SAN ANGELO, Texas – The Angelo State baseball team completed its sweep of Eastern New Mexico on Saturday afternoon as it took its doubleheader (7-0, 13-3) to take sole possession of first place in the Lone Star Conference.

The Rams improved to 23-14 overall and 16-7 in the LSC, as they broke away from a three way tie for first with Texas A&M - Kingsville and West Texas A&M. In game one of the doubleheader, Bryce Zak (7-1), tossed a complete game shutout for his seventh win of the season. Racking up 14 strikeouts in a single game, he engraved his name in the Angelo State record books as he took over the second spot on the single game strikeout list. This also places the senior one strikeout away from 100 on the season. While, Joe Hauser (2-1) earned his second win of the year with his relief performance in game two.  The ASU offense outhit the Greyhounds (9-2, 14-8) in both of today's games. With the pair of losses, ENMU dropped to 10-27, 3-20 LSC and pitchers Michael Holliday and Alec Lemmon were both credited with a loss.

"It was a good start to the second half of conference," said ASU head baseball coach Kevin Brooks. "Bryce [Zak] had all four pitches working and his velocity was up. He was really good today. Offensively, we have some guys who are starting to get hot and we were able to get some production throughout the lineup to get the win. Defensively, we were also very good."

Angelo State got things started first game with Zak retiring eight out of eleven hitters to keep the game scoreless into the bottom of the third. Sam Kohler pushed the first run of the game across as he grounded out to the pitcher. The bottom of the fourth saw the Rams add another four to the board. Jay Gonzales kicked off the inning knocking a RBI single to cross Stephen Pinales to give ASU a 2-0 lead. Tyler Coolbaugh followed with a sac fly to deep center and Nathan Ruane reached on a fielder's choice that scored Gonzales. Finally, taking the score to 5-0, Kohler added an RBI single to the mix. The Rams would add two more in the bottom of the sixth to increase the lead to seven.

On the hill, Zak threw a phenomenal game giving up only two hits and retiring 14 hitters on strikes in his shutout performance. At the plate, Gonzales and Matt Waller led the Rams each going 2-for-3 on the night. Pinales recorded ASUs only multi base hit for the game with a double in the second, and Kohler chalked a team most two RBIs. On the base paths, Angelo State tallied a program single game second nine stolen bases for the game. Gonzales led the squad pocketing three stolen bags, while Waller and Ruane followed with a pair each. Ruane also scored a team leading two runs.

In the second game of the day, the Rams got things started early with a sac fly from Paxton DeLaGarza to put the first run on the board in the first. Kohler then crossed on a balk by the ENMU pitcher to give ASU a 2-0 lead. The team added three more to its total in the second with Ruane slapping a RBI single, Kohler pushing Waller across with a bases loaded fielder's choice and Pinales knocking a Sac fly to straight away center. The third inning saw more production from the Rams offense. A Greyhound error allowed Coolbaugh to score, which was followed by a Kohler RBI single. DeLaGarza capped the inning with his second triple of the season plating Christina Abilla for the 9-0 ASU lead. Eastern New Mexico generated a small three run rally in the fourth, before the Rams added one in the sixth and another three in the eight to force the run rule into effect.

This game saw four ASU pitchers take the mound. Kenton Schroter got the start and put in two innings of work before giving way to Kellen Rholl, who tossed an inning and struck out two. Hauser entered in the fourth and held ENMU scoreless for three innings only giving up one hit. He also retired game high five hitters on strikes. Graylon Brown completed the game for the Rams throwing for the final two innings of the game and striking out one.

DeLaGarza led the Rams offensive attack as he went 2-for-3 at the dish, with a double, a triple and two RBIs. Coolbaugh followed with a 3-for-4 performance with a pair of RBIs and stolen bases. Elias Aguirre, Jarryd Klemm and Waller also recorded two hits each for the game. Kohler and Aguirre also added a pair of RBIs to each of their final stats. Aguirre, Klemm, Coolbaugh and Waller all scored two runs each. Finally, Kohler tied for a game high with his own pair of stolen bases.

The Rams travel to the Texas gulf coast to face second place Texas A&M – Kingsville on Friday, April 15 at 6 p.m. The will then return to Nolan Ryan Field for a doubleheader on Saturday, April 16 with the first pitch of game one slated for 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcasted on 1260 KKSA with Jeremy Bryant on the call.