SAN ANGELO, Texas – The third-seeded Angelo State baseball team will open the first round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament hosting sixth-seeded Texas A&M International in a best-of-three series beginning Friday, May 3 at Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium.

[3] ANGELO STATE RAMS (34-16, 32-16 LSC) vs. [6] TEXAS A&M INTERNATIONAL (24-26, 24-24 LSC)
Game 1: Fri., May, 3, 6:30 p.m. | Game 2: Sat. May, 4, 6:30 p.m. | Game 3 (if necessary): Sun. May, 5, 1:00 p.m.
Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium – San Angelo, Texas
Live Video: lonestarconferencenetwork.com/asu
Live Stats: angelostats.com
Live Radio: https://www.kksa-am.com/

LAST TIME OUT
The Rams earned a series split against fifth-ranked West Texas A&M over the weekend. Game one and three's victories came with the help of six home runs including three off the bat of Tripp Clark and the rest from Conagher Sands, Tayten Tredaway and Weston Valasek.

SERIES HISTORY:
All-Time Series: ASU leads 28-3
Last Meeting: Apr. 7, 2024 – ASU, 7-5 – Laredo, Texas
The Rams captured the regular season series on the road against the Dustdevils three games to one back in early April. ASU averages nearly nine runs a game against TAMIU since the series began back in April of 2011.

SCOUTING THE DUSTDEVILS
International concluded the regular season with a series split against St. Edward's over the weekend to finish with a .500 conference record to clinch the sixth seed in the LSC tournament.

At the plate, the Dustdevils sit sixth in the conference with a .306 team batting average. Abiam Medina continues to be the player to watch as he leads International in most offensive ranks including batting average (.412), OPS (1.130), runs scored (52), hits (75), doubles (11) and RBI (56).

On the mound, TAMIU boast two of the conference's best statistical pitchers. Isaac Ponce, who is second in ERA (4.10), leads his team in strikeouts (77) with opponents hitting .264 against him. His teammate, Cody Templeton, sits third in the conference in ERA (4.31) has pitched the most innings for the Dustdevils.

QUICK HITS:
- Tripp Clark leads the conference in batting average (.436), OPS (1.293) and RBIs (74)
- Jacob Guerrero leads the LSC in stolen bases (25) which he sits in the top five in doubles (20, 5^th) and RBI (59, T-5^th)
- Weston Valasek has been hit by a pitch 25 times this season which leads the conference and is amongst the nation's leaders
- Justin Harris' 42 walks is third best in the conference
- Dax Dathe's 90 strikeouts continues to lead the conference while his 4.43 is fourth.
- Alezeah Gutierrez is fourth with 64 strikeouts of his own while sitting fourth with a 4.48 ERA which is fifth best in the LSC.

SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
LSC PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
- Feb. 12 – Tripp Clark (Hitter)
- Mar. 4 – Dax Dathe (Pitcher)
- Mar. 11 – Alezeah Gutierrez (Pitcher)
- Mar. 19 – Jacob Guerrero (Hitter)
- Apr. 9 – Alezeah Gutierrez (Pitcher)
- Apr. 15 – Tripp Clark (Hitter)

NCBWA SOUTH CENTRAL REGION PLAYERS OF THE WEEK:
- Feb. 12 – Tripp Clark (Hitter)
- Mar. 4 – Dax Dathe (Pitcher)
- Mar. 11 – Alezeah Gutierrez (Pitcher)
- Mar. 19 – Jacob Guerrero (Hitter)
- Apr. 10 – Alezeah Gutierrez (Pitcher)

NCBWA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK:
- Mar. 20 – Jacob Guerrero (Hitter)

CONFERENCE FAVORITES:
The Rams were selected as the favorites to take the 2024 LSC crown, earning the top spot in the preseason poll with 503 points, including 38 of the 39 first-place votes. Coming in second was UT Tyler followed by St. Edwards and Lubbock Christian.

NCBWA PRESEASON ALL - AMERICANS:
The Rams had four players selected to the NCBWA Preseason All-American Team, earning First-Team honors was outfielder Jacob Guerrero who was also selected as the 2024 Lone Star Conference Preseason Player of the Year. Being named to the All-American Second-Team is starting pitcher Braxton Pearson, who was named Lone Star Conference Preseason Pitcher of the Year, and catcher Tripp Clark. Rounding out the honors is utility man Austin Beck who was named an Honorable Mention.