SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team will play its final road series of the 2018 season this weekend, traveling to Odessa to take on UT Permian Basin in a four-game series Friday through Sunday.
The Rams (28-14, 9-7 LSC) will open the series against the Falcons (7-34, 3-13 LSC) at 2 p.m. Friday followed by a doubleheader at 1 p.m. Saturday and the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
ASU ranks in the top 10 nationally in both stolen bases (No. 3) and on-base percentage (No. 9) while also ranking in the top 25 in shutouts (No. 14), hits allowed per nine innings (No. 16) and hit-by-pitches (No. 19).
The Ram offense currently boasts seven starters with averages over the .300 mark. Of those players, third basemen Jacob Boston had the best weekend at the plate last week, earning Lone Star Conference Hitter of the Week for his performance against Eastern New Mexico. On the season Boston is hitting .336 as a starter in all 42 games. He leads the team in RBI with 40 and is also tied for the team lead in doubles (11) and home runs (4). He has reached base at a .436 clip and his .518 slugging percentage is second on the team.
Leading the team in batting average is infielder Parker Bramlett with a .386 average. Bramlett also leads the team in on-base percentage at .511 while driving in 12 runs and scoring 21 times.
Second on the team but almost 30 points behind Bramlett is Bradley Mathiowetz with a .359 average. The Minnesota native is tied for the team lead in both home runs (4) and doubles (11)Â for a slugging percentage of .550 that leads the team.
Close behind Mathiowetz is Ram leadoff hitter Michael Urquidi, with a .353 average and an on-base percentage of .503. Urquidi has also reached the double-digit mark with 10 doubles and leads the team with 27 stolen bases.
Nicholas Novak has also been a terror on the base paths this year, stealing a team-second 19 bags. He has an average of .348 and is one of the four players tied for the team lead with four home runs. He has also scored a team-second
Andrew Morales is hitting .315 on the season with the third most RBI on the team at 32. Morales has six doubles on the season and has smacked a pair of home runs.
Outfielder Mitch Henshaw just recently pushed his average over the .300 mark after a slow start to the season and is now batting .302. Henshaw also has six doubles and two home runs on the season with an on-base percentage of .436.
Starters sitting below the .300 mark include catcher Alex Salcido and center fielder Elias Aguirre. Salcido is batting .252 for the year with five doubles and three home runs, including a grand slam last weekend against ENMU. Aguirre saw his average rise 20 points against the Greyhounds to .219 while also hitting his first home run for the Rams in his four years on the team.
ASU has also received offensive contributions from Trevor Moses, who is hitting .324 with four home runs as a part-time starter, and Jos Scott Pace, who has a .269 average at catcher and started all four games against Easter New Mexico.
On the mound, Angelo State is led by starters Tyler Lesley, Trent Baker and Shane Browning as well as relievers Kellen Rholl and Shannon Broussard.
Lesley leads the team in innings pitched (68.1), strikeouts (58) and wins (9) in 11 starts this season. His 2.90 ERA also leads the starters for the Rams.
Baker and Browning have also both been used consistently in the starting role. Baker has an ERA of 3.07 while striking out 53 batters in only 44.0 innings. Browning has the highest ERA of the starters at 4.55, but has also struck out 53 batters in his 55.1 innings on the mound.
Kellen Rholl has been the most frequently used pitcher on the ASU staff, making 20 appearances out of the bullpen. Rholl has struck out 36 batters in that time and is No. 17 in the country with 7 seven saves on the year.
Broussard has been used mainly out of the bullpen this season but made his first start of the year against ENMU and pitched a season high 6.0 innings to get his second win of the year. He has an ERA of 3.86 in 11 appearances and has struck out 16 batters.
Other pitchers of note for ASU include Cole Brandon, Logan Voth, Andrew Croucher and Austin Thomason. Brandon has the second lowest ERA out of the bullpen at 3.69, while Voth has at 4.91 ERA in 13 appearances.
Croucher and Thomas both had impressive outings against ENMU, as Croucher pitched two scoreless innings in Sunday's win. Thomason made his first appearance ever as a Ram in last Friday's win against the Greyhounds pitching 1.2 innings and striking out five batters.
UT Permian Basin comes into the matchup in last place in the LSC, but did earn a road win in one game against Texas A&M-Kingsville last weekend. Earlier this season when the Rams faced the Falcons at Foster Field, ASU took all four games while averaging more than 10 runs per game.
