SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team will conclude its non-conference schedule with a doubleheader against McMurry at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Foster Field in a pair of games which were originally scheduled on Feb. 2 but were pushed back due to weather.
ASU (22-14, 12-11 Lone Star Conference) comes into the doubleheader with a 10-3 non-conference record, including two wins over the War Hawks (15-20, 9-11 Heartland) to start the season. The Rams, who are 13-6 at home and 6-3 against the Heartland Conference, opened their year with 3-2 and 10-2 victories over McM in Abilene to take their all-time record against the War Hawks to 4-0.
"We just need to go out there and win a couple of games," ASU head coach
Kevin Brooks said. "We need to continue the positive upswing that we have going and keep improving on our at-bats. It's a chance to gain some confidence and keep that going. For our pitchers, it will give some guys who have thrown in a while an opportunity to throw in a game."
The pair of games against McMurry will end a 13-game home stand for the Rams who will travel to Stephenville this weekend for a three-game LSC set against Tarleton State (17-16, 8-13 LSC). The Rams and Texans will open the weekend with a 3 p.m. game on Friday before playing a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.
Miles Gully, a junior left-hander from San Angelo, will make his first start and seventh appearance in the first game of the doubleheader. A former Wall Hawk and Central Bobcat, Gully has a 1-0 record, eight strikeouts and a 6.35 ERA through 5.2 innings of work this season. He transferred to ASU this season after pitching at Western Texas College the past two seasons. His win came against Texas A&M International on Feb. 9 when he struck out a career-high five batters and allowed only one hit and no runs in 2 2/3 innings of relief. He threw an inning of scoreless baseball in the ninth inning last Friday against Cameron in ASU's 8-0 win in the series opener.
The starter for the second game has not been decided.
Brett David comes into the midweek game hitting .312 overall and with a team-leading .476 average in non-conference games. David has eight doubles, a home run and 19 RBI in his junior season. He is coming off a 5-for-12 weekend against Cameron where he drove in two runs.
Christian Summers also had five hits against the Aggies and enters Tuesday's game with a .290 batting average and hitting safely in 10 of the past 11 games. Summers has eight doubles, two triples, two home runs and lead the Rams with 24 RBI this season. He led off the ninth inning last Saturday with a double and scored the game-winning run in the series finale against Cameron. Summers, a two-time LSC Hitter of the Week, is hitting .452 with 17 RBI in 19 home games this season.
Derek Tyner and
Cameron Massengill both enter the 10th week of the season hitting over .300 on the season. Tyner, a junior from Boerne, is at .306 with five doubles, 32 singles and 17 RBI. He has started 34 games, mostly at first base, and has also been penciled into the lineup at designated hitter. He is in his first season at ASU after transferring from Odessa College. Massengill is hitting .300 with three doubles, 27 singles and has 11 RBI to start his career at ASU. A junior catcher, Massengill played the last two seasons at Cisco College before transferring. He has started 32 games at catcher and has played in 34 of the 36 games this season.
Tyler Coughenour is hitting .315 with a team-leading nine doubles and is tied with
Nehwon Norkeh for the team lead with three home runs. Coughenour, who has 17 stolen bases this season, did not play against the Aggies because of injury. He was named the LSC Hitter of the Week after going 4-for-8 against McMurry with a double, triple and home run in the first two games of the season. Norkeh hit his third home run of the season last Saturday with a solo shot to left field and enters Tuesday's game with a team-leading three triples and 19 stolen bases. A freshman from Minneapolis, Norkeh has also reached base 10 times on walks and 10 times by being hit by a pitch. He has started 34 of 36 games in center field for the Rams.
Also a Minnesota native,
David Goggin is the only player to start all 36 games for the Rams this season. A sophomore who was named the LSC Freshman of the Year last season, Goggin is second on the team with 23 RBI and enters this week with a .285 batting average which includes five doubles and two triples.
Reggie Rodriguez hit .333 last weekend with three hits against CU and has three doubles, a home run and 10 RBI this season. Rodriguez, a senior from Puerto Rico, also has six stolen bases.
JP Zapata went 3-for-6 against Cameron and is hitting .419 (13-for-31) for the Rams in his freshman season. Zapata has a double, triple and 11 singles on his resume and has scored five runs.
Hunter Choate has started 33 games and played in 35 and is hitting .279 with five doubles, a triple, a home run and 27 singles. A sophomore from Athens, Choate has 15 RBI this season for the Rams.
Blake Bass has added to the Ram offensive production in conference play and is hitting .283 with five RBI on 15 hits. Bass went 4-for-9 with two doubles and two RBI against McMurry in the first doubleheader of the season.
McMURRY WAR HAWK REPORT (15-20, 9-11 Heartland Conference)The War Hawks come into San Angelo having won their series against TAMUI 2-1 last weekend in Abilene. McM is 5-3 on the road this season and is hitting .266 with 56 doubles, eight triples and six home runs. Its pitching staff has a 4.55 ERA with 183 strikeouts, 101 walks and 297 hits allowed through 283.0 innings.
Trevor Ragsdale (1-1, 0.56 ERA) is the probable starter for the first game against the Rams, while the Game 2 starter has not been identified. Ragsdale is a freshman left-hander from Buda and has made one start and seven appearances for the War Hawks. He has seven strikeouts and six walks in 16.0 innings on the mound.
Zack Hagan and Nick Marsh led the War Hawks at the plate with both hitters at .333 entering the team's 35th game of the season. Hagan leads the team with 37 hits and 15 RBI, while Marsh has 21 hits in 63 at-bats. Kyle Sargent has 35 hits, including three triples, and is hitting .302 through 116 at-bats. Christian Simmons is the third McM hitter with 30 hits and has a .297 average, while Ben Douglas has 13 doubles and 12 RBI.
McM is 0-6 this season against the LSC after also dropping four games to West Texas A&M in mid-February.
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