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SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Angelo State baseball team and Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm renew their yearly series that dates back to the Rams' inaugural year this weekend despite not being conference foes for the first time.
SEO, which won the Lone Star Conference tournament last season, has departed to the Great American Conference setting up this weekend's three-game series at The Ballpark in Durant as a non-conference showdown. ASU enters with a 6-2 record, while the Savage Storm are 4-0 after taking a mid-week win over the University of Central Oklahoma.
“They are always a very good team and have a lot of good players back,” ASU head coach
Kevin Brooks said. “They can always hit and pitch real well, and it's definitely going to be a good test for us.”
A Friday doubleheader starting at noon starts the action, with the conclusion coming with a single game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
Team Breakdowns
Angelo State Rams (6-2, 0-0 LSC)
ASU is ranked No. 8 in the South Central Regional poll by the Collegiate Baseball Writers Association after beginning the season with a program's best 6-2 record. The Rams are leading the LSC with a .341 team batting average and have a 2.91 earned run average from their pitching staff. ASU is currently on a two-game losing streak after dropping a 7-0 decision to No. 20 Southern Arkansas and falling to Lindenwood last Saturday in Magnolia, Ark.
Angelo State is expecting the return of shortstop
Zach Cohen in the series. The senior from Houston has missed the first eight games of the season with an ankle injury he suffered the first week of practice in January. Cohen, who is a team captain, had 60 hits and a .382 batting average for the Rams last season after transferring in from Temple College. He set a school record with a .529 on base percentage, scored 48 runs and reached base 25 times by getting hit by a pitch and 25 more by drawing a walk.
“I'm proud of the way we played without arguably one of our best players and the leadership he brings us,” Brooks said. “Putting him back in the middle of the order really solidifies us in a lot of places and makes us a much better team.”
Quaid McKinnon leads Ram hitters with over 20 at-bats with a .500 batting average and 10 RBI, while
Toby Semler is hitting .406 through his first 32 at-bats.
Brett Parsons, who missed the Lindenwood game due to a hamstring injury, is expected back and is hitting .391 with a nine RBI.
Andrew LaCombe and
Ryan Greer are both hitting over .300, while freshman
Brett David is hitting .556 through his first nine at-bats in his ASU career.
The Rams will start
Jake Feckley (0-0) in the series' first game,
Rick Reyna (1-1) in Game 2 and
James Conlee (1-0) in the series finale. Feckley will be making his second start of the season after going 5.2 innings at No. 4 St. Mary's. The sophomore from Wylie struck out five and scattered six hits in the no-decision. Reyna, who was last week's LSC Pitcher of the Week, is 1-1 after taking the loss against Lindenwood. Reyna went six innings, striking out three but allowing five runs on six hits. Conlee will make his fourth appearance, but first start of the season and second of his career. The Georgetown native who transferred from the University of Houston, has a 2.57 ERA through seven innings of work this year. He has struck out four and allowed only five hits.
Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm (4-0, 0-0 GAC)
SEO is ranked No. 7 in the South Central Regional poll by the CBWA after beginning the season with a 4-0 record. The Savage storm began the season with three wins over Lincoln University and a 7-3 win over Central Oklahoma on Tuesday.
Peter Bako leads SEO with a .467 average and Blake Gentry is hitting .417 with Riley Keith at .400 with a team-leading two home runs. Keith also leads the team with two doubles and six RBI. Brandon Marris leads the pitching staff with two wins and 15 strikeouts. The right-handed pitcher from The Colony is holding opponents to a .195 batting average, while Cameron Mann and Brice Williams have 0.00 ERAs and one win each.
The Savage Storm have not released their probable starting pitchers to ASU at the time of publication.
Historical Perspective
After this weekend, the Angelo State baseball team will have played the Southeastern Oklahoma State Savage Storm more times than any other team besides Abilene Christian in program history (30). That mark will be broken later this season, but let's enjoy it for the moment.
Angelo State holds a 17-10 all-time record against the Savage Storm, including sweeping them in a three-game series last year at Foster Field. The series is tied 7-7 in games played at The Ballpardk in Durant.
Matt Rechkemmer and Reyna each earned wins for the Rams, along with
Bryant Rutledge who is out this season after having Tommy John surgery during the summer. ASU beat SEO 6-5, 2-1, 9-2 in the three games in 2011.
Stat Geek Central
The two teams have 11 players hitting over .300 on the season coming into the weekend. ASU has six of those players, including three players hitting over .400. Angelo State has a team slugging percentage of .451, while Southeastern has a .519 percentage. SEO leads 22-21 in walks this season, while ASU has been hit 18 times opposed to the Savage Storm seven times in half the amount of games played.
The Rams are scoring 7.25 runs per game, with SEO scoring 7.5. ASU has outscored its opponents 58-33. SEO is winning that battle at 30-8 through its first four games. The Savage Storm have a .974 fielding percentage. ASU has left 58 on base through eight games, SEO 36 through four. ASU and SEO have both turned four double plays with ASU pitcher picking off three runners and SEO only one.
ASU is 2-1 in games on Fridays and 2-1 on Saturdays this season, while SEO will be playing its first game on a Friday and are 2-0 on Saturdays. The Rams are 1-1 at away games and SEO is without a game away from its home ballpark.
The Rams are 5-1 this season against GAC opponents with four wins over Ouachita Baptist and one over Arkansas-Monticello. SEO has not faced another LSC team this season, but will play Eastern New Mexico next weekend.
ASU-SEO Updates
Updates from the three games will be provided at www.twitter.com/AngeloSports with game reports to follow at AngeloSports.com and www.facebook.com/AngeloStateSports.
