SAN ANGELO, Texas – The fifth-ranked Angelo State baseball team will begin the 2022 campaign this weekend as the Rams open Lone Star Conference play with a four-game series against UT Tyler beginning Saturday at Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium.
 
The Rams are coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history, reaching the semifinals of the 2021 Division II College World Series after finishing with a 44-9 overall record. ASU claimed both the LSC Tournament and the South-Central Regional titles while ranking second in the country in team ERA (3.16) and fourth in batting average (.348).
 
#5 ANGELO STATE RAMS (0-0, 0-0 LSC) vs. UT TYLER (0-0, 0-0 LSC)
Game 1: Saturday, Feb. 5, 2 p.m. | Game 2/3: Sunday, Feb. 6, 1 p.m. | Game 4: Monday, Feb. 7, 1 p.m.
San Angelo, Texas – Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium
Live Video: lonestarconferencenetwork.com/asu
Live Stats: angelostats.com
SERIES HISTORY: 
All-Time Series: ASU leads the all-time series, 2-1
Last Meeting: Feb. 7, 2021: ASU, 15-1 – Tyler, Texas
The Rams and Patriots played against each other for the first time last season with ASU taking the three-game series 2-1. The Rams outscored UTT 26-4 in the three games, winning games one and three by nine or more runs.
 
CONFERENCE FAVORITES:
Collecting 27 first-place votes, the Rams earned the top spot in the Lone Star Preseason poll with 452 points. Following them were West Texas A&M (432 pts) and UT Tyler (364 pts). Rounding out the top five is Texas A&M – Kingsville in fourth, and Oklahoma Christian in fifth.
 
PRESEASON ACCOLADES:
The Rams also earned some individual recognition in the preseason voting as Aaron Walters was selected as the Preseason Player of the Year and Carson Childers was named the Preseason Pitcher of the year. Walters finished last season with the second-highest batting average in the conference at .410 while leading with 67 RBIs and tallying the second-most hits with 77. Childers finished with the lowest ERA in the LSC at 2.06 through 56.2 innings while earning a 9-0 record. He gave up only 13 earned runs on the year and held opponents to a batting average of .179.
 
PRESEASON ALL-REGION:
In the NCBWA's Preseason All-Region team for the South-Central, the Rams were represented by three players in Childers, Benjamin Elder, and Jackson Hardy.
 
RANKED IN THE TOP 5:
The Rams have received some early praise in two Top-25 polls as Collegiate Baseball listed the Rams as the fourth-ranked team in the country while the NCBWA ranked the Rams at 5^th in its preseason poll.