STEPHENVILLE – A diving catch from Tarleton State center fielder Kevin Meredith on a shot hit to the warning track by Chandler Patterson ended the game with two Angelo State runners poised to score as the Texans took a 3-1 Lone Star Conference win over the Rams in the third game of the series on Sunday at the Cecil Ballow Complex.

The Rams (16-2, 6-1 LSC) had their program-record 15-game winning streak snapped with the two-run loss, but still lead the series 2-1 over the Texans (7-6, 1-2 LSC) after taking the first two games of the series on Saturday by a 28-2 combined score.

"I thought their pitchers did a good job against us today were able to get out of some situations where we were not able to execute," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "To their credit, they took advantage of the openings that we gave them with a three-spot. I was proud of our guys though for battling back. Chandler hit a ball that looked like we were going to tie it and their center fielder made a great play."

Bryce Zak (3-2) took the loss despite striking out five and allowing only one earned run in five innings of work, while Derek Tyner and J.C. Snyder each went 2-for-4 to lead the Rams who finished the game with seven hits. Colton Burleson (2-0) earned the win after holding the Rams to five hits and one run in six innings, while Trevor Renfro closed out the game with six strikeouts and only two hits allowed in a three-inning save.

TSU scored all three of its runs in the sixth inning on three hits, including a fluke hit where ASU center fielder Nehwon Norkeh lost his footing on a slick field. With runners at second and third after the hit, Alec Humphreys hit a one-out, two-run double down the left-field line off reliever Dillon Becker and then Andrew Jacobi grounded out to second but drove in Humphreys on the play.

"It was a tough break with Nehwon slipping in center field on a wet surface and that kind of determined it," Brooks said. "That's just a bad break that is going to happen sometimes in a baseball game."

The Rams responded with one run in the seventh inning with three straight singles from Cameron Massengill, Derek Tyner and J.C. Snyder to load the bases. After a Brett David strikeout, Hunter Spear came up and swung at the first pitch and a catcher's interference call was made with the bases loaded to plate Massengill for the Ram run. ASU would strand three though with another strikeout and then a flyout to second base ending the frame.

ASU put up a fight in the ninth inning with Snyder hitting his 12th double of the season with one out and then Spear reaching on a two-out walk. With Snyder at second and Spear at first, Patterson drove a ball to the center-field warning track that Meredith dove for and pulled down at the base of the fence to preserve the win for TSU.  

"Percentage-wise we have done a good job this season of cutting down on our strikeouts in key situations, but we weren't able to do that today," Brooks said. "That's one of the reasons we came up on the short end today, but we still have the opportunity to go out and win the series tomorrow and that would be a great start to win the first two series of the year."

Angelo State and Tarleton State will play the series finale at 1 p.m. on Monday at the Cecil Ballow Complex before the Rams return home to host West Texas A&M next weekend in a four-game series at Foster Field. ASU, which is off to the best start in program history, is now 3-2 away from home and 13-0 on its home field.