Four Lone Star Conference teams picked up conference series wins over the last week, including Lubbock Christian, who earned a series sweep at home. No. 2 West Texas A&M, Eastern New Mexico and St. Edward's were the other teams to win their LSC matchups. Angelo State ranked No. 17, earned a two-game series sweep over Drury in non-conference action. WT maintains its status atop the league standings at 17-3, followed by Lubbock Christian and Angelo State at 15-5 and St. Edward's at 17-7.
LSC baseball teams are playing a single round-robin conference schedule with a four-game series against each league opponent (48 total LSC games).
LSC teams are 5-1 combined versus Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference competition in the NCAA Division II South Central Region.
LSC schedule and results are available here:
https://lonestarconference.org/calendar.aspx?path=baseball
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
HITTER
Spencer Roach, Eastern New Mexico, R-FR, Physical Education, OF, Cape Coral, Fla., Cape Coral HS
Roach helped lead ENMU to a 3-1 series win last weekend on the road against UT Tyler. The Hounds picked up three wins in a row over the Patriots, 11-6, 5-3, and 5-1, to open the series. In-game one against UTT, Roach provided three hits, including a two-run home run, scored three runs and drove in three RBI. The redshirt freshman registered a .429 batting average for the series and reached base at a .500 clip while scoring six total runs. Roach currently leads the Hounds in batting average (.348), slugging percentage (.591), hits (23), runs scored (19), home runs (3), and total bases (39) for the Greyhounds.
PITCHER
Josh Buske, St. Mary's, JR, Engineering Management, LHP, San Antonio, Texas, Reagan HS
Buske held the Texas A&M-Kingsville bats in check, pitching a two-hit complete-game shutout in a 6-0 win over the Javelinas. The junior struck out seven TAMUK batters in his first start of the season, throwing just 87 pitches and retiring 11 straight batters from the second inning into the sixth. Javelina hitters managed to hit just .091 in seven innings against the San Antonio native, who faced three batters over the minimum.
WEEKLY AWARDS
Hitter
F-8 Matt Kissamis, Texas A&M International
F-15 Eduardo Acosta, Lubbock Christian
F-22 Austin Beck, Angelo State
M-1 Justin Lee, Angelo State
M-8 Ethan Bedgood, UT Tyler
M-15 Spencer Roach, Eastern New Mexico
Pitcher
F-8 Isaiah Alvarenga, Oklahoma Christian
F-15 Dylan Bells, St. Mary's
F-22 Logan Garza, Texas A&M-Kingsville
M-1 Jan Cabrera, Texas A&M International
M-8 Dylan Blomquist, UT Tyler
M-15 Josh Buske, St. Mary's
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Mason Donohoe, Lubbock Christian, had a huge weekend at the plate as the Chaparrals swept four games against Texas A&M International. He hit .615 and walked four times for a .722 on-base percentage. The Round Rock native drove in a team-leading 10 runs and slugged a ridiculous 1.692 in the four games. Game three of the series was his biggest, as Donohoe went 4-4 with a walk, homering three times in the game. It is tied for the most home runs in a single game this season by an LSC player. He homered once more on the weekend and had a pair of doubles as well.
Shawn Tober, St. Mary’s, started all four for the Rattlers in the outfield, after playing just five games prior to the weekend, and hit .429, leading the way with five RBI against Texas A&M-Kingsville. In the two wins over TAMUK, Tober drove in four of the team's 12 runs. The five RBI for the week almost match his season total from a year ago, where he had eight in 23 games.
Ivan Duarte, Texas A&M-Kingsville, was a force at the plate, going 5-10 for the Javelinas in a series split against St. Mary's. He smacked two doubles and recorded five walks to earn a. 667 OBP while swiping three steals. He crossed the plate four times on the week and recorded four RBIs for the Javelinas.
Adam Becker, West Texas A&M, continued to power the West Texas A&M offense as they picked up a conference series win on the road at UAFS. The Midland native hit .389 with three doubles and two homers, driving in five RBI for a slugging percentage of .889 to go along with a perfect fielding percentage and five putouts at third base. Becker doubled twice and drove in three RBI during Monday's run-rule victory in the series finale.
Jordan Harrison-Dudley, Cameron, showed off his power tool this week during the Aggies' series at UT Permian Basin. The senior outfielder totaled 10 RBI and had a slugging percentage of 1.167 over the 4-game span. Harrison-Dudley drove in three runs on a triple in the series opener and then went 2-3 with two runs scored and an RBI in game three. He ended the weekend by going 3-5 with three runs scored and six RBI to go along with two homers which tied the LSC lead of seven.
Ethan Bedgood, UT Tyler, put on a show at the plate for UT Tyler over the weekend. He started the weekend with a 4-for-5 outing in game one that included a double, an RBI, and a run scored. On Saturday, Bedgood added another pair of hits and his only walk of the weekend before stepping up with another strong 2-for-4 outing on Sunday. On the season, Bedgood is now hitting a team-leading .372 with 11 extra-base hit
Will Rodman, Oklahoma Christian, pitched his first collegiate complete game, a five-hit shutout as OC beat regionally ranked St. Edward's (Texas) 6-0 on Sunday in the first game of a doubleheader. He allowed only one baserunner to advance as far as third base, striking out seven Hilltoppers while walking only two.
Nolan Cox, UT Tyler, got the start on Sunday afternoon for UT Tyler and shut down an Eastern New Mexico team that had won four straight games and scored 32 runs during their winning run. Cox allowed just four hits on the day with one walk. Only one runner managed to reach third base and he allowed just one extra-base hit on the day. It was the longest outing for Cox on the season as he went six innings and struck out a season-high eight hitters.
Benjamin Elder, Angelo State, improved to 3-0 on the season as he threw five scoreless innings against Drury in ASU's 20-3 victory. He also collected six strikeouts while giving up only one walk. He ranks third in the LSC in ERA at 2.62 and is tied for sixth in punchouts with 35 this season.
Brandon Symmank, Texas A&M-Kingsville, hurled five solid innings for the Javelinas, earning the victory in a 10-3 win over St. Mary's to close out the four-game series. The righty allowed just three hits and a walk while striking out six in a dominant performance. He allowed no runs, bringing his ERA down to 1.73 on the year, a statistic that leads the LSC. Additionally, he is a conference leader in opponent batting average, with a mark of .183, and is fifth in strikeouts at 37.
Maddux Hoaglund, West Texas A&M, was dominant in the series opener on Saturday night for the No. 3 Buffaloes as the sophomore allowed just one earned run on three hits with three walks and a season-high 11 strikeouts in a 9-1 WT victory. The Cadillac, Michigan native moved to 3-0 on the season as he allowed an opposing batting average of .136 in the win.
Ruger Bravo, Eastern New Mexico, posted a complete-game win over UT Tyler on Saturday afternoon during a 5-1 win over the Patriots. Bravo's win helped the Hounds go 3-1 over the weekend as the redshirt freshman delivered the first complete game of his ENMU career while allowing just one run in the game. Bravo held the UTT hitters to just seven hits while picking up five strikeouts. The Albuquerque, N.M. native held opposing hitters to a .269 batting average.
Clayton McClenan, Cameron, had the strikeout pitch working as he earned the win over UT Permian Basin in the series finale this weekend. The sophomore faced just five batters over the minimum in the seven innings of work, giving up five hits and two runs. McClenan also struck out 10 batters without surrendering a walk and held UTPB to an average of .192 in the 15-2 Aggie win.