SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The No. 15 Angelo State baseball team opened the series with a doubleheader sweep against St. Mary's on Friday evening in San Antonio.
With the wins, the Rams improve to 19-8 (18-8 LSC) while the Rattlers fall to 9-15 (7-15 LSC).
GAME ONE: ASU 10, StMU 2
The Rattlers struck first as they pieced together a couple of base hits and a sacrifice fly to plate two runs.
The Rams tied the game in the third inning as back-to-back base hits followed by a walk loaded the bases before
Tripp Clark was hit by a pitch to bring in the first run and a balk in the following at-bat scored the second.
ASU added a run in the fourth inning as
Justin Harris flew out to center field to score
Hunter Holt on the sac-fly.
Alezeah Gutierrez started on the mound for the Rams, throwing five innings of work where he allowed two runs off three hits and four walks while striking out five on the way to earning his fifth win of the season.
The sixth inning proved to be the turning point of the contest as the Rams batted around the lineup and scored seven runs which were highlighted by
Weston Valasek scoring from second base on a wild pitch and a bases-clearing, RBI double from Clark.
GAME TWO: ASU 14, StMU 7
The Rams picked up where they left off from game one and scored four runs to open the ballgame highlighted by an RBI triple to left-center field off the bat of
Jaxon Weatherly.
The Rattlers responded with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two on a single up the middle, before
Dax Dathe collected a strikeout to end the threat.
Dathe pitched 4.2 innings where he allowed five earned runs off six hits and three walks while striking out eight batters as he improved to a 5-0 record.
Following a one-out triple from
Justin Harris in the top of the second,
Jacob Guerrero launched a two-run home run over the left-field wall to reclaim the lead. After back-to-back base hits and a stolen base,
Weston Valasek grounded out, scoring Clark to add a third run to the Rattlers' deficit.
Guerrero led off the fourth inning by launching his second home run of the game. After drawing a two-out walk, Valasek stole second base before, a throwing error allowed him to score.
The fifth inning saw St. Mary's cut into ASU's lead as the Rattlers hit a three-run home run to make it a two-run contest.
The Rams immediately responded with a run in the following inning as they took advantage of two errors committed by the Rattlers. Following a couple of strikeouts and with two runners aboard,
Ryder McDaniel tripled down the right-field line to clear the bases and extend the lead back to five runs.
Caleb Heuertz tossed two innings in relief without a hit while collecting two strikeouts to close out the game
The Rams will continue the series against the Rattlers on Saturday, Mar. 16 with game three scheduled for 2 p.m.
