BOX SCORE: Angelo State 3, Colorado School of Mines 2

SAN ANGELO – Jake Albert controlled Colorado School of Mines through six innings of relief on the mound, striking out seven without a walk to help lead the Angelo State baseball team to a 3-2 non-conference win and complete the four-game series sweep over the Orediggers on Sunday at Foster Field.

The Rams (10-2) earned their third sweep of the season after previously taking a two-game series against McMurry and a three-game set against Texas A&M International. ASU, which hit .362 and limited CSM to a .191 team batting average over the series, will now play at St. Mary's (11-3) at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Dickson Stadium in San Antonio. The Orediggers, who opened the season with a win over Tarleton State, fell to 2-5 after their four-game series against the Rams.

"We did a lot of good things this weekend," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "We pitched pretty solidly and played good defense. We also got some timely hits and played well in all three phases. I thought we were above average. Colorado School of Mines came out and played good and we had to earn it. We stayed away from making mistakes and grinded them out."

Albert (1-1) came into Sunday's finale with one out in the third inning when starting pitcher Trae Davis was injured while delivering a pitch. Albert, who threw 53 strikes on 72 pitches, scattered eight hits in his fifth appearance this season and matched his career-high with his seven strikeouts.

"I knew there was a pretty good chance for me to throw sometime today since I hadn't thrown this weekend," Albert said. "When Trae went down, I knew it was time for me to step up. I was just going out there with my fastball and slider. The wind was blowing in so I just threw it in there and let them hit it."

"You don't expect your starter to go down with an injury early, and it can be a tough thing," said Brooks of Albert's extended relief appearance. "We've seen Jake come into the game in a long relief role and be lights out for us. He did it again today. It was good to see him throw so many strikes and perform so well. That's the Jake Albert we expect to see."

Angelo State responded to an Oredigger first-inning run in the bottom of the first inning when Christian Summers delivered a two-out double to left field to score Nehwon Norkeh who had reached on a walk. Tied at 1-1 through three innings, the teams once again exchanged runs in the fourth inning with JP Zapata earning a RBI when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Derek Tyner scored on the play after singling to center field and moving to third after a Brett David single and Blake Bass walk.

David would drive in the eventual game-winning run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a single to right-center field to score David Goggin who led the inning off with a walk. The RBI was David's ninth of the season and took his season's hit total to 19 through 12 games.

Tyner led the Rams at the plate, going 3-for-4 and also turned an unassisted double play at first base to end an Oredigger threat in the top of the eighth inning. Tyler Coughenour went 1-for-4 in the game to extend his hitting streak to 11 games, while Summers now has 12 RBI this season. Goggin, who walked twice, went 0-for-2 to snap his 11-game hitting streak to start his sophomore season.

Davis, who was making his fourth of the season, went 2.1 innings with four strikeouts  and allowed only one hit and one run before suffering his injury. Graylon Brown finished off the game with a strikeout with a runner on third base to earn his second save of the season after Mason Leavitt recorded the final inning's second out with a strikeout.

"He came in yesterday and struggled, but as a reliever you have to go right back out there and he did that," said Brooks of Brown. "That was a huge out and he went out there and got it for us."

SERIES NOTES
Angelo State opened its home schedule with this weekend's series and is now 183-72 all-time at Foster Field… The Rams finished the series hitting .362 as a team with nine doubles, three triples and a home run from Coughenour… The ASU pitching staff stifled the Orediggers to the tune of a 1.69 staff ERA and limiting them to a .191 batting average… Brett David led the Rams by going 7-for-14 in the series, including hitting two doubles and finishing with five RBI… Christian Summers topped ASU with six RBI in the four-game series and went 6-for-14 with a team leading three doubles and added a triple…  Derek Tyner and David Goggin joined Summers with six hits in the series and both had four RBI… Hunter Choate went 5-for-14 with two RBI and Nehwon Norkeh scored five runs… JP Zapata went 4-for-5 in the series with four singles and an RBI… Jake Feckley continued his dominance on the mound, striking out five and not allowing an earned run for the fourth straight game to start the season and moved his record to 4-0 with his win in the series-opener on Friday… Jason Zgardowski earned his first win as a Ram by striking out 10 and throwing the first complete game of the season for the Rams in Saturday's second game… Mason Leavitt led the Ram pitching staff with three appearances in the series and did not allow a hit in 1.0 innings of work…  Graylon Brown made two appearances, bouncing back from a rocky Saturday outing to record the final out of the series with a strikeout... Dillon Becker (2-1) earned the win in Saturday's first game after closing out the game and seeing Goggin and David provide the heroics for the first walk-off win of the season in Saturday's 6-5 victory… ASU used 12 pitchers in the series and walked only five batters in 32.0 innings.