ASU Baseball Heading to the D-II College World Series

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Angelo State baseball team extended its season on Saturday, defeating West Texas A&M 18-4 to claim the 2021 NCAA Division II South-Central Regional Championship title at Foster Field at 1st Community Credit Union Stadium.

A year after the season was abruptly cut short, the Rams are headed to Cary, N.C., making their fourth appearance in the DII College World Series.

ASU tallied its 42nd victory of the season, improving to 42-7, defeating the Buffs for the second time in the tournament while scoring double-digit runs for the seventh time this postseason.

The Rams found some offense early on in the title game as Jackson Hardy led off with a walk before Nick Seginowich singled to right field to bring him home for the first run of the game.

Koby Kelton led off the second inning with a walk and advanced to third on a wild pitch before Hardy hit a groundout to second base to give ASU an early 1-0 advantage.

In the bottom of the second, West Texas A&M got its first runs of the game, hitting a double to left field followed by a home run over the left-field fence to tie the game 2-2.

The Rams quickly took back the lead as Seginowich hit a triple down the right-field line before coming home on a groundout hit by Jordan Williams.

Lead changes continued in the bottom half of the inning as the Buffs hit a two-RBI double to take their first lead of the contest at 4-3.

Angelo State tied the game in the top of the fourth after Kelton was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before Reese Johnson sent a ball just past the first baseman to bring in the run.

The Rams took control in the top of the fifth inning as Josh Elvir and Aaron Walters led the inning with a hit-by-pitch by walk respectively to get two on with no outs. Elvir came around to score on a throwing error before Jordan Williamssingled to bring in another run.

After a single by Nicholas Novak loaded the bases, Parker Bramlett hit an RBI single while Johnson forced a bases-loaded walk, and Hardy singled to left field for the fifth run of the inning. In their second plate appearances of the inning, Elvir and Walters both picked up RBIs after working back-to-back walks to give the Rams an 11-4 lead.

Benjamin Elder started on the mound for the Rams, tossing three innings with four runs off of four hits. Earning the win was Austin Buley who improved to 2-0 on the year while throwing two scoreless innings with a walk and a strikeout.

The Rams' offense wasn't done yet, adding seven more runs in the next inning to take a commanding 18-4 advantage in the championship game. Hardy hit a two-RBI double down the right-field line while Novak brought in two runs on a single to left-center. With the 240th hit of his career, Novak set a new ASU program record for most hits in a career.

The Rams' bullpen finished off the game without allowing another run by the Buffs as Jake Morgan, Christian Watson, Kyle Moseley, and Landon Schirer each pitched one inning while combining for only one hit.

Four Rams finished with two hits in the game while Hardy led the squad with four RBIs on the night.

Angelo State will await the seeding for the Division II College World Series which is slated for June 5-12 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.