SAN ANGELO - The No. 8 Angelo State baseball team will play host to No. 6 Lubbock Christian at Foster Field at First Community Credit Union Stadium this weekend for a three-game series between two of the top teams in Division II baseball.

The series will open at 6 p.m. Friday followed by a 5 p.m. first pitch on Saturday and a 1 p.m. start in the series finale on Sunday.

The Rams (5-1) are playing their third straight series at home to open the season, after starting 2016 with 19 straight games on the road. The opening road swing in 2016 included a trip to Lubbock to face the Chaparrals in a series the Rams lost two games to one.

Coming off a sweep of Southeastern Oklahoma State last weekend in a series that saw them scored 25 runs in three games, ASU will be looking to keep the offensive momentum going.

Infielder Jonathan Soberanes leads the team in batting average, getting hits in exactly half of his at-bats. Soberanes has driven in four runs at the plate, walked a team-leading four times, scored three times and stolen three bases so far the year.  

Fellow infielder Jacob Boston followed close behind Soberanes in the batting average department, hitting .458 through the first six games. Boston is the team leader in RBI with 11 already this season and the Lone Star Conference leader in home runs with four. The Arizona native's 26 total bases are more than twice as many as any other Ram has collected.

Outfielders Elias Aguirre and Steven Pinales have collected the next most bases at 12 and 11, respectively. Aguirre is hitting  .435 in his six starts this season, picking up a pair of doubles and three RBI. He is also tied for the team lead in stolen bases with four. Pinales is the conference leaders in triples this season with two already. The Bronx, New York native is hitting exactly .400 with an on-base percentage of .625, which is second best on the team.

Catcher Matt Waller is the final Ram with more than 10 at-bats and a batting average above .300 so far this season. Waller has started all six games behind the plate and is hitting .368 on the season. The catcher has been the most efficient base-stealer for Angelo State this season, going 4-4 on his attempts.

On the mound the Rams have seen several dominant performances this season. Three of the ten lowest ERAs in the LSC belong to Rams Joe Hauser, Kenton Schroter and Ryan Smith.

Hauser has yet to allow a run out of the bullpen this season in his 6.1 innings pitched and has only allowed two total baserunners. Huaser has held opponents to a batting average of just .053. Smith has come out of the bullpen as well so far this season, pitching in eight total innings and lowering his ERA to 2.25.

In the starting role, ASU has seen Matt Shannon, Shane Browning and Schroter so far this season. Schroter has the lowest ERA of the three at 1.69, and has two wins in his first two starts this season. The Canada native worked six innings in his last appearance, giving up just one run and striking out nine. Shannon earned his first win of the season against SEOSU and has pitched the most innings on the team this season with 11.2. The junior pitcher has allowed five earned runs in that time for an ERA of 3.86. Browning has the second most strikeouts on the team with 12, and has pitched eight innings so far this year. The Lubbock native has given up five runs on just seven hits in his time on the mound.

Pitcher Blake Barr made his first appearance for the Rams in game three against SEOSU, working one shutout inning. Dustin Angiel, Kellen Rholl and Jake Mathys have all made appearances for ASU as well this season.

Lubbock Christian comes into the matchup at 7-1 this season, after winning its first six games to start the season. The Chaparrals are led by Jaime Bustamante, an infielder who is hitting .438 this season and was named the Heartland Conference Hitter of the Week this past week. LCU also has Ricky Contreras on the mound, who in two starts has pitched 13 innings without giving up a run.

All three games of the series will be live-streamed on AngeloSports.com and game three of the series will be broadcast live on RamTV channel 6 and 106 in HD. Portions of the games Friday and Saturday and all of Sunday's game can also be heard on 1260 KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.