VIDEO: Rams talk about the 3-game road trip

SAN ANGELO – The Angelo State baseball team takes its .342 team batting average, 1.62 staff ERA and 5-0 record to Magnolia, Ark., this weekend to play three non-conference games at Goodheart Field.

The Rams open their first out-of-state road trip with a pair of games on Friday against the University of Arkansas-Monticello Weevils at 2 p.m. followed by a game against the No. 20 ranked Southern Arkansas Muleriders on their home field. A contest against the Lindenwood Lions at 2 p.m. on Saturday will wrap up the weekend.

Angelo State is 0-2 all-time against Southern Arkansas after begin swept by them last season in neutral field games in Fort Worth. The Rams have never played Arkansas-Monticello or Lindenwood.

Mulerider Classic Team Breakdowns

ANGELO STATE RAMS

Angelo State comes into the weekend with a 5-0 record after taking a 6-5 win over St. Mary's in the Rams' first road game of the season. ASU opened the season with a four-game sweep of Ouachita Baptist at Foster Field.

Quaid McKinnon, who was named the Lone Star Conference's Hitter of the Week on Tuesday, leads the Rams' offense with a .529 batting average with seven RBI with Ryan Greer hitting .500 with seven hits. Brett Parsons leads the conference with eight RBI and is hitting .333 through his first 18 at-bats in an ASU uniform, while Toby Semler has two doubles and a .450 batting average in 20 at-bats. Tate Allison paces the team with three doubles and has three RBI.

Michael Lange (1-0) will start against Arkansas-Monticello, Bren Schuehler (0-0) against Southern Arkansas, and Rick Reyna (1-0) in the weekend finale. Lange went five innings of scoreless baseball in his first start of the season, striking out four in a 2-0 win over Ouachita Baptist last Saturday. Schuehler, who is making his first start of the season, has appeared in two games this season and has struck out two and allowed only one hit in 1.1 innings of work. Reyna makes his second start of the season and first since being named the LSC's Pitcher of the Week on Tuesday. The senior from Mission struck out a career-high 12 batters last Friday against OBU.

ARKANSAS-MONTICELLO WEEVILS
The Weevils of Arkansas-Monticello enter the weekend with a 2-0 record after sweeping LeMonyne-Owen last Sunday. UAM, which plays out of the Great American Conference, hit .385 as a team in the two games and outscored its opponent 17-0.

Chris Guzman (1-0) is the probable starting pitcher for the Weevils against the Rams. Guzman went five innings and struck out five in his first start of the season. Guzman is an El Paso native who played the last two years at El Paso Community College before transferring to UAM. He walked one hitter and did not give up a hit in his first appearance of the season.

The Weevils, who have seven players from Texas on their roster, had nine players hit over .300 in the first two games of the season and were 17-26 record in 2011. UAM's Chase Stokes played one season at Eastfield College with Angelo State's Michael Weatherly and Travis Stavinoha, while Christian Gallegos played with ASU's Andrew LaCombe last season at Texas State.


NO. 20 SOUTHERN ARKANSAS MULERIDERS
The Muleriders of Southern Arkansas come into this weekend with a 1-1 record after splitting a pair of games on Tuesday with the University of New Orleans. SAU, which is also out of the Great American Conference, is hitting .286 as a team and has a staff ERA of 2.08 after the two games. Brady Capshaw and David Allday leads the Mulerider offense early on with two RBI each, while Trey Buck had a triple and Trevor Rogers a double.

Southern Arkansas, which has 18 players on its roster from Texas, went 36-16 last year and won its conference championship. The team has not released its probable starting pitcher for Friday's game against the Rams.


LINDENWOOD LIONS
The Lions of Lindenwood University come into the weekend with a 1-2 record after beating North Georgia and dropping games against Valdosta State and St. Leo College. LU plays out of the MIAA and is hitting .250 as a team and has a staff ERA of 6.23 after the first three games of the season. Jason Striegel leads the team with a .429 batting average, while Zach Loraine is hitting .417 and Wade Rothermich above .300.

Dylan Terrell gets the start for the Lions after taking a loss last weekend. Terrell, a 6-3, 230 pound freshman, went 2.2 innings against Valdosta State. He struck out three, but allowed six hits and walked three.

Lindenwood, which is in St. Charles, Mo., and does not have any Texas players on its roster, went 33-23 last season and were 3-4 at neutral field sites.


Angelo State Quotes

Kevin Brooks  •  ASU head coach (270-149)

On the Rams' road trip to Magnolia, Ark.:
We need to play well and to continue working on getting better. With that, we also want to come out with three wins. We don't really know too much about the teams that we are playing, but it's not going to be an easy weekend by any means. We are going to focus on what we need to do and getting better.


Tate Allison •  ASU senior outfielder
On the Rams' start to the 2012 season:
We are clicking on all cylinders right now. Our starting pitchers are doing really well by throwing a lot of strikes and getting guys out when they need to. We are having three-up-three-down innings on defense and it's just a matter of time before our offense gets going. That's been the whole thing with our 5-0 start. We have the offense and the pitching has been there too.


Brett Parsons  •  ASU senior DH/outfielder
On the Rams' start to the 2012 season:
It's a different guy stepping up in every situation. Every game has been someone else that is stepping up and getting the big hit. Right now everything is clicking, but we still have a lot to improve on and look forward to the rest of the season.

On his individual start to the season:
I'm feeling really comfortable and that's a tribute to my teammates. Everyone is getting on base and putting me in situations to drive in runners and there are guys behind me that I can depend on.


Austin Church  •  ASU junior pitcher
On the Rams' start to the 2012 season:
We have been doing really well from an offensive category and the pitching has been coming through. We thought that could be a problem in the fall but we have come together quite a bit and have a 1.1 ERA. You can't get much better than that. 

On his individual start to the season:
I just wanted to throw strikes and I knew we would have a chance to come back in the game if I was able to do that. We are never out of a game. I want people to feel comfortable that I'm in the game and that when I come in the game it's going to be a good outing and they're not going to see many walks or hits. I'm just trying to give us the best chance to win the game.