CANYON, Texas – The top two teams in the Lone Star Conference will battle each other in the opening round of the 2021 NCAA Division II South Central Regional Championship as the #5 Buffaloes take on rival #10 Angelo State on Thursday night with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. at Foster Field in San Angelo.

ANGELO STATE
The Rams enter the weekend as the region's third seed after claiming the program's fourth LSC Tournament Championship last weekend in San Angelo, holding an overall record of 39-7. ASU is 25-2 so far this season at Foster Field as the Rams have gone 18-2 over their last 20 contests.
 
Kevin Brooks has built the ASU Baseball program into a national power during his time in San Angelo, holding an overall record of 628-308 over the past 17 years with three trips to the Division II College World Series (2007, 2015, 2016).
 
Aaron Walters leads the way offensively for ASU as the transfer from Texas A&M is hitting .438 on the season with 15 doubles and nine homeruns to drive in 61 RBI for a slugging percentage of .700 to go along with 32 walks and 26 strikeouts for an on-base clip of .541. Unanimous South Central Region Pitcher of the Year Trent Baker leads the way on the mound for the Rams, holding a record of 13-1 with a 2.15 ERA in his 92.0 innings of work, allowing 25 runs (22 earned) on 73 hits with 14 walks and 105 strikeouts for an opposing batting average of .215.
 
WT HEAD COACH MATT VANDERBURG
Matt Vanderburg has built West Texas A&M Baseball into a regional and national contender as the Norman, Oklahoma native is now in his 13th season at the helm of the Buffs. He holds an overall record of 407-230 (.639) during his time in Canyon while registering a career record of 506-297 (.630) in his 16 seasons in collegiate baseball.
 
THE COACHING STAFF
Cory Hall enters his 11th year at WT as the Buffs' Pitching Coach, serving the last five as the program's Associate Head Coach. Hall has had four different pitchers drafted in the MLB Draft during his time in Canyon with multiple other professional players learning under one of the top pitching minds in collegiate baseball. Assistant Coach Shawn Neale returns for his fifth season in Canyon as the Buffs finished the 2020 season hitting .298 as a team with 76 extra-base hits and an on-base percentage of .403. WT also welcomes the program's all-time saves leader Dominic Yearego to the coaching staff for his first season in the dugout.
 
TIME TO DANCE
The Buffs enter the NCAA Postseason for the seventh straight season, holding the second longest active streak in the South Central Region behind only Colorado Mesa (12). WT is 5-12 all-time in the NCAA Tournament including a 1-2 mark at Foster Field in San Angelo with those games coming back in 2017.
 
The winner of the South Central Regional Championship will make their way to Cary, North Carolina on June 5-12 for the 2021 NCAA Division II College World Series taking place at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
 
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Eleven different seniors made the difficult decision following the shortened 2020 campaign to return to West Texas A&M for their final season as Carter Brown, Todd Danzeisen, Chandler Dean, Zach Dixon, Cade Engle, Mathieu Gauthier, Keone Givens, Cooper Harris, Justin Martinez, Kyle Moos and Reese Patterson return for WT. Those 11 will be joined by senior transfers Jonah Gonzales (San Francisco State), Justin Robinson (Arkansas-Pine Bluff), Jake Suddreth (Florida State) and Jordon Wyke (Regis) as WT's senior class of 2021.