SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team opened the series against Tarleton State with a 3-0 win Friday night at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
The Rams (23-8, 4-1) collected seven hits and took advantage of a pair of errors from the Texan shortstop to score their three runs.
Starting pitcher Tyler Lesley carried the team, however, pitching seven innings of shutout ball.
Lesley allowed just one hit through the first two innings, but kept Tarleton State off the board and struck out one batter.
The Ram offense got then got Lesley a lead in the bottom half of the second inning. Mathiowetz led off with a single to start the inning. Parker Bramlett followed with a single of his own, and the two both advanced a base on a throwing error from the Tarleton State shortstop.
Mitch Henshaw then reached on another error from the Texan shortstop, which also scored Mathiowetz. Jacob Boston then grounded out to drive in Bramlett.
Lesley got another pair of strikeouts in the third before the Rams added another run in the bottom half of the inning.
Nicholas Novak smacked a leadoff double to start the inning and Andrew Morales followed with a single through the right side of the infield. Mathiowetz then hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield as Novak broke for home. The sophomore was caught in a run down between third and home, but juked out the catcher and was able to get to the plate and put ASU up 3-0.
Lesley continued to dominate through the next four innings, adding another four strikeouts to get to seven on the night. The total matched his season high, which he reached two other times this season.
The outing also notched Lesley his eighth win of the season, which ranks first in the LSC and No. 2 in the country.
Josh Barnett came in to relieve Lesley at the beginning of the eighth inning and had a strong outing as well. Barnett struck out the first pair of batters he faced and induced a flyout to get through the eighth. He then got the first two batters of the ninth inning as well before leaving for Kellen Rholl.
Rholl struck out the one batter he faced, earning his sixth save of the season in the process.
Following the game, Ram fans were treated to a firework show thanks to the office of student affairs and enrollment management.
The Rams will face the Texans three more times this weekend, playing a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m. on Friday before the series finale at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
