STEPHENVILLE - The Angelo State baseball team opened up its first Lone Star Conference road series with a pair of wins on Friday, 4-2 and 5-2 against Tarleton State.
The Rams (24-4, 6-0 LSC) got solid pitching performances on the day from Matt Shannon in game one and Ryan Smith in game two to shut down the Texans (16-14, 0-6 LSC) in the two wins.
Shannon was the starter in game one and continued his string of strong outings. The junior pitched the complete seven inning game while allowing just two runs on four hits and striking out eight.
Tarleton State got on the board with a run on Shannon in the first to go up 1-0 early. The Rams stayed down through the first three innings, but got the run back in the top of the fourth. Outfielder Jacob Boston walked with one out to give the Rams a baserunner and Jay Gonzales followed with a double to left center that scored Boston from first.
ASU scored again to jump out in front in the fifth after catcher Matt Waller doubled with one out. One batter later, Boston walked again and Gonzales followed with a single to score Waller and give the Rams the lead. Tyler Coolbaugh followed with another walk before Nick Novak singled to score another pair of runs that proved to be the difference.
The Texans got one more run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and threatened with runners on second and third, but Shannon closed the door to finish out his fifth win of the season, 4-2.
Smith got the start in the second game and worked an easy five-pitch first inning as both teams went scoreless in the opening frame. Boston game Smith an early lead to work with, however, in the top of the second when he homered to left center. The home run was his sixth of the season, which leads the Rams.
The Rams got an insurance run in the fourth when Boston and Steven Pinales walked to start the inning and Boston eventually came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Nick Novak.
Not to be outdone by Boston, Matt Waller led off the top of the fifth with a home run to left field. The Rams got two more runs in the inning when Gonzales walked and Boston singled to follow Waller. Both came around to score in the inning.
The only two runs the Texans got in game two came in the sixth off of Smith, before Joe Hauser came in to finish the inning.
Hauser then pitched a scoreless seventh frame to close out the game 5-2 for his ninth save of the year.
The Rams and Texans will face off in game three of the series at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Stephenville.
