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KINGSVILLE – Faced with elimination on Friday, Angelo State and St. Mary's both advanced in impressive fashion to set up a 3 p.m. game at the NCAA Division II South Central Baseball Championship on Saturday between two of the most consistent regional programs in the past nine seasons.

ASU (37-20) has never played St. Mary's (38-16) in a regional game despite both being perennial qualifiers. The Rams in their fourth regional tournament since starting a program in 2005, while the Rattlers are in their sixth tournament and are looking to defend their 2012 DII South Central championship.  

“They won this tournament last year and want to defend their title,” said ASU head coach Kevin Brooks of St. Mary's. “There is nobody that I have more respect for in DII baseball than them. They got 30 hits today and scored 23 runs and that's pretty scary. They pitch and play defense, but we're going to show up and be ready to go. We'll have to play very well to have an opportunity to win the game.”

In other tournament action, Texas A&M-Kingsville and Colorado Mesa will play an elimination game at 11 a.m. with the winner advancing to play St. Edward's at 7 p.m. on Saturday. The Hilltoppers are the lone undefeated team in the tournament after topping CMU on Friday in extra innings. The winner of the 7 p.m. game will play the ASU-St. Mary's winner.

ASU advanced in the tournament with a 9-1 win over top-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville on Friday, while the Rattlers showcased their talents with a 23-4 thumping of Colorado State-Pueblo. The winner of Saturday's game between the Rams and Rattlers will advance to the regional's championship day on Sunday.

Angelo State lost 5-4 on Thursday to St. Edward's in its loss in the tournament, while St. Mary's fell 6-2 to Colorado Mesa in its opener.

ASU and St. Mary's played one game this season against each other with the Rams claiming a 5-2 win on April 2 at Wolff Stadium in San Antonio. Angelo State is 12-6 all-time against the Rattlers who have won the Heartland Conference's regular-season title the past four seasons under Charlie Migl who notched his 1,000th career win in the course of this season.

Player Highlights

Michael Lange (4-4) has been named the Angelo State starting pitcher against the Rattlers. Lange has 46 strikeouts and walked only 20 in 64 innings of work this season. He earned the win for the Rams in the first meeting of the season against the Rattlers after allowing only one hit and throwing six scoreless innings in relief. He earned LSC Diamond Pitcher of the Week honors after that performance along with a strong start against Eastern New Mexico where he struck out six and allowed only two runs in a six-inning no-decision.

A senior right-hander from Nebraska, he has a 13-5 career record for the Rams and is seventh in program history with 133.2 innings pitched. He has struck out 93 batters in his career and was a first-team all-region and all-conference selection last season as a junior. This will be his 12th start of the season.

Lee Neumann has established himself as one of the best players in Angelo State baseball history and continues to rack up awards. The senior from Brenham has been named the ABCA/Rawlings DII South Central Player of the Year along with being named a first-team member of the NCBWA South Central and Daktronics DII South Central team. He was also named the Lone Star Conference's Co-Player of the Year and is a returning All-American. Neumann is hitting .335 this season with 12 doubles, seven triples, six home runs and 46 RBI.

Christian Summers comes into Saturday's game leading Angelo State with a .348 batting average and 19 doubles. Summers, who drove in a run on Friday with his seventh triple of the season, has 32 RBI in his junior season. A transfer from the University of Texas, he was selected to the ABCA/Rawlings DII South Central second team and to the Lone Star Conference second team.

Andrew LaCombe is also having a hardware-filled postseason in his senior season. A two-year captain, LaCombe has been selected to the NCBWA DII South Central and Daktronics DII South Central first team. He is hitting .326 with 14 doubles, 45 RBI and added his third home run of the season to his stat line with a solo shot to left field on Friday against Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Reggie Rodriguez is hitting .326 with 32 RBI as a junior in his first year at ASU, while Ryan Greer is on a five-game hitting streak and has 10 doubles and 24 RBI. Quaid McKinnon continues to be a threat in the Rams' lineup and is tied with Summers for the team lead with four home runs and leads the team with 39 walks. McKinnon has 13 doubles and has stolen 14 bases in 15 attempts. Tyler Coughenour, a junior who transferred from Wichita State this season, had three hits on Friday against the Javelinas and is hitting .309 with nine doubles and three triples. Coughenour leads the Rams with 25 bases, while Greer has 22.

Hunter Choate has 21 RBI on 35 hits as a red-shirt freshman out of Athens, while true freshman David Goggin has 18 RBI on 37 hits this season. Goggin was named the LSC's Freshman of the Year this season and has a .401 on-base percentage.
Angelo State has not named a probable starting pitcher for Saturday's game against St. Mary's.

As a team, St. Mary's is hitting .285 with 391 singles, 70 doubles, 16 triples and 13 home runs. The Rattlers have stolen 55 bases and a .362 on-base percentage with the addition of 179 walks and being hit by 45 pitches.

Brandon Bates comes into the game with the Rams leading St. Mary's with a .386 batting average which includes six doubles, two home runs and has produced a team-leading 39 RBI for the Rattlers. Bates, a senior from Boerne, has also reached base with 18 walks and a team-leading 11 hit-by-pitches. Derek Moczygemba leads St. Mary's with four home runs and also has 10 doubles and 30 RBI along his stat line in his senior season out of Smithson Valley High. Al Gonzalez leads the team with 12 doubles and is hitting .324 with three home runs and 35 RBI.

Billy Richard has added 35 RBI and 11 doubles, while Adrian Gonzales is hitting .319 with five triples and leads the team with 14 stolen bases.

Matt McClain is thought to be the probable starting pitcher for the Rattlers on Saturday. A left-handed sophomore from San Antonio, McClain has 103 strikeouts and 27 walks in 101.2 innings of work this season. His ERA is at 2.21 through 15 starts and he has yet to yield a home run in 366 opponent at-bats.

Additional arms available on the third day of the tournament who have starts this season for St. Mary's, include Moczygemba (2-3, 2.44 ERA) and Nathan Humpal (1-1, 6.75 ERA). Moczygemba received the loss in the first meeting of the season against the Rams and has made eight starts this season. He has 33 strikeouts and 24 walks this season.

Jonathan Perez (6-2) is one of the top closers in the region and leads the Rattlers with a 1.93 ERA. He has made 26 appearances and has 10 saves to go along with his six wins. Perez, a right-handed senior from San Antonio, has limited opponents to a .211 batting average and has only walked 11 hitters in 32.2 innings of work.