GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado – The Angelo State baseball team downed No. 7 Lubbock Christian, 6-2, on Saturday afternoon to advance to the NCAA DII South Central Regional Championship.

With the win, the Rams climbed to 38-20 on the season and will await the outcome of Saturday's games to see who Sunday's opponent will be.  The Rams offense racked up 11 hits to the Chaps eight, and pitcher Kenton Schroter (5-0) earned his fifth of the season win with a complete game performance.

Lubbock Christian fell to 37-18 with the loss and will now face the winner of the Texas A&M – Kingsville and St. Edward's elimination game later on Saturday evening. The winner of the final game on Saturday will move to take on ASU on Sunday at 1 p.m. CST/ 12 p.m. MST. Being the only team that has remained undefeated throughout the tournament ASU will only need a single win to take the tournament title.  

"We did a lot of good things today," commented head ASU baseball coach Kevin Brooks. "The first thing that comes to mind is Kenton [Schroter] going out and giving us a complete game. Also, to be able to get really aggressive at the plate and get runs early in the game was really big for us."

The Rams got things started early in the game with Jay Gonzales knocking a single to right field pushing Elias Aguirre across for a 1-0 lead in the first. Then in the third Paxton DeLaGarza reached first on a single to right center and was brought home when Gonzales smashed his second homer of the year.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Rams would cross another run as David Goggin would stroke a double down the right field line that would score Christian Abilla giving ASU a 4-0 lead. LCU would attempt to get a rally started in the top of the eighth with a pair of out as they scored a run off of a Rams throwing error, however, the ASU defense would shut it down.  In the bottom half of the eighth, Sam Kohler added the Rams last run with a RBI single down the right field line. The Chaps would score one more in the top of the ninth to cut the Rams lead to 6-2, but once again the ASU defense would hold tight and prevent any further damage.

For the second straight game Schroter went the distance to earn the decision. The junior out of British Columbia, Canada gave up one earned run on eight hits and struck out four for the day. The outing pushed him to the second lowest ERA on the team with a 2.50.

"Kenton [Schroter] really stepped up last week at the conference tournament when we needed to win and needed a guy to go deep into the game and we needed him to do that again today," added Brooks. "I think that speaks for what type of competitor he is."   

Gonzales led the offensive attack for the Rams going 2-for-3 at the dish with a home run and a team leading three RBIs. ASU also had three other hitters record multiple hits, which included Kohler, Pinales and DeLaGarza. Goggin and Abilla led the Rams with a double each.