SAN ANGELO – The No. 5-ranked Angelo State baseball team is on a 13-game winning streak going into the second weekend of Lone Star Conference play where they'll play a four-game series against Tarleton State on Saturday, Sunday and Monday at the Cecil Ballow Baseball Complex in Stephenville.

The Rams (14-1, 4-0 LSC) have swept their past four series, including earning a four-game sweep of Cameron last weekend at Foster Field. ASU has matched the all-time program winning streak with its 13 wins which was previously established in the 2006 season. The Rams won all 13 of those games at home and will be making their first road trip since opening weekend where they split a doubleheader at McMurry in Abilene. Tarleton State (6-4, 0-0 LSC) will be opening up its LSC schedule after it canceled its series last weekend at Eastern New Mexico due to travel concerns. TSU is 2-1 at home this season after taking two of three from Texas A&M International in its last series. The Texans swept the Rams last season in a three-game series in Stephenville after ASU had taken three of four in San Angelo.

"I feel good about where we are at with quality pitching, we're playing good defense and getting timely hitting," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "This will be a big challenge having a road series for the first time against a good team. It's going to be good to see how our team handles it. I think whichever team plays defense and can execute their situational hitting will win."

Angelo State comes into the series against the Texans with a .338 team batting average with 162 total hits, including 34 doubles, three triples and 13 home runs. ASU's pitching staff has a 2.61 ERA and 146 strikeouts through 124 innings with only 47 walks and 106 hits allowed. ASU is averaging 6.8 runs per game this season and owns a 103-46 combined scoring advantage over its opponents through 15 games. ASU's defense has a .978 fielding percentage and has committed only 11 errors. The team has not committed an error in six games this season and has made only one error in seven games.
 
No. 5 Angelo State at Tarleton State Series Schedule
3 p.m., DH, Saturday in Stephenville (7/7)
3 p.m., Sunday in Stephenville (9)
1 p.m., Monday in Stephenville (9)

Angelo State Probable Starting Rotation
Game 1: Steve Naemark, Junior, LHP (3-0, 0.90 ERA, 44K, 6BB, 20H, 30.0.0 IP)
Game 2: Blake Bass, Senior, RHP (4-0, 1.55 ERA, 28K, 7BB, 25H, 29.0 IP)
Game 3: Bryce Zak, Junior, RHP (3-1, 1.35 ERA, 28K, 11BB, 13H, 20.0 IP)
Game 4: TBD
 
Tarleton State Probable Starting Rotation
Game 1: Matt Herrick, Soph., RHP (2-0, 2.81 ERA, 13K, 4BB, 13H, 16.0 IP)
Game 2: Kyle Gottardy, Senior, RHP (0-2, 4.61 ERA, 7K, 1BB, 22H, 13.2 IP)
Game 3: Blain Bagley Junior, LHP (0-1, 6.75 ERA, 2K, 2BB, 10H, 5.1 IP)
Game 4: Colton Burleson Senior, RHP (1-0, 3.00 ERA, 8K, 2BB, 12H, 9.0 IP)
 
STARTER REPORT: Naemark (3-0) has earned wins in his last three starts against TAMIU, Regis and Cameron, including a 15-strikeout performance against the Rangers which earned him NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball National Pitcher of the Week honors. In his first season at ASU, Naemark has already claimed two LSC Pitcher of the Week honors and leads the conference with 44 strikeouts. His strikeout total currently ranks fourth in the nation and his 0.90 ERA leads the team and conference. Naemark is coming off a win over the Aggies where he had six strikeouts and did not allow an earned run in six innings of work. Bass (4-0) has won his past four starts with wins over TAMIU, LCU, Regis and Cameron. The LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year after earning first-team honors last season, Bass has held opponents in check all season and has 28 strikeouts and only seven walks in 29 innings of work. A 6-foot-7 right-hander, Bass has an 8-4 career record at ASU with 67 strikeouts in 105 innings on the mound since transferring from Texas Tech. He will be making his 18th career start at ASU this weekend. Bass is currently third in the conference with his strikeout total behind only Naemark and Zak who start the third game of the series. Zak (3-1) will be making his fourth start of the season after making two relief appearances to start the season. A junior right-hander from San Angelo, Zak is currently 22nd in the nation with his 31 strikeouts and he comes into Sunday's scheduled start with an 8-2 career record and 69 strikeouts through 65.2 innings of work. He missed last season with an injury after recording a 5-1 record in his sophomore season. Zak recorded a season-high 11 strikeouts in a win against Regis and is coming off a seven-strikeout performance against the Aggies. He started his career at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi before transferring to ASU. The Game 4 starter has not been determined. Kellen Rholl, a left-handed freshman pitcher from Minnesota, started the finale against the Aggies and received a no-decision after striking out three and giving the Rams 3 2/3 innings of solid pitching. Rholl allowed only three hits and walked two in his first collegiate start and his fourth appearance.

BULLPEN REPORT: Dillon Becker (1-0) recorded three saves and made four appearances last weekend against Cameron and comes into the Tarleton State series with 12 strikeouts and only five hits and two walks allowed in seven innings of work this season. A junior right-hander from Bastrop, Becker has 47 career strikeouts and a 4-3 career record. He has four saves this season. Graylon Brown (2-0) leads the Rams with nine appearances this season and has recorded nine strikeouts in 11 2/3 innings of work. He has three saves this season and eight in his career. A junior right-hander from Brownwood, Brown owns a 10-4 career record at ASU and has 76 career strikeouts in 100 1/3 innings of work. Trae Davis (0-0) has been strong out of the bullpen for the Rams in six appearances this season and has nine strikeouts through 7 1/3 innings of work. A senior from Mexia, Davis has limited the opposition to a .154 batting average this season. Matt Shannon (1-0) earned his first collegiate win last Monday in a relief appearance in the series finale against Cameron where he scattered four hit and did not allow a run in 4 1/3 innings of relief. He has made four appearances this season for the Rams after redshirting last year.
The Ram pitching staff owns a 2.61 ERA with 146 strikeouts and only 47 walks through the first 124 innings of work this season. With a strikeouts per nine inning total of 10.6, the Rams rank seventh in the nation and lead the conference. ASU has a 3.11 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is 20th in the nation. The ASU staff had a season-high with 18 strikeouts in a win over Regis when Naemark had 15 before relievers had three.

LINEUP REPORT: J.C. Snyder leads the Rams and is third in the conference with a .415 batting average this season and also leads the LSC with nine doubles. A senior who transferred from BYU, Snyder has hit three home runs and has 13 RBI through his first 53 at-bats at ASU. He hit his third home run of the season last weekend against Cameron and also added a two-run double in the 4-2 win over the Aggies in the series finale. Nehwon Norkeh was named the LSC Hitter of the Week for the first time in his career on Monday after a big weekend against Cameron which included a walk-off RBI single in the third game of the series. Norkeh, a sophomore from Minnesota who has been identified as the No. 5-ranked DII prospect by Baseball America, is hitting .367 with a conference-leading four home runs and has also added six doubles. He has eight home runs, 13 doubles, four triples and 21 stolen bases so far in his career at ASU. Paxton DeLaGarza is second on the team with a .390 batting average and has five doubles and a triple, while Brett David leads the Rams with 16 RBI on 19 hits. DeLaGarza leads the LSC with 23 hits this season, while Derek Tyner is hitting .365 with 11 RBI and senior catcher Cameron Massengill has 10 RBI and is hitting .308. Massengill has started all 15 games this season at catcher and is coming off a junior season where he was named to the LSC first-team. He has a .319 career batting average at ASU with 66 total hits and 31 RBI. Tyner, who has been the team's designated hitter in all 15 games, comes into this weekend with a career .332 average at ASU with 32 RBI and 70 career hits. Hunter Spear has added versatility in the field and has provided strong contributions at the plate and is hitting .371 with 13 hits and six RBI. Cody Semler has also been a versatile and dependable fielder throughout the season having played the majority of the time at second base, but also proving to be a strong third baseman, shortstop and left fielder. Semler has one home run this season and seven hits and six walks.

NATIONAL RANKINGS: Outside off all national rankings to begin the season, the Rams have propelled themselves into Division II prominence with their play on the field. ASU is currently No. 5 in the nation in the NCBWA poll, No. 10 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 18 in the d2baseballnews.com and Perfect Game rankings. ASU was ranked No. 8 in last week's NCBWA poll before sweeping Cameron and moving up three spots. The remain at No. 10 in Collegiate Baseball's rankings for the second straight week and moved up from No. 24 in the d2baseballnews.com poll. This is the first week ASU has been ranked by Perfect Game.
 
UP NEXT: The Rams will return to Foster Field next weekend to host West Texas A&M in a four-game LSC series.

RADIO NOTE: Jeremy Bryant will broadcast Sunday's doubleheader and the series finale on Monday on 1260AM KKSA. There will also be a simulcast available on AngeloSports.com.