Tournament Central

CANYON, Texas  – The West Texas A&M baseball team, fresh off of its first Lone Star Conference co-regular season title in program history, heads to Kingsville, Texas, for the 2015 Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship hosted by Texas A&M-Kingsville.  The championship is scheduled for May 7-9 at Nolan Ryan Field on the campus of TAMUK.
 
TAMUK earned the right to host the championship by virtue of its 4-3 head-to-head series win over the Buffs this season.  WT (34-16) is the No. 2-seed, followed by Angelo State and Tarleton State.  The four-team, double-elimination tournament will begin Thursday at 11 a.m. when WT battles Angelo State, followed by TAMUK versus Tarleton State. 
 
For complete tournament information, including links to live stat and tickets visit tournament central by clicking here.  There will not be live streaming of the tournament.
 
Tickets for the championship are on sale now and can be purchased at www.javelinatickets.com or at the McCulley Hall Ticket Office.  Fans also can purchase tickets at the ticket booth at the entrance to Nolan Ryan Field on game days.  Please contact the TAMUK Ticket Office at 361-593-4030 for more information.
 
An All-Session pass for the three-day tournament is $15, while a daily pass for adults (18-up) is $7 and $4 for children ages 4-7.  Children under the age of four are admitted free as are students from any LSC institution with a valid university ID.
 
The Buffs are coming off of a 3-0 series sweep of Cameron in the final regular season series of the season.  WT outscored Cameron 36-20 and hit .432 for the series on 48 of 111.  The Buffs belted 14 doubles, two triples and two home runs while driving in 34 runs and slugging .649.  Cameron hit .327 with 34 hits, three doubles, one triple, one home run and 15 RBI.
 
Juniors Trace Hansen and Matt Cole each hit over .600 each with nine hits and six scored.  Cole hit five doubles and drove in eight.  Junior Josh Day also hit and even .600 with six hits ,three doubles, one triple, six driven in and five RBI.   Cole was tabbed LSC Player of the Week for his efforts.
 
On the mound, the Buffs had a 5.40 ERA in 25 innings, allowing 34 hits, 20 runs – 15 earned, while walking nine and fanning 27 as CU hit .327.  Senior Tyler Gibson earned a win going 6.1 innings in the opener, allowing nine hits, four runs – one earned, while walking two and striking out nine.  Senior Paul Lujan tallied his 11^th save of the season and earned a win in relief this week, as did senior reliever Sean Michel. 
 
Against the tournament field, the Buffs are 13-8 this season and they went 3-4 against TAMUK, 4-3 against Angelo State and 6-1 against Tarleton State.  With a 7-6 victory Saturday, the Buffs won their 14^th game by one run this season and now are 14-9 in one run games.
 
Last season in the LSC Tournament, the Buffs also were a No. 2-seed and lost their first game to No. 3-seed Tarleton State, but battled back to earn a berth in the championship game, falling 4-3 to the Texans.  It was the best finish in program history for the Buffs in the LSC Championship. 
 
WT is 7-12 all-time in the LSC Baseball Championship.  The Buffs went 1-2 in 1994, 3-2 in 1995, 0-2 in 2006, 0-2 in 2012, 1-2 in 2013 and 2-2 last season with a runner-up finish.
 
The Buffs are 34-16 overall and went 23-12 in Lone Star Conference play.  WT's 34 wins tied the school-record for regular season wins as the 1997 team also had 34 wins going 34-18 for the year.  Angelo State enters with a 34-15 record overall and went 21-14 in Lone Star Conference play this season   The Buffs enter the tournament with the longest current winning streak in the league at four games.  TAMUK is second winning its last three.
 
Against Angelo State this season, the Buffs hit .252 with 57 hits, including 13 doubles and one home run while driving in 18 runs and scoring 23.  The Buffs slugged .323 and reached base at a .320 clip.  Cole hit 7 for 23 with three runs scored, two doubles and one RBI as he paced the team hitting .304.  Senior Max Brennen went 6 for 22 with a team-high four runs scored and three RBI. 
 
On the mound the Buffs had a 3.26 ERA in 58 innings with 52 hits allowed, 22 runs – 21 earned, 12 walks and 39 strikeouts as the Rams hit .248.   Gibson went 0-1 with a 1.32 ERA in 13.2 innings, allowing 11 hits, two earned runs, six walks and he fanned nine in two starts against the Rams.  Lujan went 1-0 with a save as well, while junior Brooks Trujillo went 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in two starts pitching 12 innings, allowing 10 hits, four earned runs, walked one and fanned four.
 
WT went 2-2 at Angelo State Mar. 13-15 and went 2-1 in Canyon April 17-18.  The teams played four games decided by one run (WT, 3-1) and two more decided by two runs (ASU, 2-0).  They had two extra-inning games both won by WT in a 6-5 (8) and 2-1 (11). 
 
Angelo State leads the all-time series 35-18.  WT won last year's meeting in Kingsville, ending ASU's season in the LSC semifinal 5-3 in 10-innings.  ASU leads the all-time series 2-1 in neutral site games.  WT has won 13 of the last 18 games in the series dating back to 2013 and went 6-2 against the Rams last season.
 
WT head coach Matt Vanderburg is 203-149 at the helm of the Buffs in his seventh season.  He is 302-216 in his 10^th season overall as a head coach.  Vanderburg is 17-19 all-time against Angelo State, 21-16 against Tarleton State and 18-19 against Texas A&M-Kingsville.  Vanderburg won his 200^th game at WT April 26, 2015, in a 2-1 victory in 10 innings at Tarleton State.  He is the all-time winningest coach in WT baseball history.  Vanderburg then won his 300^th game in the series opener last Friday against Cameron 13-4.
 
This season, the Rams are led by Paxton DeLaGarza who leads the team and the league with a .382 average.  He is a league-best 68 for 178 for the year in 49 games with 33 runs scored, 13 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 37 RBI.  J.C. Snyder is second on the team with a .358 average as he has 62 hits with 27 runs scored, a league-best 21 doubles, one triple, six home runs and 28 RBI.  Nehwon Norkeh leads the team and the LSC with 48 runs scored and is third in average at a .311 clip.  Norkeh has 55 hits, with 13 doubles and leads the team with LSC-best nine home runs.  Cody Semler is a league-best 12-17 in stolen bases.

As a team, the Rams are hitting .296 for the season with 451 hits in 1525 at bats.  Angelo State has scored 264 runs, with 90 doubles, five triples and 35 home runs, while driving in 226.  ASU is 49 of 77 in stolen bases, while the opposition is 33 of 61.
 
On the bump, the Rams are led by Steve Naemark who leads the LSC with a 1.09 ERA.  He is 8-1 in 91 innings of work appearing in 15 games with 14 starts, one complete game and one save.  Naemark has allowed 64 hits, 18 runs – 11 earned and walked 19, while striking out a league-best 108.  Bryce Zak and Blake Bass also are strong on the mound this season as Zak has a 2.24 ERA in 64.1 innings of work with 78 strikeouts and has allowed just one home run all season which leads the league, while Bass has a 2.40 ERA and a league-best 9-2 record in 82.8 innings.  Bass has fanned 91 (2^nd LSC) and walked just 17.  Graylon Brown leads the team with 10 saves on the year in 38 innings of work.
 
As a staff, the Rams have a 3.05 ERA which is tops in the LSC in 398 innings.  ASU has allowed 371 hits, 166 runs – 135 earned, walked 140 and fanned 444. 
 
The opener between the Buffs and Rams pits the top two teams in batting average and top two teams in ERA.  Thursday's game will potentially be the rubber-match between Naemark and Gibson on the bump as the two are top in the LSC in ERA and innings pitched.  Lujan and Brown lead the league in saves.
 
The Buffs are hitting .287 on the year with 464 hits in 1615 at bats.  They have scored 289 runs with 91 doubles, 17 triples, 23 home runs and driven in 264 runs.  WT is slugging .407 and reaching base at a .365 clip.  The Buffs are 18 of 34 in stolen bases and have a .959 fielding percentage with 76 errors.
 
On the bump, the team has a 3.67 ERA in 404.1 innings.  The Buffs have allowed 410 hits, 210 runs – 165 earned, walked 117 and fanned 345.  The opposition is hitting .266 against WT and has a 5.20 ERA.
 
Individually, Day leads the team with a .330 average in 50 games started this season.  He has 58 hits (second on the team), 11 doubles, five triples (leads team and LSC) and is tied for the team-lead in home runs with four.  He has a team-high 40 RBI and has scored a team-high 42 runs.  March is second in average at .326 in 49 starts.  He has a team-high 60 hits with 35 runs scored, eight doubles, three triples, one home run and 24 RBI.  Cole is third in average at .317 with 57 hits, a team-high 15 doubles, two triples, one home run and 31 RBI, while scoring 34 runs.
 
Gibson has a 2.15 ERA and a 6-2 record in 14 appearances with 13 starts, three complete games, one shutout and one save.  He has pitched a team-high 88 innings, allowed 71 hits, 30 runs – 21 earned, walked 27 and fanned a team-best 81.  Lujan has a team-best 0.61 ERA and is 5-1 in 22 appearances with a league-best 11 saves in 29.2 innings of work.  Senior Sean Michel is 6-0 with a 2.89 ERA in 18 relief appearances, while Trujillo has a 3.46 ERA in 13 starts and is second in innings pitched at 67.2.