SAN ANGELO - The No. 23 Angelo State baseball team will host Colorado State-Pueblo in a four-game series Friday through Sunday at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
The Rams (7-3) will take on the ThunderWolves (6-3) starting at 4 p.m. on Friday followed by a doubleheader at 2 p.m. on Saturday and the series finale at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
ASU is coming off a weekend that saw them take one game on the road from Lubbock Christian. The win went to starting pitcher Tyler Lesley, who earned the Lone Star Conference Pitcher of the Week for his performance against the Chaps.
Lesley pitched a gem in the series opener against Lubbock Christian, going eight strong innings while allowing just six baserunners and no earned runs in the Rams victory. At one point he retired 10 straight batters, and the San Antonio native helped himself out of the rare jam by striking out four batters and picking off his second baserunner of the season. On the season, Lesley is 2-1 with a 2.61 ERA in just over 20 innings pitched. He has a team-leading 15 strikeouts and has limited opponents to a .189 average on the year.
The other three pitchers used in the starting role for ASU are Carson Childers, Shane Browning and Jordan Wekewa.
Childers has made three starts this season with one win and a 3.94 ERA. Overall, he has pitched 16 total innings while giving up just eight hits and striking out 13 batters.
Browning suffered his first loss of the season against Lubbock Christina, but earned wins in each of his first two starts. The Lubbock native has pitched 18.0 innings with a 2.50 ERA while striking out 11 batter.
Wekewa has only made one start so far this year, as the Rams have only played four games in a weekend once and struggled, pitching just over an inning and giving up two runs.
Out of the bullpen, ASU used a number of effective arms including Kellen Rholl, Josh Barnett, Cole Brandon, Shannon Broussard and Trent Baker.
Rholl is the Angelo State leader in appearances this year, pitching in seven different games overall. He has struck out a team-second 12 batters and given up just one earned run this year. Barnett is second in appearances with six and Brandon has given up just one run in nine innings on the mound this year.
Offensively, the Rams currently rank No. 3 in the LSC in runs scored with 67, which averages to more than six per game.
Third basemen Jacob Boston leads the team with his .385 batting average and 20 total bases. Boston is also the team-leader in RBI with 10 and has an on-base percentage of .455.
First on the team in getting on base, however, is second baseman Jonathan Soberanes who has reached at a .524 clip this year. Soberanes is third in the Lone Star Conference with nine walks and second with eight stolen bases while hitting .333.
One other Ram starter is hitting above .300 in shortstop Nicholas Novak. The Minnesota native has a .310 average for the year with one home run and a team-leading 12 runs scored.
Andrew Morales, Michael Urquidi and Bradley Mathiowetz have also made an impact at the plate. Morales is second on the team in RBI with eight, while Urquidi has scored nine runs for second on the team. Mathiowetz has collected 13 total bases as well and hit one home run.
Other contributors for the Rams include Mitch Henshaw, Alex Salcido and Elias Aguirre. Henshaw has four RBI through his first six games and Salcido blasted his first home run of the year against Lubbock Christian last weekend.
The ThunderWolves are coming off a four-game sweep of Northwest Nazarene last weekend and also played two opening weekend games against LSC member West Texas A&M, losing one and winning one. CSU-Pueblo hits .319 as a team and is led by RMAC Hitter of the Week Chris Devery who has 12 RBI and a .333 average.
