CANYON - The Angelo State baseball team used a ninth-inning comeback to defeat West Texas A&M 9-7 on Sunday at Wilder Field, earning the Lone Star Conference regular season title in the process.
The Rams (39-11, 17-6 LSC) finished atop the conference standings for the second straight year and will host the LSC postseason tournament at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium May 11-13. ASU will take on the No. 4 seed Cameron in the first round of the tournament on the 11th, but times for the tournament have not been set yet. Fans will be able to find times on AngeloSports.com as soon as they are set.
Angelo State and West Texas A&M both struggled offensively to start the game on Sunday, as both teams went scoreless through the first four innings and ASU went without a hit. Outfielder Michael Urquidi ended that stalemate with two outs in the top of the fifth, sending a solo blast over the left field wall.
WT jumped out in front in the bottom half of the inning with three runs of their own, but ASU responded with another run in the sixth to bring the score to 3-2.
The Buffs scored again on a solo home run of their own in the sixth to go up 4-2, but the Rams fought right back with a run in the seventh and in the eighth. Urquidi was a part of run-scoring again in the seventh, doubling to score Steven Pinales. In the eighth, Mitch Henshaw got on base again with a double through the right side. Henshaw then came around to score on a single from Jacob Boston.
Again in the bottom of the inning, WTAMU see-sawed back in front, on another home run from the No. 4 hitter Luis Amaro. Amaro's three-run bomb put the Buffs back in front giving the Rams just three outs left in the regular season.
The Rams, however, responded again with Michael Urquidi leading off the run-scoring effort. Urquidi drew a five-pitch walk to bring up pinch hitter Jay Gonzales, who deposited the very first pitch he saw over the left field fence. It was his second home run of the season.
Freshman Nick Novak came up next and doubled to left field, putting himself in scoring position. He then scored on another double one batter later from Elias Aguirre, tying the game at seven-all.
Aguirre advanced to third on a ground ball, but it did not matter as Henshaw came up with two outs and smashed a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence putting the Rams up 9-7.
Pitcher Matt Shannon came in to pitch the ninth, earning his first save of the season.
The series win was the first for ASU over WT in Canyon since 2010.
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