STEPHENVILLE – The No. 5-ranked Angelo State baseball team dominated a Lone Star Conference doubleheader against Tarleton State on Saturday by a combined score of 28-2 and established a new program record with its 15th straight win on the season.

The Rams (16-1) earned an 18-0 win in the opener of the four-game series before closing out the first day of the series with a 10-2 win at the Cecil Ballow Complex. ASU surpassed the previous school record of a 13-game winning streak which had stood since 2006. The Rams and Texans will continue their series with the third game of the series at 3 p.m. on Sunday before the series finale at 1 p.m. on Monday.

"I thought we really embraced the grind today and came out ready to play and executed well," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "We're going to have to come out and play like that again tomorrow."

Angelo State finished the day hitting .438 with 32 total hits which included 10 doubles and a home run in the doubleheader, while the Texans hit .160 and struck out 22 times in the 14-inning day against the Ram hurlers. ASU has outscored its opponents 131-48 this season and also recorded its first shutout of the season. The 18-0 game is the most lopsided shutout in program history. 

ASU dominated the first game with its 18-0 win which saw Steve Naemark strikeout eight, not walk a batter and held the Texans scoreless through five innings before turning the ball over to Joe Hauser and Miles Gully who came in and added three more strikeouts. The Rams finished the lopsided game with a 19-3 hit advantage. Seven Rams finished the game with multi-hit games, including J.C. Snyder going 4-for-5 with a home run and a double. Paxton DeLaGarza went 3-for-3 with three singles, while Cody Semler went 3-for-4 and had a career-high three RBI. Nehwon Norkeh and Brett David joined Semler with three RBI each, while Chandler Patterson and Cameron Massengill each had two hits.

Naemark won his third straight decision and now has a 0.77 ERA with 52 strikeouts and only six walks through 35 innings of work this season.

ASU was held scoreless through the first three innings of play before Snyder his fourth home run of the season for the game's first run in the fourth inning and then Semler drove in Patterson with a single to make it 2-0. With Naemark cruising again, the Rams put the game away with eight runs in the fifth and six in the sixth.

The Rams scored nine runs on seven hits in the second inning of the second game to finish with a Saturday sweep. The nine-run inning took place with the leadoff batter grounding out before the gates broke open again with David reaching on single to center and coming in on a Chandler Patterson single to center. The inning also featured a two-run single from Norkeh and a two-run double by David in his second at-bat of the inning. Tyner also had an RBI single in the inning which was only aided by one error.

Blake Bass (5-0) established a career high with 10 strikeouts and earned his fifth straight win after not walking a batter and allowing only five hits in six innings. Bass, who had a previous career-best of seven strikeouts twice this season, now has 38 strikeouts and a 1.54 ERA in 35 innings to start his senior season. Gully made his second appearance of the day and had one strikeout in the final inning.

David led the Rams by going 4-for-4 at the plate and driving in two runs, while Tyner and Kohler each went 2-for-4. The Rams owned a 13-5 hit advantage and did not commit an error in the game.

Bryce Zak (3-1) is scheduled to make his fourth start of the season for the Rams on Sunday.