SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Angelo State baseball team split its doubleheader with Texas A&M – Kingsville (3-5, 5-0) on Saturday evening at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.
The Rams moved to 13-7 and 6-1 LSC and take a 2-1 series lead over the Javelinas going into Sunday's finale at 1 p.m. Paxton DeLaGarza pitched a complete game shutout in game two to earn his second win of the season. He is now 2-0 on the hill for the Rams. With today's results TAMUK is now 11-6 on the year.
"The crowd and the atmosphere were awesome today," Angelo State head baseball coach Kevin Brooks said. "That is something we want for every game. First game, we weren't able to score with runners on base or field our positions. We didn't play bad but made some mistakes. Paxton really set the tone in game two. We were able to get a cushion with the three runs and we were able to add the two home runs for insurance. I'm proud of them for bouncing back in game two after we beat ourselves in game one. We have a chance to win the series tomorrow and it is going to be a big game."
It was DeLaGarza's complete game shutout, the senior leader struck out seven batters in seven innings and gave up only three hits.
At the plate, Christian Abilla got the Rams started with an RBI single down the right side to plate the first run of the game in the first. Steven Pinales pushed the lead to 3-0 with a two RBI single that scored Tyler Coolbaugh and DeLaGarza. David Goggin and Pinales each cranked their second homers of the season to complete the five run shut out of the Javelinas.
Pinales, Goggin and Abilla all led the Rams with two hits each. Pinales also led the squad with three RBIs for the game. Michael Urquidi recorded the team's only stolen base for the game.
The Rams struggled to drive in runs in game one stranding 10 runners. Starting pitcher Bryce Zak earned his first loss of the season despite tying a season high 11 strikeouts in five innings of work. It is his second straight double-digit strikeout performance of the season. The senior is now 4-1 on the year.
After TAMUK placed three on the board through the first three innings, Rams shortstop DeLaGarza kicked started the scoring with a triple that scored Goggin from first. Tyler Coolbaugh then hit a double down the left field line to cross DeLaGarza and pull to within one, 3-2. In the fourth, Elais Aguirre beat out a bunt, which was followed by Matt Waller placing a perfect bunt down third base line to load bases.Goggin was able to draw a bases loaded walk to tie the game at 3.
The Javelinas hit a two-run home run in the top of the fifth for the deciding runs.
DeLaGarza led the Rams going 2-for-3 at the plate stroking a double and a triple for the game. Coolbaugh and Goggin checked in with doubles of their own as well. All three hitters each added an RBI to their season totals.
The Rams will return to Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Field on Sunday, March 13 for its series finale at 1 p.m.
