SAN ANGELO, TX – The Angelo State Rams officially began South Central Regional play on Friday afternoon and ended up eliminating the Lubbock Christian Chaparrals before falling to the Rogers State Hillcats to end the evening. A spectacular performance from sophomore Trent Baker negated the Chaps lethal lineup and led his team to their 6-1 win over the only team who had taken a series win against them. ASU returned to play after an hour gap following the first team, this time taking the field against the Hill cats who had handed Lubbock Christian their first loss of the tournament.
Game 1
It was a quiet start for both teams as neither team plated a run until the third inning of the game. Josh Elvir started things off with a triple that was scorched off of the right centerfield fence, scoring Nicholas Novak. Elvir now is tied for the most triples in a season with Lee Neumann at nine. Lachlan Mayo then put a groundball into play that gave Elvir enough time to score from third and the Rams led 2-0. After two more innings of spotless pitching from Baker, the Rams extended their lead in the fifth inning with three more runs. Mayo collected his second and third RBI of the game with a triple down the right field line which once again scored Novak and Elvir, and then Nic Seginowich hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that brought in Mayo. Jordan Williams drove in the final run for the Rams in the game with a double to right field.
Trent Baker (10-1) threw his fourth complete game of the season with his nine inning one run outing. The Georgetown hurler gave up nine hits and struck out five in the process of earning his 10th win of the season. Baker did not walk a single hitter out of the 37 that stepped in the box to face him.
Game 2
The Rams fell to the Hillcats in a hard fought 8-9 battle to end the night. Rogers State came out roaring early, scoring two runs in both the second and third innings to take an early 4-0 lead. After ASU retaliated with two of their own in the third innings, the Hillcats once again plated a pair in the fifth. The Rams would not wake up their bats until the seventh and eighth innings, scoring six runs in the two-inning frame.
Riley Peterson gave the Rams their first sign of hope in the fourth inning with a hard hit double to the left centerfield gap that drove in Seginowich and Mayo. Elvir tacked another on with a sacrifice fly in the seventh before Lachlan Mayo showed off his light tower power with a two run bomb high over the left field fence. Jackson Hardy would then bring the crowd to an uproar with a three run homer of his own in the top of the eighth inning, which tied the game up at 8-8. Rogers State plated their go ahead run in the bottom of the inning to eventually take the 9-8 victory.
Angelo State struggled to find relief on the mound after Baker's nine inning performance earlier in the day. Josh Barnett was called to start, but the Hillcats came out hot and scored six runs on seven hits during the San Angelo native's 4.2 inning appearance. Andrew Croucher, Shannon Broussard, Klay Houston, and Nick Coffman all saw time on the mound as well.
The teams return to face each other again with Angelo State's season on the line Saturday at 3:30 p.m. If the Rams win, they will play again at 7 p.m.
