TOWN of CARY, N.C. – Only six of eight team flags are still flying here at the NCAA Division II Baseball National Finals with two more to taken down on Wednesday.

The Angelo State Rams are 5-0 in elimination games this postseason and will play their sixth at 11 a.m. (CDT) on Wednesday against Henderson State in a game which is a rematch from the first day and also a game which will send the winner onto Thursday and the loser back home with their flag. ASU (42-17) dropped a 4-0 decision to the Reddies (32-20) on Saturday, but responded with a 5-0 win over Wilmington University on Monday to advance. HSU dropped a 5-1 decision to Catawba College on Monday to set up the second meeting of the National Finals.

"We have a group of fighters," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "That's a great attribute to have with a team at this time of the year. Good teams always have that drive inside that pushes them regardless of the situation. You're not going to have your best stuff every single day, but when you have the drive that our guys have you always give yourself a chance to win. I feel that every single one of our guys have that inside of them and that can be enough most of the time. We're going to go out and play as hard as we can and see what happens, but I have no doubt that our guys are going to leave everything on the field to advance."

The game time was moved up three hours due to weather forecasts in the Town of Cary on Wednesday. 

ASU, which will be playing its 60th game of the season, was shutout for only the third time all season against the Reddies, but responded on Monday by getting back to the production which has led the team to a 332-207 scoring advantage this season. The Rams are relying on a pitching staff which has a 1.06 ERA and is limiting opponents to a .210 average through the first two games, while the offense woke up on Monday and produced nine hits and the five runs.

"We did a great job of putting pressure on them by hitting more ground balls and staying with our approach," said ASU second baseman Sam Kohler, who is on a 10-game hitting streak going into Wednesday. "We don't want to go home so we're going to do everything we can to keep the season going."

The Rams are now hitting .300 as a team this season with 107 doubles, six triples and 41 home runs. Playing in a ballpark which is not conducive to the long ball, ASU manufactured runs on Monday after falling victim to fly outs on Saturday against the Reddies. Along with a change of approach on Monday from Saturday, the Rams got big contributions from David Goggin who had three hits in his first game at leadoff hitter and a two-run double from Elias Aguirre who had his first double of the season which also produced his first two RBI in his first start in center field of the season for the Rams.

"The key to the postseason is getting guys who have not had big contributions throughout the season to step up," Brooks said. "There are guys who do not have the big names that always seem to step up at this time of the year and we have a big group of guys like that in our dugout that are just waiting for their opportunity and are ready to help our team win. Every player on our bench has stepped up to help us win a game this season and that is really cool for me to think about."

Angelo State is 2-1 all-time against the Reddies after earning a pair of doubleheader wins back in 2011 before HSU took the 4-0 win over the Rams in the opening game of the tournament. The winner of Wednesday's game will advance to play the winner of the Mercyhurst-Tampa game and will have to beat that team twice to advance to the finals.
The Rams and Reddies have not announced their starting pitchers for Wednesday's game.
 
LINEUP REPORT
David Goggin hit leadoff for the first time this season on Monday and responded by going 3-for-4 with two singles, a double and a walk. He currently leads the Rams after going 4-for-8 through the first two games here in Cary with three singles and the double. Angelo State's team captain, Goggin was named the Lone Star Conference Academic Player of the Year and to the all-academic team for the second straight season and then earned the NCAA DII Baseball's ELITE 89 winner for having the highest grade point average of any player in Cary. A junior right fielder from Red Wing, Minnesota, Goggin was named the LSC Freshman of the Year in 2013 and to the LSC second-team as sophomore. He missed the first half of his junior season with an injury but has started 38 games. Goggin had six hits and four RBI at the regional tournament and enters the third game in Cary with 27 hits and 15 RBI this season. He has seven multi-hit games and five multi-RBI performances, including three RBI games against CSU-Pueblo in the regional tournament after a three-RBI game against St. Mary's in a regular-season game in San Antonio. Goggin hit the first home run of his career earlier this season at West Texas A&M and then his second at home against Texas A&M-Kingsville. Goggin went 1-for-4 on Saturday against Henderson State before his second three-hit performance of the season on Monday.   
 
Sam Kohler enters the third game of the national tournament on a team-high 10-game hitting streak after going 1-for-4 on Monday against Wilmington and 1-for-3 in the opener against Henderson State. Kohler delivered the only five-RBI performance of the season for Angelo State in last Sunday's win over CSU-Pueblo when he went 3-for-5 and also scored three runs to help the Rams to the regional final. Kohler went 9-for-23 (.391) during the South Central Championship and is now hitting .285 with 43 hits and 17 RBI this season. A junior second baseman from Dripping Springs, Texas, Kohler is in his first season at ASU after transferring from Angelina College and is hitting .346 with runners on base and .319 with runners in scoring position. He missed the first couple of weeks of the season due to injury but quickly established himself as the team's starting second baseman where he has started 43 games this season. He has also solidified himself as the two-spot hitter and has hit second in the lineup in 24 games, but hit leadoff for the first time this season on Saturday against the Reddies before moving back to the two-spot on Monday. Kohler leads the Rams with 13 stolen bases on 16 attempts, including stealing two bases at the regional tournament. He has 10 multi-hit performances this season with three-hit games against Regis, Eastern New Mexico and then CSU-Pueblo. A sure-handed and smooth second baseman, he has a .970 fielding percentage with 121 assists, 76 putouts and only six errors this season.

Paxton DeLaGarza has been named to the ABCA/Rawlings and Daktronics All-America first-team after earning the ABCA/Rawlings South Central Positional Player of the Year, the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year, the NCAA DII South Central Championship Co-MVP and was also honored with NCBWA and Daktronics first-team all-region honors. He's earned that recognition after being one of the top shortstops in the nation and enters ASU's second game against Henderson State with a .395 batting average. DeLaGarza is hitting .355 with a double, triple, two home runs and nine RBI for the Rams throughout the seven NCAA tournament games. He had gone 11-for-23 (.478) with two home runs and nine RBI at the regional tournament, but is currently 0-for-8 at the NCAA DII Baseball Championship. A junior from Lubbock, DeLaGarza leads ASU with 53 RBI this season and has 16 doubles, two triples and nine home runs. He came into the national tournament ranked 11th in the nation with 88 total hits and is 29th in DII with 135 total bases. He leads ASU with 26 multi-hit games, including having eight three-hit performances and also producing four-hit games against Tarleton State in the conference tournament and then going 4-for-5 in the 15-7 win over CSU-Pueblo last Sunday. In that game, DeLaGarza crushed a three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to help the Rams turn a deficit into a rout. In his first season at ASU after transferring from Weatherford College, DeLaGarza is hitting .426 with runners on base and .387 with runners in scoring position. He has 14 multi-RBI performances this season, including a career-best four RBI in the LSC Championship final against Tarleton State. In the field, he has a .954 fielding percentage with 156 assists, 73 putouts and only 11 errors. DeLaGarza has started all 59 games this season for the Rams and came into the national tournament with the sixth best batting average for a season in program history. His 88 hits are the ninth most in program history and his 156 assists are the second most. He is only two assists single-season assists record of 158 which was established by Derek Bockhorn in 2005. How consistent has he been? DeLaGarza has hit safely in 50 of 59 games this season and had has not made an error in the past 13 games.
 
J.C. Snyder is a doubles machine and has proved to be one of the top third basemen in the South Central region and earned a Daktronics All-America honorable mention selection last Friday. Snyder has 24 doubles which ranks sixth in the nation and is the second most in a season in ASU program history which is only behind the 28 that Steven Allred produced in his All-America season in 2007. Snyder is a senior from Salem, Utah who is in his first season at Angelo State after transferring from BYU where he played as a junior after attending Salt Lake Community College his first two seasons. Snyder is the son of Cory Snyder who played Major League Baseball for nine seasons. An all-region and all-conference selection at utility player, Snyder has started at third base in 33 games after beginning the season in right field. He has started all 59 games this season and has a .922 fielding percentage with 61 putouts, 46 assists and only nine errors. He has recorded 24 multi-hit games, including producing four-hit performances against Texas A&M International and Tarleton State. He had a season-best nine-game hitting streak snapped on Monday after going 0-for-4 against Wilmington and had reached base in 17 straight games. Snyder, who is fourth on the team with 33 RBI, was named to the South Central Championship's All-Tournament Team after going 8-for-24 with two doubles and three RBI in Grand Junction, Colorado. Those three RBI came against CSU-Pueblo last Sunday when he we had two hits, including of course, one double. His double production has seen him hit two doubles in games against TAMIU, Lubbock Christian, Regis and Texas A&M-Kingsville. He enters ASU's second game of the tournament against Henderson State with a .344 batting average which includes six home runs, one triple, 44 singles and those 24 doubles.   

Derek Tyner is hitting .303 which includes 11 doubles, five home runs and 48 singles after going 1-for-4 with a run scored on Monday against Henderson State. A senior designated hitter from Boerne, Texas, Tyner is in his second season with the Rams after transferring from Odessa College and was named a LSC first-team selection. After playing his junior season at first base, Tyner solidified himself as the team's designated hitter where he has been at for 58 of 59 games this season. A right-handed hitter, Tyner hit two home runs against Tarleton State at home this season and has 22 multi-hit and six multi-RBI performances this season. He went 0-for-3 last Saturday against HSU. He also hit home runs against Texas A&M International, St. Mary's and Texas A&M-Kingsville to give him five for the season to go along with 11 doubles. Tyner went 7-for-23 (.304) with three runs scored and two RBI at the regional tournament. He has three three-hit games with two coming against TAMIU and another against Cameron and he had a season-high three-RBI performance in his two-home run game against Tarleton. He entered the national tournament as a .312 career hitter for the Rams and has now played in 106 games played and has 374 at-bats. He currently has 115 hits with 18 doubles, five home runs and 53 RBI in his career.

ASU's season would be finished right now without  Brett David coming through with a two-out RBI single in the ninth last Friday against St. Mary's at the regional tournament. A senior from El Paso, David has started all 59 games at first base for the Rams this season and entered the national tournament on a five-game hitting streak which was extended to six with a 1-for-4 game against Henderson with a single. David went 0-for-3 on Monday against Wilmington, but reached base on a sacrifice bunt which loaded the bases when a fielding error was assessed to the third baseman. He would score the final run in the 5-0 win over the Wildcats. He had seven hits, scored five runs and drove in two runs for the Rams at the South Central Championship and is hitting .276 with seven doubles, one triple and six home runs this season. David has recorded 14 multi-hit and nine multi-RBI performances this season. He hit two home runs at the LSC tournament and has 10 homers in his career, including hitting a grand slam earlier this season against Texas A&M International. An LSC honorable mention selection, David has emerged as one of the best fielding first basemen in the nation who routinely turns in error and run-saving digs for outs. ASU's only four-year senior, David has played in 164 games for the Rams and has 74 RBI in his career. He recorded a career-high four hits earlier this season against Tarleton State and has a .990 fielding percentage. He had a season-high 16 putouts on Saturday against Henderson State after he had 15 putouts last Sunday in the regional final against St. Mary's where he also went 2-for-4 with an RBI.  

One of the best catchers in program history,  Cameron Massengill has established a new single-season record by throwing out 27 runners attempting to steal while also providing 58 total hits and 24 RBI for the Rams. He is currently 3-for-8 with one run scored here in Cary. A senior from Kennedale, Texas, Massengill is in his second season at Angelo State after transferring from Cisco College and has thrown out 38 runners in his career which is only two behind the all-time record. He went 2-for-4 against Wilmington after going 1-for-4 in the National Finals opener against Henderson State. Massengill came into Cary with a career .296 batting average which now includes 109 total hits and 45 RBI in 110 games played at ASU. He has 58 hits this season with 48 singles and 10 doubles. A clutch hitter, Massengill had five hits in the regional tournament including going 2-for-5 with a double against CSU-Pueblo on Championship Sunday. He also had two hits in an elimination game against St. Mary's last Friday at the regional tournament and 23-for-43 (.535) when leading off an inning. He has 17 multi-hit and five multi-RBI performances this season with three-hit games against McMurry, West Texas A&M and Eastern New Mexico. Massengill has started 58 of 59 games at catcher this season, proving to be one of the most dedicated and durable catchers in the nation.

Cody Semler entered the national tournament as one of the stars last Sunday on the final day of the regional tournament when he scored four runs in the win over CSU-Pueblo and then hit a three-run home run to left field in the second inning against St. Mary's to quickly erase a two-run deficit. Semler, who is a senior from Allen in his first season at ASU after playing his first two seasons at Weatherford College and then last year at West Virginia, had four hits, four RBI and scored eight runs at the regional tournament. He is hitting .245 this season with five doubles, two home runs and 28 singles and is second on the team with 12 stolen bases. He went 0-for-2 with one walk and was hit by a pitch in the ninth inning against Henderson State. Semler has seven multi-hit games and is the starting left fielder and has four outfield assists this season. Two of those assists game in the conference tournament, including cutting down the potential game-tying run at home with a strong throw to Massengill to nail a Tarleton State runner. He has three three-hit games and three three-RBI games this season. His four runs scored against the ThunderWolves last Sunday were a season-high along with the three walks he took to reach base. Semler also has 17 RBI and a .352 on-base percentage.

Elias Aguirre made his first start in center field on Monday and came through for the Rams with a two-run double along with making four catches in the field. Aguirre is the only true freshman on the ASU active roster and has now started nine games this season with seven coming in left field and one in right field before the center field start on Monday. Aguirre has four hits on the season and drove in his first two runs of the year along with having his first double and first stolen base of the season in the win over Wilmington. Jarryd Klemm returned from injury by going 1-for-4 with a double on Saturday against Henderson State. He had not played since March 23rd before making the start in left field in the National Finals opener. A junior outfielder from Adelaide, South Australia, Klemm is 13-for-47 (.279) this season and has started 14 games. In his first season at ASU after transferring from Frank Phillips College, Klemm had three multi-hit games and also produced one double, one home run and four RBI before suffering his injury. Klemm hit his first home run of his career against Texas A&M International and went 1-for-3 with an RBI at Texas A&M-Kingsville in the last game he played in. 
 
PITCHING STAFF REPORT
Dillon Becker (8-2) pitched an inning of relief on Saturday with two strikeouts and no runs allowed against Henderson State and now has 60 strikeouts and a 2.38 ERA through 41 2/3 innings and a program record 30 appearances this season. Becker earned the win over St. Mary's last Friday in the regional tournament after throwing 2 1/3 innings with four strikeouts and then coaxed a double-play ball against Colorado Mesa with the bases loaded with one pitched to get the Rams out of trouble. Becker is a junior right-hander from Bastrop, Texas who is in his second season at Angelo State after transferring from Blinn College. He has allowed only 11 earned runs all season and has limited the opposition to a .190 batting average. Becker had a career-best seven strikeouts last season in performances against Tarleton State and Texas A&M-Kingsville and had a season-best six strikeouts in a three-inning relief appearance against Eastern New Mexico on May 1st. Becker was named to the LSC second-team this season.

Graylon Brown (3-3) is the all-time saves leader in program history with 17 career saves and has established a new single-season saves record with 12 saves this season. A junior right-hander from Brownwood, Texas, Brown has 44 strikeouts and a 3.46 ERA through 30 appearances and 42 2/3 innings of work this season. He closed out the win over Wilmington with three straight groundouts and now has a 3.38 ERA this season. Brown earned LSC first-team honors and has limited the opposition to a .264 batting average this season. He owns an 11-7 career record to go along with his 17 saves through 131 1/3 innings in his career at ASU. Brown was redshirted in 2012 before making 19 appearances as freshman, 25 as a junior and 30 going into Wednesday's game. He had a season-best four strikeouts in earning his sixth save of the season against St. Mary's on March 31 at home.

The ASU pitching staff is rested with Bryce Zak (5-6),   Matt Shannon (4-1),  Miles Gully (1-0),  Kellen Rholl (0-1) and  Trae Davis (0-0) not having to be used through the first two games of the national tournament. Zak has recorded 85 strikeouts and has a 2.67 ERA coming into the National Finals. A junior right-hander from San Angelo, Texas, Zak was named to the Lone Star Conference second-team and is currently fourth in program history with his 85 strikeouts this season. Zak missed the 2014 season due to injury and has made 14 starts and 16 appearances for the Rams this season. He owns a 10-7 career record and has 123 career strikeouts at Angelo State after pitching his freshman season at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Zak recorded a career-best 11 strikeouts in a win over Regis where he needed only five innings to amass the strikeouts and also had a 10-strikeout performance against West Texas A&M in six innings. Zak is limiting the opposition to a .257 batting average this season and has recorded five or more strikeouts in 11 games this season. Shannon earned the fourth win of his redshirt freshman year last Saturday against Colorado Mesa when he limited the region's top seed to three hits and had five strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings of work. He also has wins over Cameron and two against St. Mary's this season. Shannon has recorded 32 strikeouts in 36 innings of work. Rholl was named the LSC Co-Freshman of the Year and enters this weekend with 17 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings of work, while Gully is coming off his first win of the season when he threw 5 1/3 innings against CSU-Pueblo and limited the ThunderWolves to three hits to help lead the Rams to the regional final. Gully, who is a left-handed senior from San Angelo, had not pitched since May 2nd before coming in and shutting down Pueblo. Davis is a senior right-hander who started his career with three seasons at Baylor before transferring to ASU. He has 11 strikeouts in 15 1/3 innings of work. DeLaGarza could also come out the bullpen if needed and did so in the regional tournament when he struck out one in a scoreless inning to close out the game against Pueblo last Sunday. He has made five appearances this season and has eight strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings.

COACHING REPORT
Angelo State is led by head coach  Kevin Brooks who is in his 11th season with the Rams and has amassed a 411-230 record. Brooks, who is a Baylor graduate who played for the Bears from 1988-91, started the ASU program in 2005 and has guided the Rams to five 40-win seasons and to 10 seasons with 30 or more wins. Brooks led ASU to a 51-win season in 2007 for the most victories in a season and has not had a losing season in his head coaching career. He was an assistant before constructing the Angelo State program at Hardin-Simmons, Texas-San Antonio, Texas A&M and Incarnate Word. Brooks is assisted by  John Anderson who is in his fourth season with the Rams. Anderson is a Minnesota native who played two seasons in the Chicago White Sox organization from 2007-08. Anderson, who has helped lead the ASU program to three NCAA tournaments and to a 146-81 record during his tenure, played and coached in professional baseball for 12 years.  Travis Lawler is the team's graduate assistant who has been with the program for four seasons and  Rex Scofield is in his sixth season as a volunteer assistant after a distinguished career as an administrator and coach with the San Angelo Independent School District.
 
RAM REPORTS

Naemark silences Wildcats to lead Rams to 5-0 win (May 25)
TOWN of CARY, N.C. – Angelo State junior  Steve Naemark  was a silencer once again and his offense manufactured runs as the Rams earned a 5-0 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship elimination-game win over Wilmington on Monday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.

Naemark threw eight scoreless innings with five strikeouts to help the Rams (42-17) advance to play at 2 p.m. (CDT) on Wednesday against Henderson State in an elimination game. Naemark (11-1) has now thrown 16 scoreless innings and has 138 strikeouts on the season. The left-hander stranded nine Wilmington runners on base, including inducing a groundout to  Brett David  at first base to leave the bases loaded without damage in the top of the sixth.  

"I didn't really feel like I had my best stuff of the year, but it just made it a little bit more interesting," Naemark said. "I worked well with my off-speed that set up my fastball. Those situations I'm just confident that they're not going to score. I feel like I'm a good enough pitcher to not allow hits to be strung together in a big succession there. It's really about not letting the moment get too big and staying calm by attacking the batter and just getting the guy at the plate. That's what I did today to get away with some jams."

While Naemark was in control throughout, the Rams found offensive production again after being shutout for only the third time this season in a 4-0 loss to Henderson State in their first game of the national tournament on Saturday. ASU broke an 11-inning scoreless drought here in Cary in the bottom of the third inning with  David Goggin  leading the inning off with an opposite-field double and then  Paxton DeLaGarza  being hit by a pitch with one out. Goggin moved to third and DeLaGarza into scoring position on a wild pitch and then scored when  Derek Tyner  hit a grounder to second base which was misplayed to allow to unearned runs to score.

ASU opened up the game in the sixth with three runs on three hits and two errors by the Wildcats. Tyner and Massengill led the inning off with a pair of singles and David loaded the bases by reaching on an error/sacrifice bunt. With the bases loaded and no outs, WU went to their bullpen which recorded a three-pitch strikeout of  Cody Semler for the first out. With one out and the bases still loaded, freshman  Elias Aguirre  stepped up to the plate with a drawn in infield and shallow outfield. Starting only his ninth game all season and first in center field, Aguirre took one strike before driving the baseball over the center fielder's head to score two and record the first extra-base hit of his career.

"I thought I had just hit a routine pop-up," Aguirre said. "I saw they were playing in though, I guess because I'm a freshman. I saw him running back and then the ball on the ground. It was really exciting."

The double scored Tyner and Massengill to take the score to 4-0 which quickly turned into a 5-0 lead when a failed pickoff attempt of Aguirre went into center field and brought David in to score.

With a 5-0 lead, Naemark recorded 1-2-3 innings in the seventh and eighth innings before  Graylon Brown  came into the game in the ninth and ended the Wildcats' season with three straight groundouts. The Rams finished the game with a 9-7 hit advantage with Goggin leading the way with a 3-for-4 game and Massengill going 2-for-4. Goggin hit leadoff for the first time this season and also reached base with a walk to go along with his two singles and double. Sam Kohler , Tyner, Semler and Aguirre also had hits to account for the nine ASU hits.

"I thought we did a great job of playing solid and we made them make some mistakes that we took advantage of," ASU head coach  Kevin Brooks  said. "Steve put us on his back pretty much like he's done every time he's gone out. I thought we were solid, but we still have to play better. I was pleased with today though."

Wilmington (37-15), which was the East Region Champion, saw its first national tournament appearance end after two games after also falling on Saturday in its opener against Catawba. The Rams are now 2-3 all-time in the NCAA DII Baseball Championship with their other win coming against the Franklin Pierce (East Region) in 2007. Frank Samluk (6-1) took his first loss of the season on Monday after allowing five earned runs in five innings of work for the Wildcats. WU finished the game with seven hits, including a 3-for-4 performance from second baseman Josh Swirchak. 

Rams struggle offensively, fall into elimination-defense mode (May 23rd)

TOWN of CARY, N.C. – The Angelo State baseball team finds itself in the same position it was in last week.

The Rams were shutout for only the third time this season after taking a 4-0 loss to Henderson State in the opening game of the NCAA Division II Baseball National Finals on Saturday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. ASU (41-17) also dropped the opening game of the NCAA DII South Central Championship last week before winning four straight games to advance to the national tournament and will once again be facing elimination games throughout – starting with a 2 p.m. (CDT) on Monday against Wilmington (37-14) which fell 3-2 in the second game of the tournament against Catawba. 

"We have great pitching and that's what we have to hang our hat on right now," ASU head coach  Kevin Brooks  said. "Hopefully we'll come back offensively on Monday and get after it. We had 15 fly-ball outs and if you had told me before the game that I would have told you that would have been the result. We made their left-side of their infield field one ground ball all day. You can't get the ball in the air and be successful here."

ASU flew out eight times to the Henderson State left fielder and once to center field and managed only six hits on the day. The Rams stranded nine runners on base in the game, including leaving the bases loaded in the seventh after J.C. Snyder  led off with a single,  Derek Tyner  walked and then  Cody Semler  took a two-out walk after two strikeouts had halted the scoring opportunity. With two outs and the bases loaded, HSU reliever Jordan Taylor coaxed a  David Goggin  groundout to first base to end the ASU threat. The Rams would strand two more in the eight with  Cameron Massengill  hitting a one-out single and Snyder taking a walk before a foul-out ended the inning with another scoreless frame.  

Henderson State scored each of its four runs in four innings, starting with a run in the first after Hunter Mayall led the bottom of the first inning off with a single and then stole second base. He would move to third on a groundout to Snyder at third and would score on a Tadarious Hawkins bloop-single to shallow left field. Bass (10-3) would shut the Reddies out for three straight innings after the first-inning run, but HSU added another run in the fifth after the leadoff hitter was hit and scored on a single through the right-side of the infield after being moved over to scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Another sacrifice bunt in the seventh set up another run.

"I thought Henderson did a great job of executing," Brooks said. "They were able to get some leadoff guys on and executed some sacrifice bunts to get guys in motion and then got big hits. Obviously offensively, we had trouble getting anything going. We hits some balls good, but having been here before I knew that this place plays like a graveyard. If you hit a ball higher than eight feet high you're going to be out. We hit four that last weekend in Colorado and back in San Angelo are home runs, but that's not the field we're playing on. We knew that and we needed to play to the elements. I didn't feel like we did as good of a job as I was hoping we were going to do. Henderson made the plays and did a great job of playing situational baseball. You have to give them all the credit."

Bass threw seven innings for the Rams in the loss where he limited the Reddies to six hits. An All-America selection, Bass only struck out one but was effective by using his defense which included second baseman  Sam Kohler  record four assists and shortstop  Paxton DeLaGarza  have four assists.

"I was just going out there trying to get outs," Bass said. "They didn't chase very many of my strikeout pitches because they had good approaches. They just executed when they had the chance."

ASU, which struck out only five times, finished with six hits coming for six different hitters, including  Jarryd Klemm having the lone extra-base hit when he doubled to right-center field in the fifth inning. Kohler, Massengill, Snyder, Brett David  and Goggin each had singles for the Rams who had not be held scoreless since March 23rd at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

The Rams are now 1-3 all-time at the NCAA DII Baseball National Finals and are 2-1 against the Reddies who move into the winner's bracket where they'll play at 6 p.m. (CDT) on Monday against the winner of the Wilmington-Catawba game. Colton Lorance (7-4) earned the win for HSU after limiting the Rams to five hits through six innings of work, while Nick Vanthillo recorded his 13th save of the season by striking out two in a two-inning save.
 

All-Time at the NCAA Tournament
2007 South Central Championship (Arkadelphia, Arkansas)
W, 8-1 vs. Ouachita Baptist
W, 8-3 vs. St. Edward's
L, 5-4 vs. Montevallo
W, 13-7 vs. West Florida
W, 8-1 vs. Montevallo
W, 3-2 vs. Montevallo
2007 NCAA Division II National Finals (Montgomery, Alabama)
W, 12-3 vs. No. 11 Franklin Pierce
L, 5-4 vs. No. 14 Columbus State
L, 12-10 vs. Southern Indiana
 
2009 South Central Championship (Warrensburg, Missouri)
L, 23-0 vs. Emporia State
W, 6-3 vs. Central Missouri
W, 4-2 vs. Abilene Christian
L, 5-3 vs. Emporia State
 
2012 South Central Championship (Warrensburg, Missouri)
L, 7-2 vs. Southern Arkansas
L, 13-10 vs. St. Edward's
 
2013 South Central Championship (Kingsville, Texas)
L, 5-4 vs. St. Edward's
W, 9-1 vs. Texas A&M-Kingsville
L, 7-6 (13 innings) vs. St. Mary's
 
2015 South Central Championship (Grand Junction, Colorado)
L, 9-8 vs. CSU-Pueblo
W, 5-2 (10 innings) vs. St. Mary's
W, 8-6 vs. No. 3 Colorado Mesa
W, 15-7 vs. No. 19 CSU-Pueblo
W, 5-2 vs. St. Mary's
2015 NCAA DII Baseball National Finals (Town of Cary, North Carolina)
L, 4-0 vs Henderson State
W, 5-0 vs. Wilmington University