Three Lone Star Conference baseball teams picked up series wins last week, including No. 5 West Texas A&M, No. 13 Angelo State and UT Tyler. ASU earned a road series sweep, while WT and UTT were 3-1 each over the Easter weekend. WT remained in first place at 31-9, followed by the Rams at 30-10 and Lubbock Christian at 27-13.
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
Nick Wolff, Texas A&M-Kingsville, SO, Wildlife and Range Management, Catcher, Klein, Texas
Wolff had a stellar weekend at the plate, recording a .643 batting average across four games against St. Edward's as the Javelinas split a road series with the Hilltoppers. The sophomore slugged 1.214 courtesy of two doubles and two home runs. Additionally, he earned four RBI and crossed the plate himself six times. Wolff was perfect at the plate in the series opener, going 4-4 while blasting two homers over the wall. He went 2-5 with an RBI and two walks in a pair of games Friday before adding two singles and a double to his line in the series finale on Saturday.
PITCHER
Marcos Feria, Cameron, SR, Business Finance, RHP, Miami, Fla., Ferguson HS
Feria had his best outing of the season as the senior held No. 23 Lubbock Christian to just one run in his complete-game appearance in a 2-1 Cameron win on Friday. The Miami native struck out five batters, surrendering just five hits to one of the top offenses in the LSC, as the Chaps hit .208 against him on the night. Feria also stranded six LCU base runners, including two in the top of the seventh, to close out the game as he secured the final out himself on a running catch on a pop-up in foul territory.
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
M-21 Jake Mares, St. Mary's
M-28 Nick Wolff, Texas A&M-Kingsville
A-4 Carson Ogilvie, Lubbock Christian
A-11 Will Fuenning, West Texas A&M
A-17 Nick Wolff, Texas A&M-Kingsville (2)
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
M-21 Aaron Munson, Angelo State
M-28 Isaiah Alvarenga, Oklahoma Christian (2)
A-4 Aaron Munson, Angelo State (2)
A-11 Nick Marshall, West Texas A&M
A-17 Marcos Feria, Cameron
SELECTED NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Adam Becker, West Texas A&M, continued to pace the high-powered West Texas A&M offense this past weekend as they picked up a Lone Star Conference series victory over Texas A&M International at Wilder Park in Canyon. The Midland, Texas native hit an incredible .733 on the weekend with two doubles and three homeruns to drive in nine RBI with 22 total bases for a slugging percentage of 1.467 to go along with a walk and no strikeouts for an on-base clip of .750. The Houston transfer now leads the LSC in batting average (.424), doubles (17), homeruns (13), total bases (130) and slugging percentage (.788).
Julian Macias, Cameron, did his job at the top of the Aggie lineup as they split their 4-game series with No. 23 Lubbock Christian this past week. Macias opened the series with a 2-4 game, with one of those hits being a double; he also scored twice in CU's 8-3 win. The next day he drove in a run in game one of the doubleheader and then went 3-4 with a double, a home run, two runs scored, and an RBI in game two. Macias wrapped up the weekend with a 2-3 performance with a walk in the series finale to give him a .625 on-base percentage for the week.
George Mendazona, Lubbock Christian, collected 12 total bases in LCU's split with Cameron over Easter Weekend, batting .500 with an on-base percentage of .529. He scored four times and drove in five, collecting eight total hits, including one triple and one double. In the second game of the doubleheader Friday, he was 3-for-5 with three runs scored and three driven in. Mendazona's batting average is now up to .403, the fourth-best mark in the conference.
Aaron Walters, Angelo State, powered the Rams' offense to 15.5 runs per game in their sweep of Eastern New Mexico. He opened the series by going 2-4 with a double and three RBIs in a 25-4 run-rule victory. In the doubleheader, he went 4-7 with four RBIs before closing his weekend by going 2-5 with an RBI double. The No. 12 team in the country is 20-0 on the road this season.
Jake Mares, St. Mary's, tied the St. Mary's single-game record after getting hit by a pitch three times in the opener and had four straight multi-hit and multi-RBI games in the series at UTPB. He also stole two bases in that game. In the third game, Mares helped the Rattlers take the lead in the sixth, driving in two runs for the 4-2 tally and in the finale, he singled to drive in a run during the five-run come-from-behind rally, beating out a throw from the edge of the infield grass at shortstop. Mares hit .444 for the week to stretch his hitting streak to nine-straight games.
Devin Ferrari, UT Permian Basin, was clutch for the Falcons in a pair of walk-off wins against St. Mary's over the weekend. On Friday, he launched a game-tying two-run home run to set up Mario Pena's walk-off homer in the opening game of the doubleheader. Then in game two, with his team down three, Ferrari hit another two-run homer as the Falcons nearly completed a nine-run comeback. The senior went 4-8 with two home runs, six RBI, and a double in the doubleheader. He is currently riding a nine-game hitting streak.
Ty Stephenson, Lubbock Christian, posted his first scoreless appearance of the season in the finale against Cameron, which Lubbock Christian won 10-0 in run-rule fashion. He allowed just four hits in the five-inning outing while striking out three. Stephenson did an excellent job pitching down in the strike zone, inducing nine groundouts to just one flyout. The win was his first of the season, as he combined with fellow senior Cade Acrey for the shutout.
Dylan Blomquist, UT Tyler, started out the series against Oklahoma Christian by pitching a gem from the mound and getting the Patriots on the board in game one. Blomquist went eight full innings while allowing just four hits and one unearned run against a team coming off of scoring 56 total runs in the series before facing UT Tyler. He walked five batters but struck out 11 hitters to set a new career high. The freshman from Belton, Texas, also stepped into the batter's box for a DH role in game three and game four and batted .571 with four hits and two RBI.
Kobe Jaramillo, Texas A&M-Kingsville, led the Javelinas to a 7-0 victory as he and Colton Taylor combined to shut out the Hilltoppers in the back half of a Friday doubleheader. The Bishop, Texas native tossed six innings and struck out five while scattering five hits and stranding nine SEU baserunners.
Isaiah Alvarenga, Oklahoma Christian, put together another strong start that helped OC salvage one win in its series at Texas-Tyler. In the series finale on Saturday, he limited the Patriots to one run and four hits and struck out six batters in six innings to earn the pitching win.