Box Score (Game 2)Season StatsKINGSVILLE, Texas – Four West Texas A&M pitchers combined for a two-hitter as the No. 25-ranked Buffs battled back for a 3-1 victory Friday evening in the nightcap of a Lone Star Conference doubleheader at Texas A&M-Kingsville. With the win, WT improved to 9-5 on the year, while TAMUK fell to 7-5. Both teams are 1-1 in conference play.
In a pitcher's duel, WT senior
Tyler Gibson (2-1) went six innings of two-hit baseball allowing one earned run with four walks and six strikeouts. His counterpart, Hayden James (2-2), went 6.1 innings, allowing three hits, two earned runs, with two walks and fanned a game-high 11 Buffs. WT senior
Paul Lujan earned his first save of the season.
WT had two players who tallied two hits each in the contest. Junior
Matt Cole was 2 for 5 with a BI, while junior
Josh Day was 2 for 4 with two run scored, a triple and a RBI. WT left nine on base, while TAMUK stranded six.
The Javelinas jumped out to the early lead this time as a sacrifice fly plated the run in the bottom of the first inning after WT stranded two in the top of the first. From there, Gibson and James went to work retiring the next six batters each with James retiring the next nine.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Javelinas had a chance with a pair of walks, but Gibson got out of the jam with a strikeout to end the threat. WT responded leaving the bases full in the fifth with one out.
TAMUK left two more on in the sixth, but the Buffs took the lead in the seventh as senior
Johnny Gaines was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Day tripled him home and senior
Ryan March singled home Day for a 2-1 lead.
The Buffs added the insurance run in the ninth helped out by Day reaching on a fielding error and later scoring on a Cole single for a 3-1 lead. The Javelinas put a man on in the bottom of the ninth, but Lujan closed the door.
The teams are scheduled for a doubleheader tomorrow beginning at 1 p.m. with a seven-inning game, followed by a nine-inning contest to wrap the series.
