SAN ANGELO – The reigning Lone Star Conference baseball champion Angelo State Rams will play a 50-game regular season schedule in 2013 with 25 home games at Foster Field and 25 away games. The schedule includes four trips outside of Texas and has three teams which advanced to the NCAA postseason in 2012 and no neutral field games.
ASU is coming off a 2012 season where it went 40-17, won the LSC regular-season title, the LSC tournament championship and advanced to its third NCAA Division II regional tournament. The Rams are 305-166 since the program was started in 2005 and are 191-104 against opponents on its 2013 regular-season schedule. Head coach Kevin Brooks returns for his ninth season (.647 winning percentage), while the Rams return four starting positional players (Lee Neumann, Ryan Greer, Quaid McKinnon, Andrew LaCombe) and a pitching staff that includes Austin Church, Michael Lange, Michael Weatherly, Jake Feckley, Travis Stavinoha, Jake Albert and James Conlee who each had 10 or more appearances on the mound in 2012.
The Rams come into the season ranked No. 18 in the nation by d2baseballnews.com.
Click for printable schedule with times, dates and locations
The Lone Star Conference will follow a four-game series format with a single game on Friday, a doubleheader on Saturday and the series finale on Sunday. The top six teams in the conference standings advance to the LSC Championships which is scheduled to be played from May 3-6 at Wilder Park in Canyon.
Angelo State opens its season on the road on Friday, Feb. 1, 2013, traveling to play Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Ark. The teams will play two doubleheaders (Feb. 1-2) at Rab Rodgers Field. The Rams swept a four-game series to open last season against the Tigers, outscoring OBU 36-8 at Foster Field. Ouachita Baptist finished last season with a 30-26 record and finished second in the Great American Conference's tournament. ASU, which won the 2007 NCAA DII South Central tournament at OBU, is 11-3 all-time against the Tigers. This will be the Rams first trip back to Arkadelphia since winning the regional tournament.
The Rams open their home schedule with a three-game series against Southern Arkansas with a single game on Friday, Feb. 8 and a doubleheader on Feb. 9. The Rams are 0-4 all-time against the Muleriders, including dropping the opening game of the NCAA DII South Central Regional Championships last season to SAU. ASU also fell 7-0 to the Muleriders in a regular-season game at Southern Arkansas last year. The Muleriders are ranked No. 11 in the preseason d2baseballnews.com poll.
Angelo State will then travel to Abilene to take on McMurry for the first ever meeting on the baseball field between the two schools on Tuesday, Feb. 12. The War Hawks finished last season with a 23-24 record and plays their home games at Walt Driggers Field. McMurry will travel to San Angelo on April 9 to complete the home-and-away season series.
The Rams return home that weekend to host Lubbock Christian in a three-day, three-game series. ASU is 2-2 all-time against the Chaps and 1-1 against them at Foster Field. LCU finished last season with a 35-22 record. This will be the first meeting between the two schools since they split a 2010 two-game series in Lubbock.
ASU will have its longest road trip of the regular season with a four-game series at Colorado State-Pueblo from Thursday, Feb. 21 to Saturday, Fe. 23. The Rams swept a four-game series against the ThunderWolves last season in San Angelo which was the first time the two schools had met in baseball. The Pack went 30-24 last season and will open this year at West Texas A&M before hosting ASU.
The Rams will then play host to Bellarmine University in a two-game series from Monday, March 4 to Tuesday, March 5 at Foster Field. The games will be the first meeting between the two programs. The Knights, who come from Louisville, Kent., went 27-23 last season and will also play against Tarleton State and Abilene Christian this season in a southern swing.
ASU plays its final non-conference series against Southeastern Oklahoma in a single game on Tuesday, March 12 and a doubleheader Wednesday, March 13 at Foster Field. Formerly LSC opponents, the Rams hold a 20-10 all-time advantage over the Savage Storm, including a 9-2 record at Foster Field. SEO went 34-17 last season, including dropping a three-game series that was played in Durant, Okla. to the Rams.
Angelo State opens LSC play in a four-game series against Texas A&M-Kingsville on March 15-17 at Foster Field. The Rams and Javelinas split their series last season in Kingsville and the Rams hold a 20-12 all-time advantage. The Rams are 9-2 against TAMU-Kingsville in games played in San Angelo. The Javelinas finished last season in second place in the conference with an 18-10 LSC record to go along with a 31-18 overall record. The Javelinas received an at-large bid to the regional tournament.
The Rams then travel to San Antonio to play Incarnate Word in their first LSC road series from March 22-24. ASU is 14-9 all-time against UIW, including winning three of four games against the Cardinals last season in San Angelo. The programs are an even 5-5 all-time against each other in games played at Sullivan Field. Incarnate Word finished in third place in the conference standings last season with a 16-11 LSC record and finished the year with a 23-11 overall record.
West Texas A&M comes to Foster Field on Easter Weekend for the next series on the schedule from Thursday March 28 to Saturday, March 30. The Rams hold a 27-5 all-time lead over the Buffs, including a 14-1 record against WT in games played in San Angelo. ASU and WT split its regular-season series last year in Canyon, but the Rams earned a 12-5 win over the Buffs in the LSC tournament. WT were 16-12 in LSC games last season and were 29-19 overall.
The Rams' schedule ventures outside of conference play with a trip to San Antonio on Tuesday, April 2 for a single game against St. Mary's. The Rattlers come into the season ranked No. 1 in the nation by d2baseballnews.com. The Rams and Rattlers split their regular-season series last season and both teams advanced to Warrensburg, Mo. to play in the South Central Regional. St. Mary's won the regional tournament and advanced to the NCAA DII World Series in Cary, N.C. The Rams hold an 11-6 all-time advantage over the Rattlers and are 6-3 against them in San Antonio.
A third trip out of Texas takes the Rams to Portales, N.M. for a series against Eastern New Mexico from April 5-7. The Rams hold a 22-10 advantage over the Greyhounds all-time and are 6-5 in games played in New Mexico. Angelo State swept the series between the two teams last season in San Angelo. ENMU missed the LSC tournament last season after finishing 4-23 in conference games and completed the season with a 14-32 overall record.
Angelo State will play its final regular-season home series of the year from April 12-14 against Tarleton State. The Rams and Texans met in the LSC tournament championship last season three times, with ASU taking a 6-0 win in the final game to win the tournament title. Angelo State holds a 26-10 all-time advantage over the Texans after the two teams split their regular-season series last year in Stephenville. ASU is 11-4 all-time against TSU in games played in San Angelo. The Texans were the LSC tournament's fifth seed last season after going 16-12 in conference games and finished the year with a 30-21 record.
The fourth trip out of state takes the Rams to Lawton, Okla. to play Cameron from April 19-21 at McCord Field. Angelo State holds a 17-14 all-time record against CU, including taking three of four last season in San Angelo. The Aggies have a 7-6 advantage over the Rams in games played in Lawton. Cameron missed the conference tournament last season after going 10-18 in LSC games and were 21-28 overall in 2012.
ASU completes its regular-season schedule with its final trip to Abilene to play Abilene Christian as conference rivals. ACU, which is leaving for the Southland Conference after this season, went 0-5 against the Rams last season after Angelo State swept the regular-season series and took an 11-1 win in the opening LSC tournament game. ACU holds a 23-17 all-time advantage over the Rams and are 17-9 in games played at Crutcher Scott Field. Abilene Christian was the sixth seed in the LSC tournament last season after going 11-17 in conference games and completed its season with a 26-28 overall record.
