference series.

“It is very important for us to win tomorrow and keep the momentum that we have going,” Brooks said. “These conference series usually always come down to the final game and we have to get it. If we can get three of four, then we'll feel good. A split would be a blow to us.”