CANYON, Texas – In a matchup of the teams with the top two records in the Lone Star Conference, the No. 4 West Texas A&M baseball team visits No. 8 Angelo State this weekend for a key regional non-conference series. Both the Buffs and Rams are 16-2 on the year and ranked in the top ten.
The series begins Friday with a single game at 6:30 p.m. at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium in San Angelo. Saturday's doubleheader begins at 4 p.m., followed by a single game Sunday at 1 p.m. Fans can access live stats and streaming of the series on the baseball schedule page at www.gobuffsgo.com.
The Buffs won the 2016 Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship, the first in program history, last May at Foster Field earning an automatic berth into the NCAA South Central Regional. WT posted a 4-2 win over the top-seeded Rams in the "if necessary" game to win the championship.
WT is coming off a commanding sweep of then-No. 10 Texas A&M-Kingsville last weekend at Wilder Park. The Buffs completely dominated the Javelinas, shutting them out three times in the four game series, while outscoring TAMUK 37-4. The Buffs hit a blistering .386 for the series on 49 of 127, while recording 14 doubles, three triples and drove in 30. WT slugged .543 and reached base at a .453 clip, while going four of five in stolen bases.
From the plate, junior Adam Adkins earned LSC Player of the Week honors and had another outstanding week for the Buffs against top competition as he hit .467 in the series against TAMUK. Adkins had seven hits in 15 at bats and led the team with seven runs scored, while hitting a team-high four doubles, one triple and drove in six. He slugged a team-high .867 and reached base at a .529 clip, with one stolen base and had two put outs with no errors in the field. He has hit safely in the last seven games and has driven in a run in each of the last eight games. Adkins leads the team with 11 doubles and three triples on the year, while hitting .419 in 17 starts for the Buffs.
In all, eight Buffs hit over .300 playing in two or more games in the series, while five hit over .400 as junior Jimmy Cubillos led the way hitting .533 on eight of 15 with seven runs scored, thee doubles and three RBI.
On the mound, the Buffs dominated also, to the tune of a season-best 0.94 ERA. Senior Joshua Payne pitched a complete game shutout, going nine innings, allowing two hits with one walk and fanned a career-high 16 earning Lone Star Conference Pitcher and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week honors. Junior Marshall Kasowski also threw a gem of a game combining with senior Justin McAllister for a shutout as Kasowski went six innings, allowing four hits, walking six and fanning ten. Junior Ryan Larison threw a complete game shutout – also a two-hitter with no walks and fanned ten.
Sophomore Dominic Yearego went 5.1 innings, allowing five hits one earned run, no walks and fanned six in relief. WT fanned 46 Javelinas and walked just nine for the week, both season-bests. The team shutout TAMUK three times for the first in series history in 32 innings, allowing 18 hits, four runs – three earned. TAMUK hit a season-low .161 for the series.
WT now has won six games in a row after opening the season with nine-straight wins marking a school-record.
For the season, WT is hitting .371 on 225 of 607 from the plate with 61 doubles, 11 triples, 18 home runs and 179 RBI, while scoring 197 runs. The Buffs are slugging .596 and reaching base at a .449 clip, while going 18 of 25 in stolen bases and have just 17 errors on the year for a .971 fielding percentage.
Junior Nick Canas leads the team in hitting at a .464 clip on 26 of 56 with five doubles, three triples, two home runs and 18 RBI. He is slugging a team-high .768 and reaching base at a .500 clip. Cubillos is second in average at .431 with 25 hits and leads the team with 30 runs scored. He has six doubles and two triples with 10 RBI. Junior Luis Amaro leads the team with 27 hits and boasts a .429 average. Senior Troy LaBrie leads the team with three home runs, while Cubillos and senior Aaron Vallance are a combined 10 for 10 in stolen bases to lead the team.
On the mound, Kasowski has a 1.12 ERA and is 4-1 on the year in six appearances with five starts. He has pitched a team-high 32 innings, allowing 17 hits, six runs – four earned, walked 18 and fanned a team-high 61 as teams are hitting just .155 against him. Payne is 3-1 with a 1.25 ERA in four starts and 21.2 innings of work. He has allowed 14 hits, seven runs – three earned, walked six and fanned 32 as teams are hitting .179 against him. McAllister has two saves to lead the team in 19.1 innings and a 2.33 ERA. Larison is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in 22 innings on four appearances with three starts, fanning 25 and walking a team-low two batters.
As a staff, the Buffs boast a 2.00 ERA in 144 innings, allowing 112 hits, 46 runs – 32 earned, walked 46 and fanned 199 as teams are hitting just .209 against them.
Nationally speaking, the Buffs have had an outstanding start, as they are third nationally in batting average (.371), fourth in doubles (61), 26th in fielding percentage (.971), sixth in on base percentage (.449), 10th in runs (197), fourth in scoring (10.9), fourth in slugging percentage (.596) and ninth in triples (11). On the mound, WT leads the nation in ERA (2.00), third in hits allowed per nine innings (6.94), second in shutouts (5), second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.23), first in strikeouts per nine innings (12.4), second in WHIP (1.10) and 29th in walks allowed per nine innings (2.94).
Individually, Canas is 43rd in batting average (.464), while Adkins is fifth in doubles with 11. Cubillos is 46th nationally in on base percentage and third in the league, while ranking 11th nationally in runs (30). Amaro is eighth nationally in RBI with 32. Adkins leads the LSC in slugging percentage at a .790 clip, which is good for 54th nationally, while ranking fifth in the LSC in total bases with 49 and is 15th in triples with three along with Canas.
Kasowski is 30th nationally and second in the league in ERA with a 1.13 average to Angelo State's Joe Hauser at 0.93. Kasowski is 30th in hits allowed per nine innings (4.78), while ranking second nationally in strikeouts with 61 and leads the nation in strikeouts per nine innings at a 17.16 clip. His four victories are good for 17th nationally.
WT is fourth in the latest NCBWA Top 25 and leads the NCBWA South Central Region top ten this week with Angelo State second in the region rankings. The Buffs are ranked 16th in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 25 and 16th in the D2Baseball.com Top 25.
Angelo State, ranked second in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 25, is 16-2 on the year, and coming off a four-game sweep of UT Permian Basin last week as the Rams averaged over 10 runs in the series. ASU is eighth in the NCBWA Poll and second in the NCBWA South Central Region ranking.
The Rams are just as potent at the plate and on the mound this season as the Buffs, while ASU was picked as the preseason LSC favorite this year. ASU reached the College World Series last season winning the regional at Colorado Mesa, including a 4-1 win over the Buffs there, right after WT won the LSC Championship. Click here for the preview of the series from ASU.
WT head coach Matt Vanderburg is in his ninth season at the helm of the Buffs and 12th overall coaching. He is 257-175 at WT and 356-242 overall. Vanderburg is 20-27 all-time against Angelo State since arriving at WT.
For the series, ASU leads 43-21, but the Buffs have come on strong since Vanderburg's arrival. ASU is 24-7 all-time in San Angelo, while leading 15-13 in Canyon and 4-1 in neutral matchups. The Buffs were swept in the series in San Angelo during the regular season last year and went 3-7 against the Rams in 2016.
