Four things to know about ASU baseball ahead of the Lone Star Conference Tournament

The Angelo State baseball team is back in the Lone Star Conference Tournament to defend its back-to-back titles, starting with a home series against Texas A&M International this weekend.

The Rams enter the playoffs in a different spot this year. They currently sit in the third seed after tying their regular season series with second seed West Texas A&M last weekend.

Angelo State faces an uphill battle this year if they want to win the Lone Star championship this year and here are four things to watch along the way.

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Pitching

There was a big turnover on the mound for the Rams this season. After losing Aaron Munson and Kade Bragg to the MLB draft, head coach Kevin Brooks and assistant coach Adam Foster looked to new faces in 2024.

One of those new faces is Dax Dathe. He is currently the lead pitcher for the Rams and is a junior from Round Rock by way of Texas Tech. Dathe finished the regular season with 90 strikeouts, which leads the LSC, and is fourth in the conference in earned-run average at 4.43.

Alezeah Gutierrez from El Paso and Midland College is the other consistent starter for the Rams in 2024. He started 12 games for Angelo State amassing a 7-4 record and a 4.59 ERA.

The rest of the bullpen has been up and down for the Rams. However frequent Wall native and reliever Caleb Heuertz, who boasts and impressive 2.70 ERA in, was steady for the Rams all season. For the Rams to fight their way into an LSC Championship game and onto the regional tournament, they will need more from the other starters on the roster.

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Hitting

Last year, the Rams focused on small-ball offense and base running to generate runs — always a focus for Brooks' squads.

This year, Angelo State is a more explosive hitting team led by seniors Tripp Clark and Jacob Guerrero. Clark leads the conference in batting average at .436, on-base slugging percentage at 1.293 and RBIs with 74. Guerrero leads the conference in stolen bases with 25 and is in the top five in doubles and RBIs.

While Clark and Guerrero are the household names, the Rams have eight other players with batting averages above .300.

Health

The Rams struggled with staying healthy this season which is a large reason for their departure from the D-II Top 25.

Standout third baseman Kam Kelton started 27 games this season but seems to be making his way back into the fold. Kannon Brooks, who was hitting .316 missed significant time appearing in 14 games and the back-to-back LSC tournament player of the year Austin Beck missed most of the season appearing in nine games.

As the Rams began getting healthier as the regular season closed out, they gave No. 11 West Texas A&M a hard-fought series split. Angelo State almost won the last game, but in the ninth-inning run fell short giving the Buffs a 6-5 win.

The Dustdevils

The Rams last played sixth-seeded TAMIU (24-26) in early April and won the series 3-1. They dropped the first game 8-4 but won the next three 5-2, 5-0, 7-5. While the offense has been inconsistent for the Dustdevils, they boast two of the best pitchers in the LSC in Issac Ponce and Cody Templeton.

Ponce is second in the LSC in ERA at 4.10 and leads the team in strikeouts with 77 with opponents hitting .264 against him, while Templeton has the most pitches logged for TAMIU and an ERA of 4.31.

The previous series in Laredo was a low-scoring affair, and it would be safe to expect much of the same this weekend.

This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Angelo State baseball: four things ahead of LSC tournament