SAN ANGELO - The Angelo State baseball team faces a quick turnaround as it takes on St. Mary's in the only home midweek game of the season at 6 p.m. at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
The Rams (29-8, 8-3 LSC) played their only other midweek game this season at St. Mary's earlier this season, defeating the Rattlers (17-19, 10-5 Heartland) 18-6 in San Antonio.
ASU is coming off a weekend sweep of Texas A&M International in a series that saw the Rams average seven runs game.
Steven Pinales hit the ball all over the yard during the Rams' three-game sweep of Dustdevils, going 4-for-10 with a pair of walks. Three of the senior's hits went for extra bases as he doubled, tripled and homered. The triple pushed his season total to six, which leads the Lone Star Conference. For the season, Pinales is hitting .328 with eight doubles and four home runs.
Pinales is not the only Ram to put up a strong performance at the plate this season, however, as ASU ranks No. 2 nationally in on-base percentage as well as No. 7 in batting average. The Ram offense also ranks in the top 25 in walks, slugging percentage and triples while the pitching staff is 19th overall in strikeout to walk ratio.
Junior Jacob Boston leads the team with a batting average just under the .400 mark. The Arizona native has collected 14 extra base hits on the year including a team-leading seven home runs and has also walked 22 times for an on-base percentage of .496.
Elias Aguirre and Matt Waller have followed right behind Boston with batting averages of .389 and .384, respectively. Aguirre leads the team in hits with 49 while Waller is the team's RBI leader with 37 on the season. Both haave done well running the bases for ASU with Aguirre swiping a team-most 12 bags and Waller taking nine.
Four other Rams have batting averages over .300 on the year, including Nick Novak, Jonathan Soberanes, Mitch Henshaw and Tyler Coolbaugh.
Novak is hitting .372 on the season in 26 games played with four doubles and a triple. He has also walked 11 times and swiped eight bags.
Jonathan Soberanes is the team-leader in walks, taking 26 free passes so far this season. The Dallas native is hitting .347 overall with eight doubles and a triple and is tied for third on the team with Aguirre with 30 runs scored.
Mitch Henshaw has provided some power for the Rams mainly out of the designated hitter spot for the Rams, racking up a team-second five home runs. The Conroe native also has eight doubles and a triple this year, with an overall batting average of .342.
Tyler Coolbaugh has one more double than Henshaw with nine, which ranks him second on the team, and the senior is hitting .337 overall. Coolbaugh also has a pair of triples and three home runs, collecting 56 total bases on the year.
Michael Urquidid, Jay Gonzales and Zach Fleet have all also made contributions at the plate this season for ASU.
On the mound, Angelo State is led by Matt Shannon, Ryan Smith and Joe Hauser.
Shannon was his usual dominant self in ASU's game one 6-0 win against Texas A&M International, pitching a complete game shutout to start Friday's doubleheader. Shannon went the full seven innings, marking his fifth straight start of seven or more innings, and scattered just three hits in that time. His ERA for the season is 2.80 and he leads the team in strikeouts with 60.
Smith is the winningest pitcher on the ASU squad so far this year with a 8-0 record. The Waco native has an ERA of 3.72 on the year and has struck out 26 batters in 46 innings pitched this year.
Hauser has been the Ram closer this season, making a team-most 18 appearances on the year. Hauser has a 1.93 ERA in that time with 10 saves, which ranks in the top five nationally.
Blake Barr has the lowest ERA of any Ram who has made a start this season at 2.03, and Shane Browning has had back-to-back outings of more than five innings to help bolster the ASU staff as well. Other contributing pitchers include Dustin Angiel, who has made 15 appearances out of the bullpen, and Jake Mathys who has a 5-2 record as a reliever this year.
The Rattlers come into the midweek matchup after a series sweep of St. Edward's on the road. St. Mary's is in third place in the Heartland Conference for the season, behind Lubbock Christian and Arkansas-Fort Smith.
Ram fans can watch the game live with RamTV on Suddenlink channel 6/106HD as well as listen on 1260 KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.
