SAN ANGELO – Four hundred quickly turned into 401, but more importantly, the Lone Star Conference race just took a dramatic turn.
The Angelo State baseball team swept a three-game series over conference-leading Texas A&M-Kingsville after taking a 4-1 win behind a complete-game gem from
Blake Bass and then hit three home runs and took a 9-8 decision in the finale on Saturday at Foster Field. ASU and head coach
Kevin Brooks reached the 400-win milestone with the first win but quickly turned their attention to 401 and moving one game back in the standings. The Rams (32-14, 19-13 LSC) won the season-series 4-3 over the Javelinas who are now one game ahead of ASU in the standings with one weekend remaining in the regular season.
"I thought we really competed well and our offense remained consistent throughout the series," ASU head coach
Kevin Brooks said. "I'm proud of the mental toughness that our team showed. It's tough to overcome things and sweep. I really think it speaks to the character of this team and what they're capable of when we put it all together."
ASU pitching remained dominant with Bass (8-2) earning the complete-game win by striking out six and scattering seven hits in a seven-inning win. Bass, who is now tied with teammate
Steve Naemark for the most wins in the conference, also has 79 strikeouts this season which currently ranks sixth all-time in program history.
Bryce Zak struck out nine in a no-decision on Saturday after the leaving with a 4-3 lead and now has 74 strikeouts this season.
The Rams and Javelinas started the day with four scoreless innings before TAMUK struck first with one run in the fifth inning of the doubleheader's opener before ASU erupted for three runs in the bottom of the inning.
Cameron Massengill started the inning with an infield single and scored on a
Sam Kohler single to right field.
Paxton DeLaGarza added the second run with an RBI single to right field and Kohler would score on an error. ASU tacked on its sixth run in support of Bass I the sixth with Kohler taking a bases-loaded walk to score
David Goggin who had taken a two-out walk that was followed by an
Elias Aguirre single and
Chandler Patterson walk.
Bass closed the door on the Javelinas with a groundout, lineout and strikeout to secure the 400th win in program history.
With history in the books, the Rams set out to complete a sweep and did so behind a strong start from Zak and home runs from Goggin,
Nehwon Norkeh and
Derek Tyner in the series finale.
Graylon Brown (3-2) would earn the win for the Rams after striking out three in 1 2/3 innings of relief, while
Kellen Rholl recorded the first save of his career after finishing off the final 1 2/3 innings which included a 1-2-3 ninth inning which started with a groundout and then finished with two strikeouts.
ASU started scoring with two runs in the bottom of the third with Norkeh getting things started with a run-scoring double that he laced to center field and then a DeLaGarza double to center field that made the score 2-0 through three innings. ASU tacked on two more runs in the fifth with Norkeh hitting a two-run home run to dead-center field and then two more in the sixth with Goggin drilling a home run to right field. Norkeh led off the seventh with a double and scored on a Kohler sacrifice fly to make it 7-6. Tyner then stepped up and blasted his fifth home run of the season with a shot to left-center field to cap a three-run seventh inning and give the Rams the insurance they would need after TAMUK would go on to score two runs in the top of the eighth which eventually led to the 9-8 final score.
The Rams will return to action next weekend with a three-game LSC series against Eastern New Mexico in the final regular-season weekend of the season. The series will start at 6:30 p.m. on Friday before a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday at Foster Field. ASU will enter the series with a 22-4 record at home and with an opportunity to win the regular-season conference championship.
