Angelo State rallies to win first game of Super Regional
Paul WitwerTop-ranked and top-seeded Angelo State overcame an early deficit to beat second-seeded Colorado Mesa 8-2 to open the South Central Super Regional at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium on Friday.
The Mavericks (48-10) struck first going up 1-0 in the third inning, but the Rams (51-9) responded in the next inning with four runs and never looked back. The Rams win snapped Colorado Mesa’s 20-game winning streak, with their last loss coming on April 1, and extended their winning streak against the Mavericks to three games.
The win came in front of the largest crowd at a Super Regional in Division II since 2019 with 3,247 fans in attendance.
The Rams play again at 3 p.m. Saturday and will move on to the next round with a win or will play a third game if necessary 30 minutes after game two.
Friday’s highlights
The Mavericks led off the third inning with a double before advancing to third on a wild pitch and scoring the game’s opening run on a groundout.
The Rams scored four runs in the fourth inning starting with a squeeze bunt from Jackson Hardy that brought Tripp Clark in for a run. A Kamden Kelton double brought in Jordan Williams and Hardy for runs and a Tyler Boggs single brought in Kelton for the RBI who slid past the reach of the Mavericks catcher.
Clark led off in the fifth inning and scored a run on an Austin Beck triple down the left-field line. Beck finished off the scoring in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Williams to balloon the lead to 6-2. Beck led off the seventh inning with a single, stole second and scored on a Williams single up the middle to increase the Rams lead to 7-2. Jacob Guerrero singled up the middle to score Thomas Cain for the final run of the game at 8-2.
Friday’s Stars
Aaron Munson started on the mound for the Rams and picked up the win and improved to 9-2 on the season. Munson tossed six innings allowing four hits, two runs and striking out three players.
Caleb Heuertz pitched in relief of Munson and picked up his third save of the season, allowing one hit in three innings with four strikeouts.
Cain went 2 for 3 at the plate with one run, Clark went 2 for 4 with two runs and Williams went 2 for 4 with two RBI.
They said it
Angelo State coach Kevin Brooks on how his team performed in the first game of the series: “I thought we did enough. We had production all the way through the order and did a good job of maximizing our hits. We got (hits) when we needed (and) we were able to use our speed.”
Angelo State's Tyler Boggs on playing Colorado Mesa, which is located in his hometown of Grand Junction, Colorado: “This is a series I’ve wanted to play in since I stepped foot on campus. So I’m grateful to be in this spot right now where we get to play (Colorado Mesa), and they’re a great team, so it makes it a little bit more special.”