PORTALES, N.M. – The No. 17-ranked Angelo State Rams split a Lone Star Conference doubleheader on Saturday against Eastern New Mexico with Blake Bass earning a complete-game victory in a 4-2 win in the opener before the Greyhounds took a 2-1 series lead by taking a 3-1 win in the third game of the series at Greyhound Field.

The Rams (20-8, 10-7 LSC) will need a win on Sunday in the series finale to salvage a series split and avoid their second straight series loss. ASU, which is now 5-7 on the road, will start Kellen Rholl (0-0) in the 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday.

Bass (6-1) earned his first complete-game victory of the season and the sixth of his career at Angelo State after striking out five and allowing only three hits in seven innings of work. Bass now leads the Rams and the conference with his six wins and has 94 strikeouts in his two seasons at ASU. ENMU scored its two runs off Bass in the first inning off two hits and were unable to score again and only manage one more hit which came in the second inning. Bass did not allow a Greyhound to reach base after the second inning.

"Blake really put us on his back in the first game and really dug deep to get out of some tough situations," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "He struggled some in the first inning, but he put that behind him and gave us a great game. We had to have that from him after losing the first game of the series. We expect him to have great games and that's what he did."

Nehwon Norkeh led the Rams at the plate going 3-for-3 and scored two runs, while Derek Tyner and J.C. Snyder each went 2-for-4. ASU scored its first run of the game in the third inning with a Paxton DeLaGarza sacrifice fly to center field to score Norkeh and trim the deficit to one. The Rams tied the game in the top of the sixth with Brett David hitting a single to left field to score Snyder who had led the inning off with a double to right field and ASU took the lead for the first time in the seventh inning with Tyner doubling in Norkeh and then Cameron Massengill hitting a sacrifice fly to left field.

DeLaGarza picked up the RBI on the sacrifice fly but did not get a hit in the game which snapped a 10-game hitting streak.

The Rams could not continue the momentum into the nightcap though as ENMU pitcher James Gray struck out 13 and scattered six hits in a complete-game win. ASU scored its lone run in the fifth inning Tyner driving in a run on a single to left field. ASU stranded five runners on base in the game and could not give starter Bryce Zak (4-4) any run support in his second straight loss. Zak finished the game with three strikeouts and allowed five hits in 3 1/3 innings, while reliever Dillon Becker had four strikeouts in 2 2/3 innings.

ASU will need a win over ENMU on Sunday to split the series and also will be looking to avoid back-to-back series losses. The Rams had not dropped a series this season until falling 3-1 to Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road last weekend. ASU will return to action on at 6 p.m. on Tuesday against St. Mary's at Foster Field before travelling to Lawton next weekend for a three-game series against Cameron to start the second half of conference play.