Abilene Christian and Angelo State advanced to the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship game after wins on Monday at Crutcher Scott Field in Abilene, Texas.

ACU edged Tarleton State, 5-4, while ASU eliminated Cameron and Tarleton to earn a spot in the finals. 

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Abilene Christian 5, Tarleton State 4

ACU shortstop Willie Uechi has 90 hits this season, but it's likely that none of them were any bigger than the one he delivered Monday afternoon against Tarleton State.

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With the game tied at 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Uechi delivered an RBI single that gave the Wildcats a 5-4 win over Tarleton State in the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship at Crutcher Scott Field.

The win pushes the 14th-ranked Wildcats (42-17) into the championship round for the fourth straight season and ninth time in the last 11 seasons.  ACU will play either Angelo State, Cameron or Tarleton State at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

ACU hasn't won the conference title since 2002, and the team that plays ACU on Tuesday would have to beat the Wildcats twice in order to keep ACU from winning the league championship and the automatic berth to the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament.

Monday's game was a see-saw affair with neither team ever holding a lead bigger than one run.

ACU trailed 4-3 after the pesky Texans (28-29-1) put two runs across in the bottom of the fifth against Wildcat starting pitcher Cameron Aspaas.  The go-ahead run scored on a John Ropple RBI groundout.

But the Wildcats wasted little time getting the game tied as Thomas Bumpass and Cameron Watten delivered back-to-back singles with one out in the top of the sixth, and then Bumpass scored to tie the game at 4-4 on a Brett Bochsler fielder's RBI choice.

ACU threatened in the top of the eighth, but left runners at first and second, sending the game to the bottom of the inning still tied.  But ACU closer Brad Rutherford came in and set the Texans down in order to send the game to the ninth still tied 4-4.

Chris Hall led off the top of the ninth with a sharp single to center, and then moved to second on a Davis Page bunt single.  After Jordan Schmitt flew out to right field, Travis Latz was intentionally walked to bring Uechi to the plate.

A pitching change brought P.J. Burns into the game to face Uechi.  The two battled to a full-count pitch with the bases loaded before Uechi shot a single into center that scored Hall to drive in the go-ahead run.  The bases were still loaded with one out, but Bumpass lined into an inning-ending double play and the Wildcats took a precarious one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth.

Aaron Dalton led off the ninth with a single to left and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Charlie Ulbricht.  Rutherford then got Andrew Wolfe swinging for his third strikeout of the game.  Leadoff hitter Chad Cloud looked at two strikes in his at-bat before grounding out to Uechi to end the game.

Rutherford allowed one hit and struck out three batters in the final two innings of the game as he picked up the victory to improve to 10-3 on the season.

- Courtesy of ACU sports information

Angelo State 11, Cameron 6

The Angelo State baseball team came from behind to defeat Cameron, 11-6, Monday afternoon and remain alive in the LSC Championship tournament in Abilene.

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The Rams, trailing 6-4 after three innings to the top-seeded Aggies, scored one run in the fourth, two in the fifth, one in the sixth and three in the eighth to improve to 42-17 on the season. The loss eliminated CU, ranked No. 1 in last week's NCAA Division II South Central Region poll, as their record fell to 42-15.

Four Rams had multi-hit games led by Jason Morriss who went 4-for-6 with three runs scored and two RBI. Trey Carter and Austin Lasprilla both went 3-for-5 with three RBI while Keith Towne was 2-for-5 as the Rams pounded out 15 hits to the Aggies' seven.

Sam Janca got the start for ASU and settled down after the first three innings to go six innings with five earned runs, five strikeouts and two walks to improve to 6-3 on the season. Craig Blair, the LSC Freshman of the Year, show he was deserving of the award as he pitched the final three innings and gave up just one hit to record his first save in 2009.

The Rams opened the scoring in the top of the first on a two-run double by Morriss with two outs that scored Towne and Chris Adamson putting the Rams up, 2-0. That lead was short lived as Cameron came back with three in its half of the frame on a three-run home run by Nate Arevalo, his 20th of the season, to give the Aggies a 3-2 lead.

ASU went back in front, 4-3, in the top of the third on a two-run single by Lasprilla. But back came the Aggies with three in their half of the inning on an RBI-single by Arevalo and a two-run single by Blake Watson to give CU a 6-4 lead, its last of the game.

After the Rams had cut the deficit to 6-5 on a Towne single in the fourth, ASU took the lead for good in the fifth on a two-run single by Carter to put the Rams up, 7-6. ASU added a run in the sixth on a single by Lasprilla before putting the game away with three runs in the eighth on a wild pitch, an RBI-single by Clay Puckett and an RBI-single by Carter.

Should the Rams defeat Tarleton State in the final game on Monday, they will meet Abilene Christian in the championship game at 1 p.m. Tuesday needing to defeat the Wildcats to force the "if necessary" game at 5 p.m. Tuesday.

- Courtesy of ASU sports information

Angelo State 5, Tarleton State 3

The Angelo State baseball team, facing elimination, defeated Tarleton State, 5-3, Monday night in Abilene to advance to the LSC Baseball tournament championship game.

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In a game in which they never trailed, the Rams (43-17) jumped on TSU starter Scott Crook when Keith Towne banged out his 26th home run of the season with Trey Carter on after a lead-off single to put ASU up 2-0. The Texans (27-30-1) cut into the deficit in the bottom of the third when Bucky Squyres, after leading off with a double and advancing to third on a single to left, came home on a double play to put TSU down, 2-1, after three.

The Rams got that run back plus one in their next at bat when Lasprilla got on after being hit by a pitch, the 128th time a Ram has been plunked this season and the sixth-highest total all-time in NCAA Division II history. Clay Puckett followed that with a double to left center moving Lasprilla to third. Lasprilla came home when Brian Rasberry grounded out to second and Puckett scored on a wild pitch to put ASU up, 4-1.

Tarleton State added a run to its total in the bottom of the fourth when Chris Casazza scored on a fielder's choice to make the score 4-2. The Rams would get their final run of the game in the top of the seventh when Rasberry reached on a leadoff single, moved to third on a Carter single up the middle, and came home on a double play while TSU would close out its scoring on an RBI-double by Casazza.

Jeremy Tietze got the start for the Rams and pitched 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk. Jeffrey Asby came on with one out in the fourth and tossed 1.2 innings and surrendered just one hit with one strikeout to earn his fourth win of the season against two losses. Craig Blair, making his second appearance of the day, pitched 3.1 innings and gave up just one run on three hits with two strikeouts and two walks. Joe Key came on with one out in the ninth and threw just one pitch, inducing a game-ending double play to record his fourth save of the year.

The No. 20-ranked Rams will play No. 14-ranked Abilene Christian Tuesday afternoon needing to defeat the Wildcats twice to claim its second league championship in three seasons. The first game is set to begin at 1 p.m. at Crutcher Scott Field and the "if necessary" game will begin at 5 p.m.

- Courtesy of ASU sports information