SAN ANGELO – Perennial regional powers will meet for the first time this season when the Angelo State baseball team hosts St. Mary's at 6 p.m. on Tuesday in a non-conference game at Foster Field where the Rams are 15-2 at this season.

The Rams (20-10) are in the middle of an 11-game Lone Star Conference road trip and will host the Rattlers (22-6) in a regionally significant game before travelling to Lawton, Oklahoma this weekend for a three-game LSC series which begins at 2 p.m. on Friday before a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday. ASU is 10-1 in non-conference play this season and 6-1 against Heartland Conference opponents. The Rattlers had won 17 straight games before dropping two of three at Texas-Permian Basin last weekend, while the Rams had a 15-game winning streak but have since lost nine of 13.

Angelo State will play at St. Mary's on Tuesday, April 12th at 6 p.m. in San Antonio in the second game of the home-and-away series between the two perennially contending South Central teams. The Rattlers are 9-4 away from San Antonio this season and are 1-3 against Tarleton State which is their only LSC opponent this season. The Rams are 2-1 against TSU this season, while ASU and St. Mary's both swept three-game series from Lubbock Christian in the only other common-opponent matchups of the season.

The Rams enter the midweek non-conference game hitting .308 as a team with 63 doubles, three triples and 17 home runs, while the pitching staff owns a 2.89 ERA with 268 strikeouts and only 83 walks through 30 games and 237 innings this season. Despite midseason offensive struggles, the Rams still lead the LSC in batting average, home runs, doubles and runs scored. ASU has outscored its opponents 165-97 this season, including a 103-50 scoring advantage through 17 home games.

ASU also leads the LSC with a .977 fielding percentage and have committed only 13 errors through 143 innings on its home field.

Angelo State Probable Starting Pitcher
Matt Shannon, R-Freshman, RHP (1-1, 5.28 ERA, 13K, 9BB, 16H, 15.1 IP)

Matt Shannon (1-1) will be making the second start of his career and his eighth appearance when he takes the mounds against the Rattlers on Tuesday. It will be his first Foster Field start and his fifth appearance on ASU's home field. Shannon, who is a redshirt freshman right-hander from Pleasanton, made his only other start of the season two weeks ago at Texas A&M-Kingsville and had a no-decision after going 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts in the series finale where the Rams earned an 11-3 win over the Javelinas. Shannon enters Tuesday's non-conference game with 13 strikeouts and a 5.28 ERA through 15 1/3 innings of work this season. He had a career-high five strikeouts in four innings of relief against West Texas A&M where he also had a no-decision. He earned his first win over Cameron after throwing 4 1/3 innings of relief where he did not allow a run and scattered four hits.

RAM LINEUP REPORT
Paxton DeLaGarza lead the Rams with a .398 batting average and has hit safely in 14 of the last 16 games. A junior shortstop, DeLaGarza leads the conference with 45 hits and has nine doubles, one triple, two home runs and 19 RBI. He had a 10-game hitting streak snapped in the second game of last week's series at ENMU but then had hits in the final two games. DeLaGarza also leads ASU with 15 multi-hit games, while Derek Tyner has 14 multi-hit games this season. J.C. Snyder drove in both runs of the series finale against the Greyhounds with a two-out double to right-center field on Sunday and comes into Tuesday's game hitting .390 with 15 doubles, four home runs and 18 RBI. Snyder leads the Rams and conference with his 15 doubles this season and also leads ASU with a .648 slugging percentage. Snyder has 13 multi-hit games this season, including going 2-for-4 on Sunday. Tyner is hitting .337 with eight doubles and 16 RBI as the team's designated hitter.

Cameron Massengill has started all 30 games at catcher for the Rams this season and enters this week with a .307 batting average. Massengill was an LSC first-team selection last year as a junior and is coming off a 3-for-3 game against the Greyhounds where he also reached base on a walk in the series finale. A senior from Kennedale, Massengill has seven doubles and 15 RBI for the Rams. Brett David leads the Rams with seven multi-RBI games this season and leads the LSC with 27 RBI. A senior from El Paso, David has a .307 batting average and three home runs through 101 at-bats to start his senior season. Nehwon Norkeh leads the Rams with five home runs this season and has a .300 average with nine doubles, one triple and 18 RBI to start his sophomore season. Norkeh has been identified as the No. 5-ranked Division II professional prospect by Baseball America and has a .400 on-base percentage as ASU's leadoff hitter this season.

Hunter Spear has started 17 games this season and is hitting .347, while Cody Semler has 16 hits and seven RBI and Sam Kohler has nine hits and four RBI. Chandler Patterson has started 12 games and played in 19 and has contributed 10 hits and three RBI in his sophomore season.