SAN ANGELO – Two of the perennial powers in Division II South Central baseball will meet at 4 p.m. on Tuesday when No. 25 Angelo State travels to play No. 6 St. Mary's at Dickson Stadium on the school's campus in San Antonio.
The Rams (10-2) are coming off a four-game sweep of Colorado School of Mines last weekend, while the Rattlers (11-3) took two of three from Rogers State in San Antonio. ASU and the Rattlers split their two meetings last season with the Rams taking a 5-2 win in the regular season before St. Mary's ended their season with a 7-6 win in 13 innings at the regional tournament in Kingsville.
"They are a really good team that has been rival for us over the years," ASU head coach
Kevin Brooks said. "It's a challenge to go down there after a four-game series. I think our guys will be ready and understand the importance of this game. We better be ready because they're a good team."
ASU, which is 12-7 against St. Mary's all-time and 7-3 against the Rattlers in San Antonio, comes into the game outscoring its opponents 89-40 and are hitting .341 as a team. The Ram pitching staff has limited the opposition to a .228 batting average and has a 2.89 ERA through 12 games. The team has hit 25 doubles, seven triples, four home runs and has stolen 26 bases. Other teams have stolen only four bases against the Rams and have struck out 108 times. ASU has only struck out 69 times in 387 at-bats.
The Rams have not named a starting pitcher for the midweek game against St. Mary's.
Brett David,
Tyler Coughenour and
David Goggin have led the Rams at the plate through the first three weeks of play. David has already amassed eight doubles and is hitting .500 with 19 hits and nine RBI. Coughenour, who has an 11-game hitting streak going to start the season, has 18 hits with three doubles, two triples and two home runs. He leads the team with his two home runs and with 10 stolen bases. Goggin is hitting .415 and leads the team with 13 RBI. He walked twice on Sunday, but saw an 11-game hitting streak to start the season end. He has 17 hits with two doubles and a triple.
Derek Tyner is right on pace with the three, starting his ASU career with 15 hits and eight RBI. Tyner, who is a Boerne native, has scored eight runs and has played multiple positions for the Rams.
Hunter Choate also has 15 hits with two doubles and seven RBI, while
Christian Summers is on a seven-game hitting streak. Summers, who was selected in the 19th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by the San Diego Padres last summer, has four doubles, a triple, a home run and 12 RBI. Summers and Goggin lead the Rams with three multi-RBI games.
Freshman center fielder
Nehwon Norkeh leads the Rams with 15 runs scored and has 13 hits, while
JP Zapata is 5-for-6 in his freshman season. He started for the first time this season on Sunday and had an RBI after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Angelo State will start Lone Star Conference play this weekend at Cameron following its game at St. Mary's.
"The next 38 games of the regular season is going to be a battle that we're going to have to be ready for," Brooks said. "It's going to be a fight every game of every series and we have to come in with an intensity and focus."
Omar Garcia leads the Rattlers with a .432 batting average with 19 hits and 10 RBI this season, while Mario Maldonado has hit five doubles, two home runs and has six RBI. Garcia was named the Heartland Conference's Hitter of the Week on Monday after hitting .714 with six RBI last week. Drake Roberts has nine RBI on 15 hits and Brooks Orton enters Tuesday's game with five doubles to match Maldonado for the team lead. Orton also leads the team with seven stolen bases on eight attempts and Keith Funk has 10 RBI on nine hits.
The Rattlers are hitting .305 as a team this season with 22 doubles, three triples and four home runs. Their pitching staff has a combined 3.31 ERA and has limited their opposition to a .218 batting average.
St. Mary's will host William Jewell College in a non-conference this weekend after playing the Rams.
RANKING SUMMARY
The Rams are currently ranked No. 25 nationally by the NCBWA and No. 26 by CollegeBaseballLineup.com. St. Mary's is ranked No. 6 by D2BaseballNews.com, No. 11 by CollegeBaseballLineup.com and No. 11 by the NCBWA. The Rams are ranked No. 3 and the Rattlers No. 1 in the NCBWA's regional rankings which were released on Monday. This week's NCBWA national rankings have not been released as of Monday afternoon.
