SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team will hit the road this weekend for a four-game series against West Texas A&M in Canyon Texas.

The Rams (17-5) are riding a nine-game win streak and have the top pitching staff in the Lone Star Conference with a 2.87 team ERA and an overall opponent's batting average of just .203.

Leading the pitching staff are starters Tyler Lesley, Shane Browning, Trent Baker and Carson Childers.

Lesley leads the LSC in both innings pitched at 40.1 and wins with five this season. The San Antonio native has a team-leading 30 strikeouts and has an ERA of just 1.55 so far this year.

Posting a lower ERA than Lesley, however, is Trent Baker. A true freshman, has won both of his starts this season with a 1.13 earned run average in 16 innings with 25 strikeouts.

Childers and Browning have also made a significant impact on the pitching staff, with Childers striking out 29 batters and posting a 2.57 ERA and Browning pitching 31.2 innings pitched while holding opponents to just a .246 average.

Cole Brandon has also made a pair of starts this season, earning his first win last weekend over UTPB. Pitching as both a starter and reliever, Brandon has posted a 2.08 ERA in 21.1 innings on the mound.

ASU has had a number of other bullpen pitchers throw this season with success. Kellen Rholl currently leads the LSC with five saves and has struck out 21 batters in just 12 innings this year. Logan Voth has made six appearances without allowing a run. Left-hander Shannon Broussard has an ERA of just 4.00 in five appearances, and Jared Velasco and Josh Barnett have also had strong seasons.

Offensively, the Rams have gotten their team batting average up over .300 for the first time all season and are averaging more than seven runs per game.

Five ASU hitters have their own averages up above .300, including Nicholas Novak who is hitting a team-leading .368. The Minnesota native has scored 20 times and driven 19 runs himself.

Second on the team in batting average is Michael Urquidi, but the junior is getting on base exactly half of the times he has come to the plate this year. He also leads the team with 17 stolen bases and has scored a team-leading 25 runs.

The Ram power hitters, Andrew Morales, Jacob Boston and Bradley Mathiowetz, have all also raised their averages over the last two weeks. Morales is third on the team with a .333 batting average, hitting his first home run last weekend. Boston leads the team with three home runs and 26 RBI. Mathiowetz is tied for the team lead with six doubles and drove in three runs over the weekend.

Just below the .300 mark for the season are Jonathan Soberanes and Alex Salcido. Soberanes has gotten on base at a .482 clip so far this season and is second on the team with 13 stolen bases.

Salcido had a strong performance last weekend, as led the Rams with 13 total bases in a four-game sweep of UTPB, batting well over .500 and driving the ball into the gaps with three doubles and a triple. The catcher contributed to 11 runs all by himself on the weekend, driving in seven and scoring four times.

Also contributing to the Ram offense this season has been Mitch Henshaw, who is hitting .245 for the year, and Elias Aguirre, who is second on the team with 17 runs scored.

The Buffs come into the matchup with an almost identical record to the Rams at 16-5, but lost three of their last four games in a series at Texas A&M-Kingnsville. They are hitting .308 as a team with an overall pitching staff ERA of 4.08.