GRAND PRAIRIE - The Angelo State baseball team began the 2018 season on the right foot, beating Arkansas Tech 6-2 on Thursday afternoon in Grand Prairie, Texas.
The Rams (1-0) gave up two early runs but then shut out the Wonderboys (0-1) throughout the rest of the game on strong performances from pitchers Shane Browning, Cole Brandon and Kellen Rholl.
"It's always good to get a win, especially on the first day of the season," Angelo State head baseball coach Kevin Brooks said. "I thought Shane battled and then we got big performances from both guys out of the bullpen. Offensively, we got on them early and took advantage of some of their mistakes so that was good to see."
Browning was on the mound to begin the game, but before he even took the field his teammates had given him a lead.
Shortstop Nick Novak opened up the game by taking the second pitch he saw and driving it into right field and advancing to second on an error by the ATU right fielder. ASU got their second batter on as well after Jonathan Soberanes was hit by a pitch and then loaded the bases a batter later when catcher Alex Salcido beat out an infield single.
Third basemen Jacob Boston then helped the Rams break through with a single of his own, scoring Novak and Soberanes and giving the Rams a lead they would not relinquish the whole game.
The Wonderboys got a run back in the bottom half of the first inning with Browning on the mound, but the Lubbock native got a swinging strikeout of the ATU No. 6 hitter to get back in the dugout.
Angelo State loaded the bases again with the first three batters of the second inning, as Brad Mathiowetz was hit by a pitch, Elias Aguirre reached on a fielder's choice and Jared Velasco beat out a bunt for a single.
A walk to Soberanes scored the Rams' third run of the game, and Andrew Morales followed with a walk of his own to score another run. A fifth run was scored with Salcido hit into a fielder's choice to score Velasco.
Arkansas Tech got their second and final run of the game in the bottom half of the third inning as they loaded the bases and scored on a single to left field, but Browning left the bases loaded by inducing a groundout from the next batter.
Browning had a strong first outing against the Wonderboys, giving up just the two runs through five innings while striking out three batters and earning the win.
The ASU hitters got Browning one more run in the top half of the fifth inning as outfielder Michael Urquidi hit a one-out single. He then got himself into scoring position by stealing second and advancing to third on an error. Fellow outfielder Aguirre brought Urquidi home on an infield single later in the inning.
Browning sat the Wonderboys down in order in his fifth and final inning before being relieved by Cole Brandon on the mound. Brandon, a junior college transfer, ended up going three and two thirds innings while giving up just three hits and striking out three batters.
The Rams were unable to scratch across any more runs throughout Brandon's time on the mound, however, as ATU kept ASU off the board for the remainder of the game.
Senior Kellen Rholl closed out the game by getting the final out of the ninth inning, striking out the one batter he faced and stranding a pair of runners on base. The strikeout earned Rholl his first save of the year.
Angelo State has three games left in the Air Hogs D-II Classic this weekend and will take on Southeastern Oklahoma State at 10 a.m. Friday next.
