ODESSA - The Angelo State baseball team clinched at least a spilt with UTPB, winning 11-6 in game one of Saturday's doubleheader and had a lead in game two before facing a lightening delay and postponing the finish until Sunday.
ASU was up 2-1 in the top of the sixth inning of game two with a runner on third and two outs when lightening in the area forced a delay. The game was eventually postponed until Sunday at 2 p.m., when the Rams will finish the final two innings of the third game before playing the series finale.
The Rams (14-2) did take the first game of the doubleheader, pounding out
Jonathan Soberanes got ASU started early for the Rams. The junior second basemen led off the game with a base hit to right field, and then was sacrificed over to second by Elias Aguirre. The next two batters, Steven Pinales and Jay Gonzales, both walked to load the bases for catcher Matt Waller.
Waller delivered with a one-out single to bring home Soberanes and Pinales, and Jacob Boston followed with another walk to reload the bases. Mitch Henshaw then came through with a two-out double to clear the bases that gave the Rams a 5-0 lead before UTPB ever came to bat.
The Falcons did score the next runs in the game, plating three in the bottom of the fourth to cut their deficit to just two. ASU responded, however, with three runs of their own in the top half of the fifth to push the lead back to five. Pinales doubled to lead off the inning, followed by a walk from Gonzales. Both scored when the next batter, Waller, tripled off the base of the wall for his third and fourth RBI of the game.
UTPB got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but the Rams put up another crooked number in the sixth. Aguirre reached on an error with one out in the inning and advanced to third on a single from Pinales. Waller then came through again by clearing the bases with a three-run home run, his second of the season. The senior captain finished just a double shy of the cycle in the first game and had six RBI overall.
ASU pitcher Dustin Angiel kept UTPB off the board in the bottom half of the sixth and the Rams went down in order in the seventh, bringing the Falcons to their last three outs. Reliever Kellen Rholl got two outs before allowing a baserunner, but then gave up a pair of runs before shutting the door for the 11-6 win.
The second game was a much lower-scoring affair through the 5.2 innings the teams played. Shane Browning started the game for ASU and mowed down the first nine batters he saw before giving up a hit in the fourth, and even then he did not give up a run.
The Rams broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fifth when Mitch Henshaw hit a one-out single into left field. Henshaw advanced to second on a pitch in the dirt, and then came around to score when center fielder Michael Urquidi doubled off the right field wall.
UTPB got the run back in the bottom of the inning with a solo home run to center field, but ASU once again responded in the top of the sixth. Soberanes led off the inning with a double and one batter later Pinales also doubled to bring him home and give ASU a 2-1 lead. Pinales advanced to third on a groundout from Waller, before Jacob Boston walked, but the day would end there.
Lightening in the area forced a delay and eventually a postponement. ASU will resume the top of the sixth inning at 2 p.m. Sunday and finish the game before playing game four to complete the series.
