Rams open the season strong

File Photo by Brit Raley
Matt Shannon gets ready for the pitch. Shannon had 93 strikeouts last season.

The Angelo State Rams beat the Southern Arkansas University Muleriders on Saturday night 5-2 in the Air Hogs D-II Classic.

The five Rams who scored were freshman Nickolas Novak, sophomore Alex Salcido, junior Jonathan Soberanes, junior Elias Aguirre and sophomore Michael Urquidi.

Junior Pitcher Tyler Lesley struck out seven batters during seven innings of the game.

Lesley made his first ASU start in this game.

Head Coach Kevin Brooks said Lesley did great during the game.

"That’s what we expect from all of our pitchers," Brooks said. "He just set the tone from the start by attacking the zone and throwing all his pitches for strikes, so that was great to see."

Lesley said he was feeling good that day of the game.

"I liked how everything came together today," Lesley said. "It ended up being a great day for me."

Lesley said that the team’s hitting abilities is a blessing to him as a pitcher.

"These guys work every day, and it really shows on the field," Lesley said.

Lesley said he has complete trust in every single one of their relievers.

"They throw it and don’t look back, and that really showed today," Lesley said.

Brooks said he thought the team did a lot better in this game than they have in practice.

"The only thing that’s frustrating is that we’re not scoring late," Brooks said. "We’re jumping out quick and then sort of sitting on it so we have to do a better job of that."

Brooks said they did a good job of using their situations on the field to their advantage.

"We were able to steal some bases, so that was big," Brooks said. "Just overall, I thought we finally looked like Angelo State, and that’s good to say."

The Rams stole five bases during the game. The first steal was from Novak at the beginning of the game after he was hit by a pitch to get on base.

Opening the season, the team won four times in the 2018 Air Hogs D-II Classic against Arkansas Tech University (6-2), Southeastern Oklahoma State University (5-1), Southern Arkansas University (5-2) and Oklahoma Christian (11-8).

The Rams are now 4-0 on the season.

They will return to Foster Field on Friday, Feb. 9 at 4 p.m., Feb. 10 at 2 p.m. and Feb. 11 at 1 p.m. for their series against Southwestern Oklahoma State University.