Game Notes PDF Format

CANYON , Texas  - The West Texas A&M baseball team hits the road for three games this weekend at Northwestern Oklahoma State Saturday and Sunday.  WT will face Northeastern State (Okla.) Saturday at 12 p.m., followed by a game against Northwestern Oklahoma State at 3 p.m. and the Buffs and NWOSU will play a second game Sunday at 1 p.m.
 
FIRST PITCH

• The West Texas A&M Buffalo baseball team heads to Alva, Okla., to take on Northeastern State and Northwestern Oklahoma State this weekend.
• The Buffs are 3-1 on the year, while Northeastern State is 4-0 and Northwestern Oklahoma State is 0-4.
• NSU and NWOSU will play a doubleheader Friday, prior to the Buffs battling NSU and NWOSU on Saturday and WT then will face NWOSU once again Sunday.
• The Buffs are coming off a 13-3 loss at Lubbock Christian on Tuesday.
• Northeastern State won four games over East Central, Southeastern Oklahoma State and Rogers State last weekend at home.
• Northwestern Oklahoma State lost four times to Arkansas-Fort Smith on the road.

 
HOW TO CATCH THE GAMES

• Fans can access live stats (for all games) and for streaming links (for WT games) by logging on to the official www.gobuffsgo.com and clicking on the baseball schedule page.
• You can also get live updates via the West Texas A&M Twitter account and Facebook pages. Follow the team @wtathletics or Twitter.com/wtathletics, as well as the new baseball twitter account.

 
ABOUT THE BUFFS

• WT is coming off the run-rule loss Tuesday, but opened the season with three, come-from-behind wins at home against Colorado Mines (6-3), #11 St. Edward's (8-3) and Southwestern Oklahoma State (4-3).
• Senior Matt Cole leads the team hitting .429 in four starts as he has six hits with one run scored, one home run and four RBI.
• Senior Josh Day is second in average at .417 on 5 of 12 with three runs scored and one double with one RBI on the year.
• The Buffs have hit three home runs, including a grand slam by senior Jace Reese to put the Buffs up 4-2 in the 4-3 win over Southwestern Oklahoma State last weekend.
• The team is hitting .312 on the year with 39 hits in 125 at bats, scoring 21 runs and driving in 20.
• The Buffs have five doubles and three home runs on the year, while slugging .424 and reaching base at a .412 clip.
• On the bump, senior Brooks Trujillo is 1-0 with a 3.00 ERA in six innings, while junior Eliot King earned a win in relief against SWOSU going 6.2 innings of three hit baseball.
• Senior Kyle Tinius has a win in relief and a save on the year and junior Justin McAllister also has a save.
• Teams are hitting .270 against the Buffs this season as WT has 30 strikeouts and 14 walks in 33 innings of work.
• Head coach Matt Vanderburg is in his eighth year at the helm of the Buffs as he is 208-154 at WT and in his 11th season of coaching overall 307-221.

 
STAFF CHANGES In 2016

• Former Vanderburg assistant Cory Hall returns after a two-year hiatus from baseball to be Vanderburg's assistant in 2016.  Hall was an assistant for the Buffs from 2008-2013.  He worked with the likes of Dylan James who earned All-America honors and now is pitching in the Houston Astros organization.  Vanderburg also hired Kevin Frady who came to WT from Maryville University in St. Louis, Mo.  Frady brings a wealth of experience to the Buffs.

 
VANDERBURG RETURNS TO ALMA MATER

• Head coach Matt Vanderburg returns to where he graduated college this week for the first time as a head coach of the Buffs.
• He played at NWOSU graduating in 2003 with a bachelor's degree in health and physical education.
• Vanderburg played for former head coach Joe Phillips and was a four-time all-conference performer for the Rangers.

 
ABOUT NORTHEASTERN STATE

• The RiverHawks are off to a 4-0 start this season under first year head coach Jake Hendrick. 
• Northeastern State was picked 10th in the 2016 MIAA Preseason Coaches' Poll as the RiverHawks garnered 60 points.
• NSU is one of four teams MIAA teams to qualify for the conference tournament each of the past three seasons.
• The RiverHawks have won 25 games each of the last four seasons with last year's team finishing 25-24 with a 17-19 league mark.
• Northeastern State returns seven starters from last season, while losing six, along with 16 newcomers.
• Returning this season is infielder Charles Sims who earned multiple all-region honors last year and was a first team all-conference selection.  Sims earned NCBWA All-Region Second Team honors and ABCA/Rawlings all-region honors.
• This season, the senior is hitting .250 with four hits in 16 at bats, along with four runs scored, one home run and five RBI. 
• Second team all-conference pitcher Jake Kern returns, as does honorable mention selection Bryce Davenport and Gabriel Wurth.
• This season, Shane Bridges leads the team hitting .571 on 8 of 14 with four runs scored, one home run and seven RBI. 
• Cody Begovich leads the team with 11 RBI on 6 of 16 with three doubles, one triple and one home run.
• NSU is hitting .362 with 47 hits in 130 at bats, while recording seven doubles, one triples and three home runs and scoring 42 runs with 38 RBI.
• The Riverhawks are holding teams to a .269 average, while the staff has a 2.53 ERA in 32 innings of work.

 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH NORTHEASTERN STATE

• WT is 12-13 all-time against Northeastern State.
• The teams haven't met since Apr. 10, 2010, in a WT 11-10 win in Canyon.
• The Buffs have won the last three in the series, as NSU had won 10 of 11 prior to that.
• WT is 2-0 in neutral site meeting with NSU, 2-9 on the road and 8-4 in Canyon.
• WT head coach Matt Vanderburg is 3-4 against Northeastern State.
• Northeastern State used to be in the Lone Star Conference.

 
ABOUT NORTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA STATE

• The Rangers are 0-4 on the year after being swept at Arkansas-Fort Smith last weekend.
• Northwestern Oklahoma State was picked 11th in the preseason Great American Conference Coaches Poll.
• Last season, NWOSU was 19-29 on the year and 8-20 in conference play.
• This season, Greg Carrington leads the team hitting .500 on 4 of 8 with three runs scored and a triple.  All-GAC selection Matt Benn is hitting .154 with two hits in 13 at bats, along with two runs scored, one double and home run with three RBI.
• The team hit .215 against UAFS with 12 runs scored on 26 hits, four doubles, three triples and one home run.
• NWOSU committed nine errors against UAFS leading to seven unearned runs as the staff has a 4.76 ERA.  Trevor Rakers has played in three games going 2.1 innings, allowing one hit and one unearned run and fanning four.
• Head coach Sam Carel is in his second season at the helm of the Rangers and is 19-33 at NWOSU and 315-182 all-time coaching including JUCO back-to-back World Series trips with Jefferson in 2011 and 2012.

 
INSIDE THE SERIES WITH NORTWESTERN OKLAHOMA ST.

• NWOSU leads the all-time series 2-0, but the teams haven't played since WT's first season of baseball back in 1994. 
• That year, NWOSU won 9-8 in Canyon on Mar.  13 and 15-1 on Mar. 18. 

 
BIG INNING DOOMS BUFFS

• The Buffs struggled Tuesday at Lubbock Christian as the Chaps batted around in the third inning, plating 10 runs on nine hits en route to a 13-3 win.
• The 10 runs was the first time since 

 
WEST TEXAS A&M PICKED FIRST

• The Buffs are picked first in the LSC Preseason poll which was released late January.  WT garnered nine of 18 first place votes and 94 total points, edging Texas A&M-Kingsville by four points. Angelo State was picked third.

 
WT SIXTH IN PRESEASON NCBWA REGION POLL

• The Buffs were picked sixth in the preseason NCBWA South Central Region Poll.  WT will face St. Edward's this weekend which was picked second in the poll and Colorado Mines who is receiving votes.
• WT is scheduled to face seven of the other 13 teams either ranked or receiving votes in the poll.

 
THREE BUFFS NAMED TO PRESEASON team

• Day, Cole and Trujillo were named to the NCBWA Preseason All-Region Second Team.
• Day, a native of Albuquerque, N.M., started all 56 games for the Buffs in the outfield last season.  He was second in average at a .315 clip, while leading the team with 46 runs scored.  He had 62 hits, 11 doubles and led the league in triples with six which ranked 23rd nationally and belted a team-high five home runs.  He earned NCBWA honorable mention all-region honors and first team all-conference accolades.
• Cole, a native of Grants Pass, Ore., earned second team Daktronics honors last season.  He led the team with a .317 average in 54 starts.  Cole tied for the team-lead with 64 hits, while finishing third in runs scored with 36.  He had a team-high 16 doubles which was second in the LSC, while recording three triples, one home run and drove in 35 earning second team all-conference honors.
• Trujillo, a Parker, Colo., native, earned second team all-conference honors last season went 2-3 with a 3.65 ERA in 15 starts and 79 innings.  He allowed 70 hits with 32 runs and 26 earned runs.  Trujillo fanned 59 and walked 26, while allowing teams to hit just .242 against him.

 
COMING UP NEXT...

• The Buffs return home to host New Mexico Highlands next weekend in a   four game series beginning Feb. 19 at 6 p.m. with a single game, followed by a doubleheader Feb. 20 and a single game Feb. 21.
• The NMHU series begins a stretch of  11-straight home games for the Buffs with series' against Oklahoma Christian (Feb. 26-27) and Tarleton State (Mar. 4-6) to open Lone Star Conference play.

 
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES

• The Buffs went 17-3 last season at home which is the fewest home losses since baseball was brought back as a sport in 1994 and the best home winning percentage (.850).
• This season, the Buffs are scheduled to have 27 home games and are 3-0 so far.