Baseball | 3/10/2017 5:53:00 PM

SAN ANGELO - The Angelo State baseball team opened their first road series with a win Friday afternoon, topping Texas Permian Basin 10-2 in Odessa.

The Rams (13-2) built a lead early on the Falcons (6-7) with seven runs in the first two innings and never looked back in the opening matchup of a four-game series.

"We didn't play as well as I hoped, but it was good enough to get the win today," Angelo State head baseball coach Kevin Brooks said. "It was good to get some pitchers in there who haven't had a lot of innings, and Tyler Coolbaugh had a pretty good day at the plate, so those were a couple of positives."

ASU's leading hitter, Jonathan Soberanes, got on base to start the game with a double to center field. The Dallas native would eventually come around to score the first run of the game, and Soberanes finished the day 2-for-2 with two RBI and a walk. He reached base in all three of his plate appearances before being removed in the fifth inning.

UTPB got the run back in the bottom of the first inning when their own leadoff batter reached and came around to score. The second inning, however, was when the Rams broke the game open.

Matt Waller got on as the second batter in the inning with a single to left field, starting a string of eight straight Rams to reach base. Overall, Angelo State scored six runs on six hits in the inning, capped off by a two-run home run from shortstop Tyler Coolbaugh, his first of the season. The senior ended the day with three hits in five at-bats and drove in four runs.

After gaining the large lead, Ram pitcher Matt Shannon was replaced by reliever Logan Voth to start the second. Voth came in and pitched three innings, just giving up one run in the process in the fourth innings. It would be the only other run UTPB scored all day, and the junior struck out three in his time on the mound.

The Rams got another run in the third when outfielder Michael Urquidi doubled and came around to score. ASU also scored in the fourth when the catcher Waller worked a two-out walk and eventually scored on a single from Nick Novak, pushing the lead to 9-1 at the time.

In the top of the fifth, ASU made several defensive changes, including replacing Waller with sophomore Joe Scott Pace and putting senior Omar Martinez at first. Reliever Blake Barr also came in to start the inning on the mound for the Rams. Barr pitched three shutout innings with four strikeouts on the day.

ASU would score one more run in the top of the sixth inning. Martinez doubled to lead off, moving to third on a wild pitch and coming around to score on an infield single from Jacob Boston.

Jonathan Del Rosario made his first appearance of the season to start the eighth and worked two scoreless innings to close the game. Del Rosario struck out five batters in the outing, closing the door for the 10-2 win.

The Rams and Falcons will face off in three more games this weekend, playing a doubleheader that starts at 1 p.m. on Saturday before closing out the series with a game at 2 p.m. Sunday.