Top-ranked Angelo State moved to 14-0 with a road series sweep over Lubbock Christian and West Texas A&M pulled off a series sweep at home over No. 22 Texas A&M-Kingsville. St. Edward’s also picked up a series sweep, and Cameron, Tarleton, UAFS and UT Tyler all earned series wins.
LSC teams are playing a 13-week conference schedule with a four-game series against 11 of their 13 opponents and a three-game series against the other two. Weeks one and two will be three-game series and weeks three through 13 will be four-game series. Each four-game series shall consist of a 9-inning game Friday, a 7x7 doubleheader Saturday and 9-inning contest Sunday.
The overall LSC Champion will be the team(s) with the best winning percentage in regular-season conference games, while the winner of the postseason championship will be recognized as the LSC Tournament Champion and receive the league’s automatic qualification into NCAA postseason.
LSC schedule and results available here:
https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=baseball&
2020 LSC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
This season, the top eight teams based on winning percentage in regular-season conference games will play a two-week conference tournament. The first week will consist of four best-of-three series hosted by the top four seeds on Friday, May 1 and Saturday, May 2 with game one Friday, and game two and, if necessary, game three on Saturday. The four winning teams will advance to a double-elimination tournament the next week May 7-8-9 in Cleburne, Texas at The Depot at Cleburne Station. Teams will not be re-seeded prior to the second week of the championship.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Keone Givens, West Texas A&M, SR, Finance, OF, Jones, Okla., Jones HS
Givens was a spark plug for the West Texas A&M Buffaloes this past weekend as they swept past the visiting No. 22 Texas A&M-Kingsville Javelinas at Wilder Park in Canyon to move to 12-2 overall. The Jones, Okla. product hit .462 on the weekend with two doubles and a homerun to drive in seven RBI with 11 total bases for a slugging percentage of .846 to go along with three walks for an on-base clip of .529. Givens tied for the team lead in runs scored with six while also registering a perfect fielding percentage in center with eight putouts in the four-game sweep.
PITCHER
Zach Dixon, West Texas A&M, SR, Biology, LHP, Las Vegas, Nev., Centennial HS
Dixon dominated for the Buffaloes this past weekend as the senior left-hander tossed a complete game one-hit shutout in the second game of the Lone Star Conference weekend sweep of No. 22 Texas A&M-Kingsville at Wilder Park in Canyon. The Las Vegas, Nevada native didn't allow a hit until the leadoff batter in the seventh inning on Saturday afternoon in the 11-0 WT victory. Dixon walked three in the game to go along with 10 strikeouts for an opposing batting average of .045 to move to 3-0 on the season.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Hitter
F-4 Bradley Mathiowetz, Angelo State
F-11 Blake Burns, Tarleton
F-18 Parker Bramlett, Angelo State
F-25 Keone Givens, West Texas A&M
Pitcher
F-4 Aaron Weseman, Lubbock Christian
F-11 Benjamin Elder, Angelo State
F-18 Reagan MacDonald, UT Tyler
F-25 Zach Dixon, West Texas A&M
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Josh Elvir, Angelo State, was a vital asset to the Rams first ever series sweep in Lubbock over Lubbock Christian this past weekend. He tallied four home runs over the weekend. In game one of the series, he got the scoring started for ASU in the third inning with a three-run homer to give the Rams an early 3-0 lead and ASU went on to claim the win 7-6. On Saturday in game one of the doubleheader, he hit two back-to-back two-run homers to tie the game 3-3 in the third and gave Angelo State the 6-3 lead in the fourth to help the Blue and Gold take a 17-4 victory. In game two of the double header, he hit another three-run homer in the fifth inning to increase the Rams lead to 12-3 and claimed the 15-8 victory. Elvir tacked on 11 runs, two doubles, and 13 RBI and was a perfect 6-6 on stolen bases over the weekend to help keep the Rams undefeated streak alive and extend their record to 14-0.
Blake Burns, Tarleton, continued his torrid pace at the plate with a .615 batting average during Tarleton’s four-game road trip to Eastern New Mexico. Burns went 8-for-13 at the plate with seven runs scored and one of every kind of base hit – five singles, a double, a triple and a home run – while driving in a team-high eight RBI. Burns slugged 1.077 and also stole a base. With Burns leading the way, Tarleton scored 44 runs over their 3-1 series win against the Greyhounds.
Errett Edwards, Oklahoma Christian, recorded seven straight base hits in as many plate appearances in one stretch and hit .727 (with an on-base percentage of .750) in OC's series against UT Tyler. In the first three games of the series, Edwards hit a perfect 1.000, going 7 for 7 with a double and two RBIs, providing the Eagles a bright spot even as the Eagles went 0-3. His two-run pinch-hit double in the seventh inning of the series opener pulled OC within 8-7 in a game the Patriots eventually won 10-7. He went 4 for 4 in the opening game of Saturday’s doubleheader, then 2 for 2 in the second game. In OC's 11-10 win on Monday, he scored twice, with one of those runs coming in a six-run eighth inning during which he drew a key walk.
Lukas Polanco, UT Tyler, helped lead the Patriots to their fourth consecutive series win, claiming three wins in four games on the road at Oklahoma Christian. He batted a team-high .471 on the week, leading a UTT offense that scored 47 runs in four games and had a team batting average of .381 in the series. Polanco's 3 home runs gave him team-highs of five HR and 18 RBI on the season. He hit safely in all 4 games of the series and homered in three of the four games.
Zane Phelps, St. Edward’s, had three doubles and drove in four runs in the Hilltoppers four-game sweep of St. Mary's last weekend. The senior infielder racked up seven total bases, which translated to a .583 slugging percentage, and he reached base at a .467 clip. Phelps also scored five runs during the series.
Brayden Johnson, UAFS, gave Lions a huge lift in the second game of the Friday's doubleheader against UT Permian Basin. Johnson pitched seven innings and allowed five hits and one earned run while striking out 13 players. His ERA was 1.29 and he only walked one Falcon batter. The Lions went on to win this game by the score of 2-1 and take the series 3-1.
Jack Granack, St. Edward’s, pitched a complete game and earned the win in the series opener against St. Mary's on Friday. The freshman right-hander allowed only three hits and struck out five Rattler batters in the victory.
Zane Badmaev, Tarleton, had a career-best outing from the bullpen to close out the series with a save Sunday afternoon. The redshirt freshman recorded the first six-out save of his career by facing just one batter over the minimum with a pair of strikeouts to stabilize the Texan bullpen in the series finale.
Carson Childers, Angelo State, was strong out of the bullpen for the Rams claiming the save in game one of the series against Lubbock Christian. He did not allow a hit through 2.2 innings of work and struck out four batters. In the series finale, he gave up two walks and struck out one batter in the 12-5 victory.
Garrett Arredondo, UT Tyler, improved to 3-0 on the season, surrendering just one run on five hits in offense-friendly conditions at Oklahoma Christian. He surrendered just one run on five hits through 5.0 innings of UT Tyler's 13-3 win in the third game of the four-game series. Arredondo did not allow an extra-base hit and has now registered at least 5 strikeouts in all 4 of his starts this season. He has a season ERA of 0.96, holding opposing hitters to a .182 average.
Tyler Stone, UT Permian Basin, was dominant Saturday, nearly throwing a complete game and striking out 11. The junior put together the best start of his season, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and didn't surrender a second hit until the ninth.