Six Lone Star Conference baseball teams picked up series wins last week, with four teams winning the best-of-three tilts on the road. No. 1 Angelo State, No. 17 West Texas A&M, Eastern New Mexico and Texas A&M-Kingsville all went 2-1 in conference games away from home. St. Mary’s and UAFS both picked up two wins from three at home.
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
Aldo Buendia, Texas A&M-Kingsville, SR, Criminal Justice, INF, Laredo, Texas, Laredo United HS
Aldo Buendia was stellar for the Javelinas en route to their third LSC series win to start the season. The senior had a hit in each game, including a perfect 4-for-4 day at the plate in game two on Saturday, to hit .500 on the weekend. For the series, Buendia totaled two doubles, drove in three runs, scored five times, drew a pair of walks and even had a hand on the mound in the 14-13 barnburner in Saturday's contest as he threw 2.2 innings with four strikeouts for the win.
PITCHER
Zach De la Garza, St. Mary's, SR, Finance & Risk Management, LHP, San Antonio, Texas, Holmes HS
Zach De la Garza pitched his first career nine-inning complete game shutout, and third complete game shutout overall, retiring the final 22 batters of the game on Saturday against Texas A&M International. He allowed only one hit in the game, a single, surrendered no walks and a racked up a season-high-tying seven strikeouts while facing one batter over the minimum. It is the first shutout for the Rattlers since the opening game of the 2020 season - a game in which De la Garza also pitched six frames. He threw just 97 pitches over the nine innings with 72 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
M-2 Jordan Gochenour, UT Tyler
M-9 Aldo Buendia, Texas A&M-Kingsville
Pitcher
F-9 Ty Stephenson, Lubbock Christian
F-16 Mathieu Gauthier, West Texas A&M
F-23 Connor Schmidt, St. Mary's
M-2 Benjamin Elder, Angelo State
M-9 Zach De la Garza, St. Mary’s
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Nick Hernandez, UT Permian Basin, led the Falcon offense over the weekend by going 10-for-17 with four home runs and a double. He drove on nine runs while scoring himself six times. He increased his batting average for the year to .441 over nine games this year.
Eduardo Acosta, Lubbock Christian, had a big weekend at the plate, going 7-for -11 in a three-game series against No. 1 Angelo State, including a double and a home run. He collected 11 total bases in the series and did not strike out at all. His biggest swing came in the series finale, as he crushed a pitch over the left field wall for a go-ahead grand slam in a 12-6 LCU win.
Jake Mares, St. Mary’s, set the table for the Rattlers all weekend, reaching base in 8-of-11 plate appearances out of the second spot in the order, and he also was successful in three sacrifice bunts. The shortstop also recorded a team-best 14 assists in the series, more than double any other player (next highest total was 5). In the 8th inning of the series finale with the Rattlers trailing by one, Mares laid down a bunt, allowing the tying run to get to second - and the runner scored on the double by the next hitter.
Kyle McShaffry, UT Tyler, posted an average of .545 for the weekend in the Patriot's series loss to #17 West Texas A&M. McShaffry had six hits in the three games and recorded two RBI. He posted three hits in Saturday night's game, going 3-for-4 from the plate with a double, an RBI and a run scored. He finished the weekend going 2-for-4 with a run scored in Sunday's series finale.
Chance Westervelt, Oklahoma Christian, led OC to a 2-2 week, hitting .438 with two home runs (including a grand slam) and eight RBIs as the Eagles won at Southern Nazarene before going 1-2 against regionally ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville. His best performance came in a 14-13 loss to TAMUK on Saturday as he twice put OC ahead, first with a two-run homer in the first inning and again in the sixth inning with a no-doubt grand slam. He also had two RBIs in a 13-6 win at SNU on Tuesday and two of OC’s five hits in a 14-4 loss to TAMUK on Sunday.
Jordan Williams, Angelo State, led the top-ranked Rams to a series victory over Lubbock Christian, winning two of the three games. He led the team with four RBIs on the weekend reaching base safely in all 13 games this season.
Cade Engle, West Texas A&M, continued to lead the West Texas A&M offense this past week as the No. 17 Buffs took two out of three games from No. 11 UT Tyler at Irwin Field in Lone Star Conference action. The Pampa product his .333 in the leadoff spot with four hits in his 12 at-bats, scoring a pair of runs and driving in two RBI to go along with one walk and two hit-by-pitches for an on-base clip of .467. On the base paths, Engle was a perfect 4-for-4 on stolen bases while also registering a perfect fielding percentage in right field with eight putouts.
Carter Brown, West Texas A&M, was dominant on the mound for the Buffs as the senior picked up a save in Sunday's series finale to give WT a series win at No. 11 UT Tyler. The Bentonville, Arkansas product entered the game with two on and two outs in the eighth inning and slammed the door with a strikeout followed by a flawless ninth inning with a groundout and two more strikeouts to earn his second save of the season as the Buffs took the series.
Trent Baker, Angelo State, improved to 4-0 on the season as the No. 1-ranked Rams opened the series against Lubbock Christian with a 9-5 victory. Baker struck out eight batters, bringing his season total 31 which ranks second overall in the Lone Star Conference. He also ranks eighth in ERA at 2.36 through four starts.
Nico Sharp, UAFS, improved to 4-0 on the season after earning both wins in a weekend series versus St. Edward's. Sharp got the final two outs in the 9th inning of a 6-5 walk-off win, and then started and pitched six innings in a 4-2 win in the rubber match. In the start, Sharp struck out five while allowing just one walk and one earned run. He ranks 4th in the LSC with a 1.40 ERA and his four wins are tied for the most in the league.
Cooper Hamilton, Eastern New Mexico, earned his first win of the season in an 8-6 Greyhound victory over UT Permian Basin on Friday, March 5. He struck out eight batters while allowing two hits, two walks, and one run in his time on the mound.
Gabe Rodery, Oklahoma Christian, continued his hot pitching, striking out 10 Texas A&M-Kingsville batters in seven innings to lead OC to a 7-2 win over a regionally ranked opponent in the series opener. After allowing two hits and three runs in the first inning, he allowed only five more hits and no runs over the rest of his 115-pitch stint, escaping bases-loaded jams in the sixth and seventh innings with strikeouts, the latter time with a curveball on a 3-2 pitch. It was the fifth double-digit strikeout performance of his remarkable career. He ranks third in the LSC in wins this season.