Two Lone Star Conference baseball programs were undefeated in three-game series as No. 1 Angelo State earned a non-conference sweep and St. Mary’s picked up a trio of league wins in San Antonio over Lubbock Christian. No. 12 West Texas A&M and Texas A&M-Kingsville both earned conference series wins over the weekend.
LSC schedule and results available here:
https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=baseball
LSC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
The LSC Baseball Championship will be a two-week tournament featuring eight teams with the opening round on campus. The winners of each opening round series will advance to a double-elimination tournament played the following weekend. The winner of the postseason tournament will be recognized as the LSC Tournament Champion and receive the conference’s automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason.
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Keone Givens, West Texas A&M, SR, Finance, OF, Jones, Okla., Jones HS
Keone Givens was a force at the plate this past weekend for the No. 12 Buffaloes as WT took a weekend LSC series from the Cameron Aggies. The Jones, Okla. product hit an incredible .778 on the weekend with seven hits in his nine at-bats, scoring nine runs with a double and a grand slam to drive in eight RBI for a slugging percentage of 1.222. Givens walked seven times during the three-game series with no strikeouts for an on-base clip of .882 to go along with five stolen bases and a perfect fielding percentage in his split time between center field and third base with four putouts and two assists.
PITCHER
Connor Schmidt, St. Mary's, JR, Accounting, RHP, Devine, Texas, Devine HS
Connor Schmidt tied his season high with six strikeouts in a 7-2 victory over Lubbock Christian to open the Rattlers’ conference series last week. He allowed only three hits and an earned run in his seven innings of work and held the Chaps to a .130 batting average to improve to 3-1 in 2021. Schmidt allowed just one hit through his first five innings and threw a season-high 91 pitches with 56 going for strikes.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Hitter
F-9 Nick Seginowich, Angelo State
F-16 Ryan Johnson, West Texas A&M
F-23 Keone Givens, West Texas A&M
Pitcher
F-9 Ty Stephenson, Lubbock Christian
F-16 Mathieu Gauthier, West Texas A&M
F-23 Connor Schmidt, St. Mary's
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Giancarlo Servin, Texas A&M, Kingsville, was pivotal in securing a Lone Star Conference series win for the Javelinas over the weekend as he was responsible for three of TAMUK's five home runs over the weekend against the Dustdevils. Servin smashed two round-trippers in Sunday's 13-0 rout for six RBI, most since the 2018 LSC Tournament for any Javelina, and added one more in Monday's finale with a three-run shot that flipped a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead en route to the 8-5 final.
Ryan Carter, Cameron, showed off his power this weekend against No. 12 West Texas A&M with two doubles, a homer, and seven RBI over the three-game series. The junior opened the series with a 2-3, five RBI performance in the 14-12 win in which he had a three-run double and a two-run homer. Carter added two more RBI in game three, coming on another double, pushing his slugging percentage to 1.000 for the weekend.
Koby Kelton, Angelo State, hit a grand slam in game two of the series against Waylon Baptist, tallying six total RBIs in the game. He finished with seven RBIs in the series and came around to score his times. He was responsible for 13 of the Rams' 48 runs this week.
Brian Juarez, St. Mary’s, had at least one hit in all three games in the sweep over Lubbock Christian, including a double that kicked off a two-out rally with the Rattlers trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh that lifted St. Mary's to the 4-1 win. Three of Juarez's four hits in the series were doubles and he had 21 putouts with two assists, catching two of the three games (DH in the other). Juarez entered the weekend with a .125 average and increased it to .263 during the series.
Amado Almanzar, Texas A&M-Kingsville, was near-flawless on the hill for the Javelinas in their 13-0 rout of the Dustdevils on Sunday. The righty from the Dominican Republic threw five scoreless innings with six strikeouts to only two hits and two walks allowed for his first win of the season. He retired four of the five leadoff batters he faced on the day and worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second with a ground ball double play to squelch the rally.
Benjamin Elder, Angelo State, tossed a complete-game shutout, giving up only one hit in a 13-0 win over Wayland Baptist. He finished the day with six strikeouts to help the No. 1 ranked Rams to victory during a series sweep.
Todd Danzeisen, West Texas A&M, was dominant on the mound for the No. 12 Buffs this past weekend as the senior left-hander picked up a victory in the series finale against Cameron to give WT the Lone Star Conference series win. The Las Vegas product allowed just one earned run on two hits with no walks and nine strikeouts in his 4.1 innings of relief on Monday afternoon, allowing an opposing batting average of just .133 on the day.
Armando Valle, Lubbock Christian, set a new career high with 6.2 innings on the mound and was masterful despite taking the loss. He allowed just two hits and four walks (one intentional) in his time on the mound, limiting a potent St. Mary's offense to a .100 batting average. He added in six strikeouts and now has a team-leading 15 on the season.