SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team will begin a seven-game home stand at 6 p.m. on Monday with a non-conference game against McMurry at Foster Field.

The Rams (28-14) are 12-1 outside of Lone Star Conference play this season and are 18-4 at Foster Field. The War Hawks (27-8) are not in a conference this season but have played strong baseball throughout the year, including opening the season by splitting a doubleheader against the Rams in a pair of season-openers in Abilene. ASU, which enters this week with 397 wins in program history and in the head coaching career of Kevin Brooks, started the season with an 8-4 win over the War Hawks in the first game of a January 2nd doubleheader before McMurry took a 3-2 win at Walt Driggers Field in the final game of the day.

Paxton DeLaGarza leads the Rams this season with a .382 batting average and 60 total hits, but will have an opportunity to show off his arm on Monday. A junior shortstop, DeLaGarza will start on the mound for the Rams against the War Hawks. He will be making his second pitching appearance of the season after he struck out two and didn't allow a run in one inning of relief against Lubbock Christian.

DeLaGarza hit the sixth home run of his season on Saturday at West Texas A&M when he hit a first-inning homer to give the Rams a 2-0 lead after Nehwon Norkeh had hit a leadoff homer. DeLaGarza now leads the Rams with 30 RBI, while Brett David is second on the team with 29 RBI on 41 hits. Norkeh leads the Rams and the conference with eight home runs after hitting two home runs on Saturday, including the leadoff homer and a two-run shot in the sixth inning of the first game of the doubleheader. Norkeh is hitting .314 this season with 11 doubles, a triple, eight home runs and 28 singles. Norkeh also leads the LSC with 41 runs scored in 42 games played.

J.C. Snyder hit the first triple of his season on Saturday with a run-scoring shot down the right-field line in the win and enters this week with a .349 batting average and 22 RBI. Snyder leads the Rams with 16 doubles this season, while Cameron Massengill and Derek Tyner each have eight doubles. Massengill has started all but one game at catcher this season, while Tyner has started all but two games at designated hitter in their senior seasons. Tyner enters this week with 24 RBI on 45 hits and Massengill has 19 RBI and 39 hits. Cody Semler has added 13 RBI and has five doubles, one home run and 19 singles this season, while Sam Kohler has six RBI on 20 hits. David Goggin hit the first home run of his career on Saturday and now has nine RBI and 11 hits after missing the first half of the season with injury. A junior from Red Wing, Minnesota, Goggin is the team's captain and is a reigning all-conference selection along with Massengill and Blake Bass.

The War Hawks had won eight straight games before dropping three of four last weekend to Wayland Baptist in Plainview. ASU is the only Division II program on McMurry's schedule which is filled with Division III and NAIA teams. The War Hawks are hitting .329 as a team with 70 doubles, 18 triples and 21 home runs this season, while their pitching staff has a 3.30 ERA with 203 strikeouts and only 81 walks. 

ASU is 6-2 all-time against McMurry after the two programs met for the first time in 2013. The Rams went 3-1 during the 2014 season against the War Hawks after sweeping a season-opening doubleheader (3-2, 10-2) before the two teams split an April doubleheader (2-3, 6-4) at Foster Field.

Angelo State will complete the regular season with a pair of LSC home series when it hosts Texas A&M-Kingsville in a three-game set starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday before it closes out the regular season by hosting Eastern New Mexico in two weeks. 

ASU SEASON TRACKER
Overall Record:  28-14
Lone Star Conference Record:  16-13
At Foster Field:  18-4
Away from San Angelo:  10-10
Neutral Site Games:  0-0
LSC Home Games:  8-4
LSC Road Games:  8-9
Current Streak:  W1
Longest Winning Streak:  W15 (*program record)
Longest Losing Streak:  L4
Most runs scored:  18
Fewest runs scored:  0 (2)
Extra-inning games:  3-2
Vs. Cameron: 7-0
Vs. Eastern New Mexico: 1-3
Vs. Tarleton State: 4-3
Vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville: 1-3
Vs. West Texas A&M: 3-4