SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Angelo State baseball team continues its road tour with a four game series against Tarleton State which begins on Friday, April 1.
The Rams will look to rebound after its close loss to St. Mary's on Tuesday night, which left ASU sitting at 18-12, 11-5 LSC on the season. Friday's game is scheduled to start at 3 p.m., with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m. and commence on Sunday, April 3 with the final game also at 1 p.m. Angelo State currently holds a 38-20 all-time series lead over the Texans. ASU enters the weekend series hitting .298 as a team and is second in the Lone Star Conference with .972 fielding percentage. The Rams pitching staff sits in the middle of the LSC with a 3.94 ERA and have held opponents to .270 at the dish.
Tarleton State, which sits at 12-16, 6-10 LSC, and are coming off a, 3-0, win against the second place Javelinas of Texas A&M – Kingsville. The Texans lead the conference in the field with .974 fielding percentage and are carrying a LSC low .267 batting average. TSU's pitching staff has a combined ERA of 6.03 and has managed to hold the opposition to a .297 batting average.
Leading the Rams pitching staff this weekend will be conference leaders Bryce Zak (5-1) and Matt Shannon (3-3). Zak remains on top of the LSC this week and has moved to second in the nation with 74 strikeouts on the season. He is tied for first in the nation having made 9 starts on the season, and his five wins ranks amongst the top 20 nationally. In his last outing against Cameron, the San Angelo native tossed for 6 1/3 innings and racked up eight strikeouts. Zak enters the game carrying a 2.94 ERA and has held opponents to a .232 average at the plate. Shannon (3-3) tossed his second consecutive complete game of the season this past weekend shutting out Cameron and earning his third win of the year. Shannon continues to hold on to the second spot in the LSC having sat down 63 batters in a conference leading 52.1 innings of work. The sophomore also leads the conference with a 6.22 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Shannon has improved his ERA to 2.41 which places him second on the LSC's list.
Leading Angelo State in the batting lineup, are seniors Sam Kohler and Paxton DeLaGarza. Both players lead the team having contributed 27 runs to the Rams offensive efforts. Kohler, who is averaging a team best .364 at the plate, leads ASU with 39 hits on the season. He also has recorded 12 RBIs and drawn a squad leading 18 walks. Defensively, Kohler has a conference second 99 assists, and has fielded a conference first 16 double plays. DeLaGarza has tallied a team high 24 RBIs, eight doubles and five home runs in 2015. He will enter this weekend's series with a .352 batting average and a team high .583 slugging percentage.
Also likely to make an appearance on the mound for the Rams, will be right-hander Graylon Brown (3-3). The native of Brownwood, Texas has chalked up three saves thus far and currently has a career total of 20 saves under his belt. This is a single save away (21) from tying the all-time Lone Star Conference total career saves record which was marked during the 2010 season by Brad Rutherford of then LSC member Abilene Christian University. The senior is currently sporting a 3.21 ERA and has retired 25 batters on strikes this season. The opposition is averaging .252 against the right-hander at the plate.
Tyler Coolbaugh, Christian Abilla, Steven Pinales have also played a stellar role in ASUs offensive attack. Coolbaugh, currently a .287 hitter, has knocked in a team second 22 RBIs in his first year as a Ram. He has scored a team fourth 19 runs, has recorded four doubles and knocked a pair of home runs. Abilla holds the third spot on the team's hits list with 26 this season. Hitting .299 at the plate, the junior has marked a team third 18 RBIs. Pinales is second on the Rams with four homers and leads ASU with a pair of triples on the year. He is third on the team with a .312 batting average and second with a .545 slugging percentage. On the base paths he is within the top three in the LSC with nine stolen bags and has scored a squad second 21 runs.
Also making solid contributions to the Rams offensive efforts has been David Goggin, Jay Gonzales and Elias Aguirre. Goggin is hitting .283 and is tied for third on the team with 26 hits. The senior captain has pushed 13 runs across and scored 20 runs himself. He is second on the team's double list with six. Gonzales is will enter the TSU series reaching base in the past nine straight games he's played in. With a total of 16 hits, the junior out of Dallas, Texas has tallied three doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs. Finally, Aguirre has reached base in his last six games. He has stolen five bases and score 10 runs for the Rams. The outfielder is also carrying a .291 batting average and has recorded 16 hits in 2016.
All four games will be broadcasted on 1260AM KKSA, with the voice of the Rams, Jeremy Bryant, on the call.
