SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team suffered its first loss of the 2018 season 9-6 to Southwestern Oklahoma State Friday night at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
The Rams (4-1) actually outhit the Bulldogs (3-2) 11-9 on the night, but were unable to overcome a pair of errors and eight stranded baserunners in the defeat.
"We just didn't play really well," Angelo State Head Baseball Coach Kevin Brooks said. "We didn't execute several cut-offs and relays and we lacked discipline at the plate and got ourselves out really quick."
Tyler Lesley started the game on the mound for ASU and breezed through the first four innings, facing the minimum and throwing first-pitch strikes to 10 of the first 12 batters he faced.
Jacob Boston helped Lesley get an early lead as well in the third inning hitting a hard ground ball to the hole in the left side of the infield that the SWOSU shortstop got to but was unable to make a play on. Boston then advanced to second on a balk, still with no outs in the inning, and then was sacrificed to third on a bunt from Elias Aguirre. The Arizona native then came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Nicholas Novak.
Boston ended up having the best night of any Ram at the plate, stroking three singles and scoring the first run.
Lesley gave up the lead two innings later after an error from Jonathan Soberanes allowed Bulldog Brooks Benson to reach base and then another error from Andrew Morales moved him to second with just one out.
Benson then scored on a single and the following SWOSU batter belted a home run to left field to give the Bulldogs a 3-1 lead.
Boston singled again in the fifth, but the Rams were unable to respond, and SWOSU widened their lead in the top of the sixth with two runs on three hits and a sacrifice fly, eventually ending Lesley's time on the mound for the night.
ASU pitcher Josh Barnett came in to get the final out of the sixth and pitched the seventh inning and part of the eighth as well. Barnett gave up a run and two hits, but struck out a pair of batters in his outing that lasted an inning and two thirds.
The Rams got a run back in the sixth as the first two batters, Novak and Soberanes, reached base and scored on a two-out single from Andrew Morales, but ASU was unable to extend the rally.
Back-to-back doubles in the top of the eighth extended the lead to 6-2 for the Bulldogs, but Angelo State fought back with two in the bottom of the inning. Morales hi a one-out single and was followed up by a two-run blast to left center from Bradley Mathiowetz.
Jared Velasco came to the mound for the Rams to start the ninth and promptly hit three straight batters. All three eventually came around to score in the inning as SWOSU pushed their lead to 9-4.
ASU attempted one final rally in the bottom of the ninth as Aguirre and Novak led off with a pair of singles and Soberanes walked to load the bases. Michael Urquidi drove Aguirre in with a groundout and Novak scored on a sacrifice fly, but the Ram comeback ended there.
Angelo State will complete the weekend series against the Bulldogs with games at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium. Â
