DURANT, Oklahoma – The Angelo State baseball team split its doubleheader (10-1, 4-5) against Southeastern Oklahoma State on Friday afternoon in Durant, OK.
The Rams moved to 4-1 on the season with the split. In the first game of the series ASU's offense produced solid numbers, recording 10 runs off of 12 hits. The team also launched two homers and two doubles. The pitching staff during this game only gave up one hit. Starting pitcher Bryce Zak was awarded his second win of the season and Kellen Rholl his first save of the season. The defense gave up no errors for the fourth consecutive game.
"We did a lot of solid things today," commented head ASU baseball coach Kevin Brooks. "We were fortunate that we were able to make some pitch and get out of trouble when we needed to. We can play much better than that, and we need too. Bryce [Zak] was dominating in the first two innings and kind of tightened up towards the end of the fifth. I was proud of him because he didn't have his best stuff in the last three innings, but he battled through them."
ASU started its scoring early in the game as SOSU pitcher Keyton Jameson tossed a wild pitch with the bases juiced. This allowed all three runners to advance a base and Christian Abilla to cross the plate giving the Rams a 1-0 lead. Jay Gonzales followed immediately with a sacrifice fly to center that would score Sam Kohler and give the team a 2-0 lead.
Then in the top of the third, with Kohler back on base, Paxton DeLaGarza cranked a two run shot to left field that would place the score at 4-0. The Rams were not done yet as a Gonzales double to right center would score Steven Pinales from first, pushing the score to 5-0. Two batters later Omar Martinez poked a single through the left side of the diamond that would bring Gonzales around and give Angelo State a 6-0 lead.
SOSU answered in the bottom of the fifth making the score 6-1 with a sacrifice fly hit to Abilla in center field. Rams catcher Matt Waller wasted no time in striking back at the top of the following inning with a solo shot over the left field fence. With the score 7-1 and Abilla on first, Kohler took a pitch to the opposite field for double that would bring the runner home making it 8-1.
In the top of the ninth Angelo State added two more insurance runs with an Abilla sacrifice fly that scored Michael Urquidi, and Nathan Ruane crossing the plate on a wild pitch. Finally, relief pitcher Kellen Rholl, who entered the game in the 7th, and the Rams defense sent the next three batters back to the dugout on a strikeout, a fly out and a ground out to close the game.
Abilla and Tyler Coolbaugh led the team both recording two hits each, while DeLaGarza and Waller each recorded their first home runs of the season. DeLaGarza and Gonzales each recorded a pair of RBIs for the night. Starting pitcher, Zak, tossed five strong innings only giving up only one earned run and one hit. He struck out 10, walked three and dropped his ERA to 2.45 on the year. Relief pitchers, Jhonatan Del Rosario and Roll, each struck out one.
In the game two of the series Angelo State did not fare as well. The Offense tallied four runs off of nine hits, two of which were doubles. Starting pitcher Matt Shannon dropped to 1-1 on the season despite coming on strong in the last four innings.
"I'm proud of the way we battled towards the end but we fell short on a check swing with the bases loaded to end it," said Brooks. "We got the two runs early and then they got three right back, and that was really the difference of the game."
The Rams once again came out swinging scoring two right out of the gate with a pair of RBI singles form DeLaGarza and Gonzales. Southeastern Oklahoma State answered in the bottom of the inning putting plating three runs that would make the score 3-2 in their favor. Then they would tack on another two runs with an RBI triple in the bottom of the second and a solo home run in the bottom of the third.
With the Savage Storm leading 5-2 and a runner on second with two out in the bottom of the 7th, ASU's DeLaGarza kick started a rally smacking an RBI double to left. Steven Pinales followed with a single to the shortstop and DeLaGarza crossed the plate on a throwing error. The Rams then loaded the based with another single and a walk, however a grounder to the first baseman gave SOSU the final out to seal the 5-4 win.
Gonzales led the team going 3-for-4 at the plate, with DeLaGarza and Abilla both going 2-for-4 for the second game. DeLaGarza also added a team leading three RBI's to his numbers. Despite getting the loss, Shannon pitched the Rams first complete game of the season tossing six innings with allowing four earned runs off of five hits. He struck out nine and increased his ERA to 3.75 for the season.
Angelo State returns to the diamond tomorrow at 12 p.m. for its final game of the series with Joey Wise getting the call to start on the hill. Unfortunately, live stats from SOSU will not be able to be provided. Please stay tuned to @Angelosports on Twitter for the latest score updates on the game.
