San Angelo, TX – Angelo State Baseball entered the day of the doubleheader with the series advantage after having won the series opener 16-5. The Rams (22-5, 3-0 in Lone Star Conference play) entered their second game against the Falcons (9-15, 0-3 in Lone Star Conference play) having drawn 11 walks and striking out three times in the Friday game.
Game 1
Skyler Palermo, who had homered in the first game of the series and was involved in four of the five UTPB runs, homered once again to continue his hot streak at the plate and put the Falcons up 2-0 early. The Falcons then held the rams to no runs, but struck again in the top of the second with a solo home run and strung together hits to take a 3-0 lead.
The Rams would take advantage of two walks in the bottom of the second inning drawn by Nicholas Novak and Nick Seginowich who would then both advance one more bag by executing a double steal. Josh Elvir the stepped up to the plate with one out and improved his already conference-leading stats by lacing a two RBI single. The two would be all the Rams could manage in the inning as they entered the third inning down 3-2. Lachlan Mayo started a two run bout in the top of the fourth with a bases load single through the left side that plated a run to tie the game at three runs apiece. Seginowich then followed Mayo's example with a single through the left side that brought in more run and the Rams were officially ahead 4-3.
Both teams failed to reach the score column in the fifth and the Rams benefited from a Lachlan Mayo insurance solo home run in the sixth to cap of the games scoring. Angelo State picked up their 21st win of the season and still had one more to go on the day.
Shannon Broussard had an outstanding outing from the bullpen. The southpaw entered the game with the bases loaded and no outs, but quickly gave the home fans something to cheer about. He only needed to face two batters to pocket the first three outs of his outing by striking out the first batter he faced and then inducing a ground ball double play. The lefty remained on the bump for five innings and gave up only two hits while striking out five. Broussard was able to get the Falcons to bite on the majority of his breaking stuff and as a result he only walked one batter while inducing five groundouts. The Baytown native has now whittled his ERA down to a respectable 2.93.
Ram fans saw another familiar face out of the bullpen later in the game as well. Josh Barnett continued not only his role as the team's closer, but his successful streak of putting the lid on games as well. Barnett had one strikeout, one walk, and one hit, but no runs scored in his final one inning of work in the game. His effort earned him his fourth save of the season.
Game 2
The Rams would not have to worry about mounting a comeback effort in the second game. In fact, the Rams would have to worry about very little with Fabian Muniz on the mound. In pursuit of collecting his fifth win of the year, Muniz struck out nine hitters to only two walks in six innings. Only two hitters would actually collect a hit off of the California native.
There was no mercy offensively from the Rams who put up 11 runs in the seven innings of play. Namely, Nick Seginowich and Josh Elvir had standout games at the plate. Seginowich finished 2-3 with four RBI, a home run, and a double, while Elvir was a perfect 3-3 with two RBI and two triples.
Jake Morgan also made his first career appearance on the mound. The Ballinger sidewinder only faced three batters and struck out one. As far as career debuts go, that's as good as it gets.
The Rams face the Falcons one more time to conclude the series at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
