SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State softball, coming off a four-win weekend on the road, returns to the friendly confines of Mayer Stadium for a pair of critical matchups this weekend as the Rambelles welcome in top-ranked UT Tyler on Friday (4 p.m. start time) before playing #21 Texas A&M-Commerce on Sunday (1 p.m. start time).

The Rambelles, who moved up to 13^th in this week's NFCA Division II Poll, picked up a pair of wins at UTPB and Western New Mexico last weekend, outscoring their opponents 34-14. Overall on the season, Travis Scott's squad is 23-5 and 8-4 in LSC play.

Paxton Scheurer is coming off a great weekend of play, homering seven times in four games and hitting .545 last week as the Mansfield native was named the Louisville Slugger/NFCA Player of the Week for her performances at the dish.

The Rambelles' third baseman leads all of Division II with 16 home runs, 50 RBIs, and a 1.114 slugging percentage. Scheurer has driven in 26.6 percent of all Rambelle runs and has four multi-homer games this season.

Teammates Ashlynn Box and Lindsey Evans recorded their first multi-homer games of their collegiate careers last weekend, both happening in game one against Western New Mexico.

As a team, the Rambelles are second in the country with 44 home runs this season and are eighth in both slugging percentage (.585) and on-base percentage (.437). They are also fourth in the country in drawing walks with 115, with five players in the Rambelles lineup having equal or more walks than strikeouts this season.

The Rambelles are also coming off a week in which they went 18-19 in stolen base attempts, led by Ashlyn Lerma, who was perfect in six steals this weekend. The second baseman has stolen a conference-best 29 bases this season and has not been caught stealing once.

In the circle, the Rambelles have a 2.93 team ERA. Genesis Armendariz is second in the LSC with 12 victories this season, also owning a 1.97 ERA and 78 strikeouts in 78.1 innings of work.

Torrey Hogan is coming off her last appearance against Western New Mexico, in which she carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning against the Mustangs. This season, Hogan has a 3.28 ERA and a 9-2 record, with opponents hitting .258 against the Lubbock native.
 
SCOUTING THE PATRIOTS
UT Tyler, the top-ranked team in the NFCA Division II Top 25 Poll, is 25-1 overall on the season and 11-1 in conference play, their lone loss coming against West Texas A&M in Canyon back in March 4^th.

The Patriots have the best team batting average in Division II, hitting .410 as a team. They also lead the country in on-base percentage (.496), scoring (10.00 runs per game), and slugging percentage (.659).

Their pitching staff owns a 2.28 team ERA, led by LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Payton Foster. The Lufkin native has a 3.17 ERA and an 11-1 overall record, striking out 58 batters in 64 innings of work.  

Defensively, the Patriots have the league's best defense with a .975 fielding percentage.
 
SCOUTING THE LIONS
Texas A&M-Commerce, ranked 21^st in the country, are 26-6 overall on the season and 11-1 in conference play. Their lone conference loss came on March 4^th against Eastern New Mexico, and three of their non-conference losses came against top-10 ranked opposition.

The Lions, much like the Rambelles, are very active on the base paths, stealing a Division II-best 102 bases this season. Also, like the Rambelles, the Lions show patience at the plate, drawing a conference-best 124 walks on the season.

Perhaps the Lions' strength is in its pair of aces in Emily Otto and Alyssa LeBlanc. Otto, the 2019 LSC Pitcher of the Year, leads the conference with 11 complete games this season and has a 2.10 ERA and a 12-2 record, striking out 108 batters in 90 innings.

LeBlanc, an all-region selection as a freshman last season, is the current LSC Pitcher of the Week, coming off a week in which she struck out 32 batters in 18.2 innings of work while only allowing four hits and no runs. LeBlanc is 9-2 on the season and as a conference-best opponent batting average of .160.
 
Following this weekend, the Rambelles are on the road for doubleheaders next weekend against Midwestern State and Texas Woman's.