SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team will open spring practice on Saturday at Foster Field with three weeks of work ahead of them before the start of the 2015 season.

"This is a time when you want to get your pitchers built up where they are ready to throw the amount of innings we need them to and throwing strikes during that time," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "We will also build on what we did in the fall with the rest of our team to make sure we are still on the same page and that we are focused on the fundamentals of cuts-and-relays, bunt-defenses, pick plays and all the other facets of the game. We have three weeks to get a good base of hitting, throwing and fielding to be ready for the season-opener. It's important to come out ready and continue improving as we move forward."

ASU opens the year with a doubleheader against McMurry on Sunday, Feb. 1 in Abilene and will then host the War Hawks for a single game on Monday, Feb. 2 at Foster Field. The Rams begin the season with two series against Texas A&M International and Lubbock Christian at home before traveling to play Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado in mid-February.

The Ram baseball program has been one of the most consistent in the South Central region over the past decade, amassing a 369-211 record since the program started in 2005. ASU has advanced to four NCAA Division II tournaments and has recorded eight seasons of 30 or more wins. This year's team will look to improve upon last season when the team did not advance to the NCAA tournament for the first time in three seasons. What began to be built during fall practices will continue starting on Saturday when the team will have 10 days before classes start to work together and three weeks before the season-opener.

The Rams are coming off a 27-26 record in the 2014 season which included a 16-8 mark at Foster Field and an 11-18 record away from San Angelo. ASU was the fourth seed in last season's Lone Star Conference tournament and opened with a 7-6 win over top-seeded Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Rams return six position players and three pitchers who played key roles last season and will look to group of younger players who spent last season developing along with a core of newcomers who have transferred in after success at various levels of college baseball. The group of returners includes Cameron Massengill who led the team last season with a .323 batting average and started 47 games at catcher in his junior year. He was selected to the LSC first-team and to the Daktronics All-South Central team. David Goggin, a junior outfielder/catcher, played in all 53 games last season and finished the season with a .308 batting average and led the team with 34 RBI. Goggin earned LSC second-team honors, was selected to the all-region team and was named a CoSIDA Academic All-American. He was selected before this season to be the 2015 team captain. On the mound, ASU returns Blake Bass who developed into one of the strongest pitchers in the conference toward the end of his junior season. Bass went 4-4 as a junior with a 2.72 ERA and 39 strikeouts. He named to the all-region team and comes into his senior season looking to build on the momentum. ASU also returns Derek Tyner, Miles Gully, Trae Davis, Hayden Elrod and Brett David who will be playing in their senior seasons, while Hunter Choate, Graylon Brown, Jamie MacLean and Dillon Becker are juniors who return with experience. David is the lone four-year player on the ASU roster this season and is coming off a junior season where he hit .304 and finished with nine doubles, two home runs and 28 RBI. Brown led the Rams with six wins and four saves on the mound as a sophomore. He had 41 strikeouts and a 3.74 ERA through 55.1 innings of work. Nehwon Norkeh returns for his sophomore season after leading the team with 20 stolen bases as a freshman  and also having seven doubles, three triples, four home runs and 19 RBI.

"I think having everyone ready to go is going to help out a lot," Brooks said. "We were dealt a rough hand last year with so many of our key guys being hurt and unable to practice in the fall and they came into the spring having to play catchup. I hoped last year that we could overcome it, but I do think it played a role in the season we had. I'm excited about this year because we got to work with all of our guys in the fall and we're coming in healthy. We got a pretty good preview of the team that we're going to field this spring throughout the fall and we liked what we saw. We're more comfortable going into this season and we're ready for Saturday and getting this thing going."

AngeloSports.com will be following the Rams throughout the lead-up to the season with video interviews and a complete season preview.