Baseball Readies For Tough Test
St. Mary's (7-2, 5-1 LSC) at #1 Angelo State (6-1, 2-1 LSC)
Friday, February 26 • 6:30 p.m. • Foster Field
Saturday, February 27 • 2 p.m. (DH) • Foster Field
Video Stream
Live Stats
Game Notes
Opening Tip
• St. Mary's returns to the road for a three-game series at top-ranked Angelo State. This will be the 13th meeting in the series where the Rams are nationally ranked. In four other games, the Rams have been ranked in the top 10, but never #1.
• The Rattlers have won five straight games and are now 5-1 in Lone Star Conference action.
• Junior RHP
Connor Schmidt was named both the Lone Star Conference and NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week after his win over Lubbock Christian on Saturday. Schmidt allowed one run on three hits and tied his season-high with six strikeouts in the 7-2 win.
• The series against Angelo State will be the first against the #1 team in the nation for the Rattlers since they joined the Division II ranks in 2000.
Opponent Check-In: Angelo State is 6-1 on the season and 2-1 in Lone Star play. The Rams have won four straight non-conference games, including a record-setting 29-5 over McMurry on Tuesday. ASU is hitting .388 as a team and are 23-for-30 in stolen bases. They have .603 slugging and .546 on-base percentages and 33 of the 87 hits are for extra bases. Parker Bramlett leads the Rams with a .522 batting average, while five others are hitting above .400. On the hill, the Rams sport a 2.73 ERA and all 16 runs they have given up are earned. They have walked a combined 21 batters, while striking out 56, led by 19 from Trent Baker (2-0).
Series History: Angelo State holds the 19-10 lead in the all-time series and has won the last four. The Rattlers are 4-8 in San Angelo. The series didn't begin until 2005 and the teams have played at least once every year since except 2010, 2018 and the teams were slated to play in 2020 before the season was cut short.
Last Time Out: St. Mary's swept a three-game series from Lubbock Christian, winning 7-2, 7-4 and 4-1. The Rattlers hit .273 and had a 2.33 ERA on the weekend. All 12 hitters recorded at least one hit in the series, led by four from
Brian Juarez. Neither
Dylan Bells (4.1) nor
Collin Storms (3.1) allowed a run in relief appearances and the six pitchers combined to strike out 27 Chaps.
Honored: Junior RHP
Connor Schmidt was named both the Lone Star Conference and the NCBWA South Central Region Pitcher of the Week after his work in the 7-2 win over Lubbock Christian on Feb. 21. Schmidt tied his season high with six strikeouts while allowing only one run on three hits. He held the Chaps to a .130 batting average to win his first-ever weekly awards. Schmidt is the 22nd weekly honor for the Rattlers by the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association and the first since 2018 when
Donnie Perez earned hitter of the week on Feb. 28.
Against Number One: When you've been the head coach for 34 years, there's not a lot more firsts to be had, however this will be the first time a
Charlie Migl team will play against the top-ranked team in the nation.
Plunked: In the first game against Lubbock Christian, the Rattlers were hit by a pitch six times. It is the second-highest total in school history, trailing only the seven at Tarleton State on Feb. 11, 2006. Senior OF
Derek Mueller has been hit four times already, which leads the Lone Star and ranks third nationally. Junior OF
Ryan McGowen, who has been hit three times this year now ranks ninth in school history with 20 HBP for his career.
