ABILENE – The Angelo State baseball team opened its season with a doubleheader sweep of McMurry on Saturday with a 3-2 win in the opener followed by a 10-2 victory to close out the day at Walt Driggers Field.

The No. 22-ranked Rams (2-0) finished the day with 22 hits, including four hits from Tyler Coughenour and Blake Bass and two triples from freshman Nehwon Norkeh. ASU pitchers scattered 14 hits in the pair of nine-inning games.

"I thought we did a good job of executing to win the games," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "Overall, I was really happy with our starting pitching and thought we did a good job of hitting the ball in the second game. We had good approaches as the day went on. There are a lot of things we still need to get better at, but it was a good day."

The two teams will meet again for a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 8 in a game which was originally scheduled for Sunday but was postponed due to inclement weather forecasts.
 
GAME 1: Angelo State 3, McMurry 2

Jake Feckley had eight strikeouts and earned the win in the season-opener in seven innings of work. The senior did not walk a batter and did not allow an earned run in the game, while Graylon Brown secured the save by getting the final two outs of the game on a fly out to center field and a grounder to second base.

Coughenour finished the game 2-for-3, including a first-inning double to right-center and a third-inning triple to left-center. A senior, Coughenour scored two runs in the game and was hit by a pitch to reach base.

"Tyler did a good job of getting good pitches to hit by getting in good counts," Brooks said. "He got on top of the ball and hit it where it was pitched. He was definitely a catalyst for us today."

Bass, playing his first games as a Ram after transferring from Texas Tech this season, led off the fourth inning with an infield single and would score on a David Goggin sacrifice fly to right field. Hunter Choate finished the game 2-for-4 with a pair of singles, while Brett David also added a hit.

Feckley (1-0) improved to 16-8 in his career and is now only one win away from matching Joseph Key (2006-09) and Kenny Elkind (2008-09) for the program's all-time wins record. Feckley was one strikeout shy of his career-high of nine strikeouts which he had in games against Southeastern Oklahoma as a sophomore and against Texas A&M-Kingsville in the regular season last year.
 
GAME 2: Angelo State 10, McMurry 2

Reggie Rodriguez and Bass both had two RBI and Coughenour delivered the first home run of the season with a solo shot to start a six-run fourth inning for the Rams who ran away with the second game of Saturday's doubleheader.

Trae Davis earned the win for ASU after striking out five and scattering four hits. A senior transfer from Baylor, Davis allowed only one earned run in his first appearance as a Ram.
ASU struck first in the game with Norkeh hitting an RBI triple to right-center field to score Cameron Massengill who reached base after striking out but advancing to first base on a wild pitch. The Rams broke the game open in the fourth, starting with Coughenour's home run to left field. ASU had seven hits in the inning, including doubles from Goggin, Bass and Derek Tyner. Rodriguez delivered a two-run single down the left-field line to drive in Tyner and Bass.

Choate would add another run on a sacrifice fly in the fifth to score Goggin, while Norkeh scored the ninth run of the game on a wild pitch after he hit his second triple of the game – this time to right field. Norkeh's two triples tied an ASU single-game record (Nate Hemm, April, 21, 2007). Norkeh, a freshman from Minneapolis, Minn., finished his first day as a Ram 3-for-8 from the leadoff spot in the ASU lineup.

Jason Zgardowski and Eric Monson also made their ASU debuts on the mound with Zgardowski throwing two innings of scoreless relief and Monson striking out two in an inning. Jamie MacLean finished off the game by striking out the final two batters of the game after coaxing a fly out to center field for the first out.

HISTORICALLY SPEAKING: The Rams are now 5-5 all-time in season-openers after winning Saturday's opener. ASU has won its season-opener the past four seasons and is now 4-0 all-time against McMurry.

UP NEXT: Angelo State returns to action with a three-game road series next weekend against Texas A&M International University in Laredo. The series starts with a 3 p.m. game on Friday before the teams play a Saturday doubleheader.