SAN ANGLEO, Texas – The Angelo State baseball team opened its final series of the 2016 regular season with a win over Tarleton State by 10 runs in a run-rule (14-4) on Friday night.

With another win notched in its belt, the Rams climbed to 30-18, 23-10 LSC on the season. ASU also continues to remain in a two –way tie for first place with Texas A&M – Kingsville, as the Javelinas downed West Texas A&M, 14-8, in Canyon, Texas. The Rams out hit the Texans, 14-7, as it scored the majority of the 14 runs in the third (5) and fifth (6) innings. Reliever Joe Hauser earned the decision and moved to 3-1 on the season. With the loss TSU dropped to 20-26 overall and 14-19 in the Lone Star Conference. Starting pitcher Jacob French (4-4) received his fourth loss of the season.

"I though offensively we did a really good job tonight," commented ASU head baseball coach Kevin Brooks. "Elias Aguirre, Sam [Kohler] and Paxton [DeLaGarza] came up big for us. I can also not say enough about Joe [Hauser] coming in and getting us out of a bases loaded jam."

With runners on second and third in the first inning, senior David Goggin plated the Rams first run of the game as he grounded out to second and earned the RBI. Tarleton State answered in the top of the third scoring an unearned run off of a passed ball. However, the Rams bats would catch fire in the bottom of the inning as it recorded five hits, including RBI doubles from Sam Kohler and Christian Abilla. Jarryd Klemm poked a RBI single during the inning, and despite grounding into a fielder's choice, Tyler Coolbaugh also added a RBI to his numbers.

Down 6-1, the Texans attempted to start a rally in the top of the fourth plating a pair of runs, however, the Rams defense stepped up and forced two straight outs to stifle it. In the bottom of the fifth, ASU took advantage of Texan mistakes and added six more to the board with RBI singles from Paxton DeLaGarza, Michael Urquidi and Kohler. The Rams completed the inning with a 12-3 lead.  

Tarleton State would cap off its scoring for the game adding one more in the top of the sixth making the score 12-4. Finally, in the bottom of the seventh, the Rams complete the run-rule with a DeLaGarza RBI double and the final run scoring off of a throwing error by the Texan third baseman.

Matt Shannon started the game on the mound putting in 3 1/3 innings of work. The sophomore gave up three run off of four hits and retired three batters on strikes to reach the 100 strikeout mark for the season. Hauser entered in the fourth and tossed a solid 2 2/3 innings only giving up one run on a pair of hits and also struck out three. Competing Friday night's pitching committee was Kellen Rholl and Bryson Mitchell. Rholl faced three Texans and gave up no runs on one hit in the seventh, while Mitchell competed the inning forcing the final two outs.

DeLaGarza and Kohler led the squad recording a team most three hits each. DeLaGarza and Goggin led the Rams with three RBIs and Kohler finished the night with two RBIs for a team second. Abilla recorded the most multi-base hits on the team cranking a pair of doubles, while Jay Gonzales drew a team leading two walks. Around the bases, Kohler led ASU with three runs.

The Rams return to action Saturday, May 7 at 1 p.m. to complete the series with a doubleheader. The team will honor is nine seniors prior to the first pitch. Both games will be aired in high definition on RamTV (Suddenlink 106) and on 1260AM KKSA.