SAN ANGELO, Texas – Fourth- and sixth-ranked Angelo State (Texas), the South Central Regional's top-seeded host, scored five runs in each of the first two innings and went on to a 26-5 victory over MSU Denver on Thursday night.
 
It was the second loss of the day and eliminated the fifth-seeded Roadrunners, whose historic season will nonetheless will be long-remembered for the program's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
 
"I'm really happy for our guys," MSU Denver coach Ryan Strain said. "To get to this point – we've never been to a regional as a program – you can't hang your heads. You got here.
 
"It just wasn't our day. We didn't pitch very well and didn't really give ourselves a chance, but that doesn't take away from anything we've done this season. I'm just really proud of them."
 
Bill Ralston hit his second homer of the day – and his 23^rd of the season – to give MSU Denver a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Angelo State (46-10) responded by taking a big early lead.
 
"Every one of us are a family," Ralston said. "We're brothers. We do everything together. It was so awesome to share that with such a special group. There's no one I'd have rather made history with for our school."
 
After hitting seven homers, including four in a 10-run second inning, in an 18-15 loss to Texas A&M-Kingsville in the first game of the day, MSU Denver missed out on a chance to get out of the 106-degree heat after a 4-hour, 15-minute game.
 
"You've got to win game one," Strain said. "That's criticial. We put the 10-spot up and you figure we would've been able to get going a little bit. Hit seven home runs. But we just weren't able to do it. We had some chances to score some more runs, but just couldn't do it.
 
"Then you've got to bounce back 45 minutes later. You could tell towards the end of the first game that our guys were kind of wearing down. So the second game was really tough, playing against a good team, and you've got to do things well. We just didn't get off to a good start. But I thought our guys fought and did everything they could."
 
MSU Denver was kept in check by left-hander Benjamin Elder (9-2), the Rams' all-region pitcher and All-America candidate.
 
MSU Denver chipped away to get within 14-4 in the top of the sixth, but Angelo State responded with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth.
 
"It was tough," Ralston said of the second game approach. "We knew we had to come out and keep swinging the bat, and keep pitching. We had to forget about the first game. It was a long game, and a long day in the heat. We fought, but it just didn't go our way today. It's all right."