Angelo State beats Southern New Hampshire in CWS opener
The Angelo State University baseball team opened the NCAA Division II College World Series on Sunday with a 7-4 win over Southern New Hampshire at the USA Baseball Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.
No. 5-seeded ASU fell into a 4-1 hole in the second inning against No. 4 SNHU, but the Rams' offense rallied, while pitcher Kyle Moseley came on in relief in the second inning and delivered a tremendous no-hit performance over 5.1 innings.
ASU (51-12) moves on to play top-seeded North Greenville at 5 p.m. Tuesday. SNHU (46-11) plays No. 8 West Chester at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday in the double-elimination tourney.
"I'm very proud of our guys," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said in the postgame press conference. "Southern New Hampshire's been here a lot. They were in our side (of the bracket) last year and lost two heartbreaker one-run games. I knew what a quality opponent they'd be. Obviously, things got off to a good start with us scratching one (run) in the first. And then it didn't go so good.
"The one thing we felt good about is we probably weren't going to give up a lot of home runs. That's been a bugaboo of our team this year, just because Cary's difficult. And then to see those balls going out was not a good feeling. But then, Kyle Moseley (came on in relief for the win). What can you say about him coming in and just stopping all the momentum? He didn't give up a run and then our offense scored immediately. We scored all seven (runs) with two outs, and that's what we've done all year."
The Rams are 24-2 since April 10.
ASU opened the scoring with an RBI double by Justin Lee to right field that drove in Koby Kelton in the first inning.
The Penmen hit back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the second to take a 4-1 advantage. Ricky Jimenez had a three-run shot off ASU starter Benjamin Elder, followed by a solo blast by Alex Kennedy.
ASU pulled Elder after that with no outs in the second inning. Moseley stepped in and pushed his scoreless streak to 27 consecutive innings.
The Rams pulled even at 4-4 in the third after a two-run single to left field by Jordan Williams that plated Aaron Walters and Koby Kelton. Lee later scored on an error.
Williams talked about how the Rams responded so well when they were facing two outs.
"There's three outs in the inning and we know that," the Rams' third baseman said. "We're just going to compete every at-bat. With two outs, it may be a little tense for the defense and we're going to keep going and we're going to play all 27 outs that we're given, or 24 or whatever it is. We're just going to compete until it's over."
Moseley, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound sophomore southpaw from Cinco Ranch High School in Houston, said everything was working well for him.
"It was really nice," said Moseley, who struck out two and walked one. "My fastball was working well, and my curveball and slider. It made it a lot easier."
The game was tied at 4-4 before the Rams scored two runs on errors in the top of the sixth to take a 6-4 advantage, as Tayten Tredaway and Thomas Cain came home.
The Rams gave themselves some more breathing room with an RBI single by Jordan Williams in the top of the ninth that scored Aaron Walters for the final margin.
Carson Childers closed it out for the Rams, giving up two hits and no runs in the final 2.2 innings. He struck out four and didn't allow any walks.
Penmen starter Josh Roberge took the loss. In six complete, he gave up eight hits and six runs (four earned). He struck out six and walked three.
Angelo State 7, Southern New Hampshire 4
Angelo State 103 002 001--7 11 1
S.N. Hampshire 040 000 000--4 7 3
Josh Roberge, Trevor Anibal (7), Griffin Gilbert (9) and Nick Schwartz. Benjamin Elder, Kyle Moseley (2), Carson Childers (7) and Tripp Clark. WP -- Moseley. LP - Roberge. 2B -- ASU: Justin Lee; SNHU: Danniel Rivera. 3B -- ASU: Justin Harris. HR -- SNHU: Ricky Jimenez, Alex Kennedy. Records -- ASU is 51-12, Southern New Hampshire is 46-11.
Charles Bryce is a journalist covering sports in West Texas. Send him a news tip at cbryce@gannett.com. Consider supporting West Texas journalism with a subscription to GoSanAngelo.com.
This article originally appeared on San Angelo Standard-Times: Angelo State beats Southern New Hampshire in CWS opener
