SAN ANGELO – Bryce Zak established a career-high with 11 strikeouts and Brett David drove in three runs to help lead No. 17-ranked Angelo State to a 12-2 non-conference win over Regis University in the series finale on Sunday and to a three-game sweep of the Rangers at Foster Field.

The Rams (10-1) have now won nine straight games after their pitching staff combined to strike out 42 batters and the team had a 19-4 scoring advantage during the three-game series against Regis (4-4). ASU's pitchers struck out 16 Rangers on Sunday with Zak having his 11 and relievers Graylon Brown (1), Joe Hauser (1), Kellen Rholl (1) and Dillon Becker (2) adding to the total.

Zak (3-1) allowed only one run and worked around five walks with his 11 strikeouts to earn his third win of the season after throwing five innings. Through four appearances this season, he has a 1.26 ERA in 14 1/3 innings of work, including stranding two Rangers on base in the first inning with a strikeout to end the frame. He would exit after the fifth inning with 6-0 lead, having stranded five runners on base and with the 11 strikeouts.

"I had a little rough start with my off-speed early, but was able to find it in the middle innings to put together a pretty good day," Zak said. "I was able to get through some tough situations in the early innings that helped me build on my confidence. I felt good out there and in command of my pitches throughout the day. This was a big series for us and we needed to close out the series today."

The Rams jumped out to a 4-0 lead with four hits and were up 6-0 after three frames. ASU, which had 14 hits in the game, had first-inning doubles from Cameron Massengill, J.C. Snyder and Brett David and would get a second inning double from Nehwon Norkeh. ASU scored its first run of the game with a Derek Tyner RBI single to center field and then again with Snyder driving in Massengill with a double to left field. Two more runs came in on a David double down the right-field line in the first inning and Norkeh scored the fifth run of the game on a wild pitch in the second inning. The Rams would tack on two runs during the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, finished the series hitting .284 as a team with eight doubles.

"We just came out ready to hit right away," David said. "That was one of our best starts to a game this season and we kept tacking on more runs. Our pitchers are taking a lot of pressure off of us right now by going out and shutting the other team down."

Sam Kohler led the Rams by going 3-for-5 at the plate for his first multi-hit game at ASU, while David went 2-for-5 and led the team with three RBI. Norkeh, Massengill, Tyner and Snyder also had two-hit games for the Rams who scored in double digits for the fourth time this season. David recorded his team-leading fourth multi-RBI game and now has 14 RBI through the first 11 games of his senior season. 

Zak, who had six strikeouts in each of his previous two outings, moved his career record to 8-2 with the win and now has 62 career strikeouts in 60.0 innings of work. He missed last season with an injury after going 5-1 as a sophomore and has made two starts and two relief appearances this season.

"Bryce has really matured as a pitcher and is showing great composure right now," Brooks said. "Sitting out last year and watching from the stands has really helped him. I think he got an opportunity to learn more about the game and figure out how he can be successful as a pitcher. He got in some situations today, but he did not panic because he knows that he has the stuff to get out of it."
 
SERIES/SEASON NOTES: Snyder continued his strong start to his career at ASU by going 4-for-9 (.444) with three doubles, a home run, three walks and two RBI against Regis… Snyder, who is a senior transfer from BYU, leads the Rams with a .474 batting average this season (18-for-38) and has 10 RBI and has reached base in nine straight games… Paxton DeLaGarza had three hits this weekend and now has a .419 season average (.419) and has started all 11 games at shortstop… Kohler started each of the three games this weekend at second base and finished the series with a .364 average (4-for-11) with a double and two RBI… David and Norkeh have each reached base in all 11 games this season with David going 4-for-11 this weekend and Norkeh going 3-for-11 with one double… David had one double and three RBI on Sunday and now has a team-leading 14 RBI this season and two doubles… Norkeh is hitting .364 (16-for-44) with six doubles, three home runs and six RBI… Steve Naemark established a new Angelo State program record with 15 strikeouts in a win… Naemark (2-0) now has 38 strikeouts and a 1.12 ERA through 24 innings this season… Blake Bass (3-0) had seven strikeouts against the Rangers in the second game on Saturday and now has 21 strikeouts and a 1.57 ERA through 23 innings… The Rams are 4-0 in games started by Bass… A senior right-hander, Bass is now 7-4 with 60 strikeouts in 16 starts and 17 appearances at ASU…. Trae Davis made one relief appearance this weekend, striking out three and Dillon Becker had two strikeouts from the bullpen… Davis has a 0.00 ERA with eight strikeouts through 6.0 innings this season and Becker has a 0.00 ERA with eight strikeouts through 4 1/3 innings… Davis recorded his first save of his career in the first game on Saturday… Graylon Brown (1-0) made his team-leading sixth appearance this weekend and now has a 1.08 ERA with five strikeouts through 8 1/3 innings. ASU's pitching staff had a 1.00 ERA in the three-game set against Regis and now has a 2.77 pitching staff ERA with 113 strikeouts through 91 innings this season.

"Our pitchers all had great weekends and continued putting our team in a position to win," Brooks said. "Those three guys can throw hard and have really good breaking balls that were working for them this weekend. They have the ability to throw the pitch they want, regardless of the count because they are throwing with confidence of each of their pitches. We watched them throughout the fall go against our hitters, so it's good to see them bring it over into the season. They can be a special group if they keep it going."

UP NEXT: The Rams will begin Lone Star Conference play next weekend with a four-game series against Cameron at Foster Field. ASU and CU will begin the series at 3 p.m. on Friday before a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday and the series final at 1 p.m. on Sunday. The Aggies (6-5) will play McMurry on Tuesday in Abilene before the series.

"I think we're at a pretty good spot, but I'd still like to be healthier going into conference play," Brooks said. "We still have players who we believe will be big-time contributors for us that are injured, but the guys who are getting opportunities are taking advantage of them and doing a really good job for us. We haven't played a four-game series, so we still need to find our fourth-game starter. I feel good about our team right now though and think we still have a lot of room to improve."