Angelo State's Overall Record: 14-3; LSC: 0-0
Streak: Lost 1
Rankings: No. 18 Collegiate Baseball

Central Oklahoma's Overall Record: 9-5
Streak: Won 1
Rankings: None

Pitching Matchups
Game 1
UCO: Uriah Fisher, Sr. (1-0, 2.38 ERA, 11.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 12 K)
ASU: Jake Feckley, Soph. (2-0, 1.42 ERA, 19.0 IP, 12 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 5 BB, 20 K)
Game 2
UCO: Edgar Lopez, Jr. (3-1, 1.99 ERA, 22.2 IP, 13 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 9 BB, 25 K)
ASU: Rick Reyna, Sr. (2-1, 1.50 ERA, 24.0 IP, 16 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 30 K)
Game 3
UCO: To be announced
ASU: James Conlee, Jr. (2-0, 2.20 ERA, 16.1 IP, 12 H, 6 R, 4 ER, 10 BB, 11 K)

ASU Last Week's Results (4-0)
Friday, February 24 vs. CSU-Pueblo, W 9-0
Saturday, February 25 vs. CSU-Pueblo, W 4-0; W 7-3
Sunday, February 26 vs. CSU-Pueblo, W 14-4

ASU This Week
Tuesday: Split DH with Texas A&M International, W 2-0; L 4-3 (Sullivan Field - San Antonio)
Friday, March 2 vs. Central Oklahoma, 6:30 p.m. (Foster Field)
Saturday, March 3 vs. Central Oklahoma, 1 p.m. doubleheader (Foster Field)

ANGELO STATE BASEBALL

SAN ANGELO, Texas – No. 18 Angelo State hosts Central Oklahoma in a three-game series at Foster Field this weekend in its final non-conference series before starting Lone Star Conference action on March 16 at Texas A&M-Kingsville.

Angelo State (14-3) enters the series with an 8-0 record at Foster Field and with a 14-16 all-time mark against the Bronchos who departed the LSC after last season. The Rams had a season-high eight-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday with a 4-3 non-conference loss to Texas A&M International.

UCO (9-5) comes into San Angelo after taking a 13-10 win over Mid-American Christian University on Tuesday in Edmond, Okla. The Bronchos, who are playing this season as an independent before joining the MIAA next year, were on a three-game losing streak with two losses against TAMU-Kingsville last weekend and an 18-11 loss to Newman prior to their trip to South Texas.

“They always have good teams and do again this year,” ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. “It's going to be a great test for us.”  


Team Breakdowns

The Rams will send the trio of Jake Feckley, Rick Reyna and James Conlee to the mound in this weekend's series. Feckley (2-0) is coming off a 5.1 inning win last weekend against Colorado State-Pueblo and has a 1.42 earned run average to go along with 20 strikeouts in his first 19 innings on the mound this season. Reyna (2-1) threw a complete-game shutout against CSU-Pueblo last Saturday and will look to improve on his impressive 1.50 ERA and team-leading 30 strikeouts. He was named the LSC's Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season after his outing. James Conlee (2-0) did not get a decision in his start in the third game of last weekend's series and will come into the third game of this series with a 2.20 ERA.

“We expect them to come out and do the same things that have made them successful so far this season,” Brooks said. “They have to come out and throw strikes and attack the hitters to get an out.”

The Rams are hitting .306 as a team through the first 17 games of the season and are outscoring their opponents 114-49. ASU has outscored its opponents in every inning, including a 16-6 first-inning margin.

Ryan Greer, who had an eight-game hitting streak end against TAMIU, leads the Rams with a .375 batting average to go along with seven stolen bases and four doubles. Toby Semler, who has reached base in 14 straight games, is hitting .350 and hit his first home run with a shot to left field on Tuesday, while Andrew LaCombe (.333), Quaid McKinnon (328), Brett Parsons (.320) and Lee Neumann (.309) represent the .300 hitters.

Doug Snover has reached base in 10 straight games and is hitting .275 with 10 RBI and seven stolen bases. Snover has hit two home runs in the last three games and recorded seven assists at second base in Tuesday's first game against the Dustdevils – a stat that puts him sixth all-time in the ASU record books.

Tate Allison leads the Rams with three home runs after a two-run blast on Tuesday and has a team-leading .568 slugging percentage.  

 
Central Oklahoma Bronchos (9-5)

Former Texas Longhorn pitcher and Shawnee, Okla. native Dax Leone is in his second season as the head coach at Central Oklahoma after leading the team to a 24-23 record in 2011. The Bronchos, who have three native Texans on their roster, are 5-1 in games played on their campus in Edmond and 4-4 on the road so far this season.

Kevin Blue leads the Bronchos with a .500 batting average through his first 56 at-bats. The senior from Choctaw, Okla. has four home runs, four doubles and 20 singles from the right side of the plate. J.P. Maples (.441), Austin Rycroft (.426) and Jared Wright (.400) lead a team that is hitting .337. Rycroft, a senior out of Edmond's Sante Fe High School, has four home runs, three triples and seven doubles with Maples tallying three at this point in his junior season.

Formerly an Oklahoma high school football standout who grabbed national headlines at Shawnee High, UCO second baseman Tucker Brown is hitting .304 with eight RBI in his senior season. Keegan Morrow, a senior from the Oklahoma City suburb, Westmoore, is hitting .383 with a .511 slugging percentage and 11 RBI.

Uriah Fisher (1-0) will start Game 1 of the series for the Bronchos. The senior from Clinton, Okla. has 2.38 ERA through his first four appearances and has struck out 12 and allowed only six hits in 11.1 innings of work.

Edgar Lopez (3-1), who will start Saturday's first game, is the Bronchos' pitching leader coming into the series with a 1.99 ERA through 22.2 innings of work. Lopez, a right-handed junior from Yuma, Arizona, has limited opponents to a 13 hits and has struck out 25. Ryan Miller (2-0) has a .365 ERA through three starts in his third season out of Velma-Alma High School in southern Oklahoma, while senior Ryan Wagner possesses a team-leading 0.93 ERA in five appearances out of the bullpen. Wagner, a senior also out of Santa Fe High, has struck out nine in 9.2 innings.

 
Up Next
Angelo State will take a 13-day hiatus away from competition after Saturday's final out. The Rams return to action on March 16 with the start of LSC paly with a four-game series at Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Rams are 18-10 all-time against the Javelinas, including an 8-4 record in games played in South Texas.

Although this is the final non-conference series of the season, the Rams will travel to play Texas Tech on April 3, and host St. Mary's on April 11 in other non-conference affairs.

Media coverage

Live stats from this weekend's games between the Rams and Bronchos can be found at www.AngeloSports.com along with updates at www.twitter.com/AngeloSports. Radio coverage featuring play-by-play announcer Ben Ely will be available for Friday's game.