Live StatsCANYON, Texas – The No. 12-ranked West Texas A&M baseball team heads on the road for its first Lone Star Conference road series of the year at Cameron University this weekend. The series is set for a single, nine-inning game beginning Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Sunday at 1 p.m. and a single, nine-inning game Monday at 1 p.m.
Fans can access links to live stats and more on the official home of West Texas A&M athletics at
www.gobuffsgo.com.
WT (14-4, 3-1 LSC) is 12
th this week in the
Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Top 25. The Buffs rank 22
nd in the D2Baseballnews.com Poll and 17
th in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25.
The Buffs are coming off a 3-1 series win over Tarleton State last weekend on the first week of conference play. WT's offense continued its strong play as it hit a series-best this season .403 on 52 of 129. The Buffs scored 36 runs with 15 doubles, one home run and a season-high seven home runs in the series, while driving in 32. The team slugged an impressive .698 and reached base at a .483 mark.
Individually, senior
Mason Shiflett paced the team hitting .615 with eight hits in 13 at bats. He scored three runs, hit two doubles, one home run and drove in three, while senior
Trace Hansen, who was named LSC Player of the Week and NCBWA South Central Region Player of the Week, hit .556 with a team-high 10 hits in 18 at bats, scored nine times, hit four doubles with three home runs and drove in seven. In all, nine Buffs hit .300 or better playing in at least two games during the series.
On the bump, WT had a 3.48 ERA in the four games in 31 innings of work. The staff allowed 27 hits, 17 runs – 12 earned, walked just six and fanned 42 as the Texans hit just .223. Senior
Austin Moore had another strong outing earning Co-LSC Pitcher of the Week honors going seven innings, allowing two hits in a complete game shutout, while fanning 12. Trujillo picked up a win in eight innings of work and senior
Luke Wiechec earned a win in relief.
For the season, the Buffs are hitting .323 on the year in 18 games. They have 186 hits with 44 doubles, three triples and 20 home runs, while scoring 119 runs and driving in 107. The Buffs are slugging .514 and reaching base at a .410 clip. They are 19 of 25 in stolen bases and have committed 23 errors leading to 19 unearned runs.
Senior
Matt Cole leads the team in average among everyday starters at .422. He, along with Hansen and senior
Josh Day, are the only three Buffs to have played and started all 18 games thus far. Cole is tied with Hansen for the team-lead in hits with 27 and has scored 12 runs, with six doubles, two triples and one home run, while driving in 13. He is slugging .625 and reaching base at .513. Hansen is third in average at .370 behind senior
Nick Chapman (.400) as he has scored a team-high 19 runs with a team-high nine doubles, one triple and three home runs, while driving in 13. Freshman
Christian Loya (.483) leads the team with five home runs in ten games played.
On the mound, WT has a .393 ERA in 149 innings, allowing 134 hits (.236 avg.), 84 runs – 65 earned, 46 walks and 171 strikeouts. Moore has a 3-1 record and a 1.82 ERA in five starts as he is tied for the team-lead in strikeouts with 39 and teams are hitting just .160 against him. Trujillo is 4-1 in 31.1 innings with a 4.02 ERA as he also has fanned 39 with teams hitting .190 against him. Senior
Kyle Tinius leads the team with three saves and a 3-0 record in seven appearances.
Nationally speaking, the Buffs are 25
th nationally in doubles with 44 to lead the LSC. They are 31
st in doubles per game at 2.44 behind Cameron's 2.73 per game average. WT leads the LSC and is 51
st nationally in hits (186) and is 32
nd nationally in hits allowed per nine innings (8.09), ranking second in the LSC to Cameron (7.79). WT leads the LSC and is 25
th nationally in home runs (20), while ranking second in the league in on base percentage at a .410 clip and 50
th nationally. The Buffs lead the LSC and rank eighth nationally in shutouts with three, while leading the league and ranking 27
th in slugging percentage at a .514 average. WT is 15
th in strike-out-to-walk ratio (3.72) and sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.3) ranking second in the LSC to Cameron (11.7). The Buffs are 18
th in WHIP at 1.21 to lead the league and are 25
th nationally in walks allowed per nine innings at a 2.78 clip.
Individually, Hansen is 18
th nationally and leads the league in doubles with nine. Moore is 38
th in hits allowed per nine innings at 5.16 to lead the league. Trujillo is third in the LSC at 6.32. Loya is 44
th in the nation in home runs (5), while Chapman leads the league in on base percentage at a .538 clip. Tinius is 18
th in saves (3), while Moore and Trujillo are 12
th in strikeouts (39).
Cameron (12-3, 1-3 LSC) has had a surprising start to the season as it was picked tied for fifth in the preseason LSC poll with Eastern New Mexico. The Aggies have some quality wins already this season as they defeated then-No. 19 Southern Arkansas in the season-opener in Grand Prairie, Texas, and Washburn there, too, while sweeping a four game series with William Jewell in Lawton. Cameron is 6-0 at home this season.
Texas A&M-Kingsville won three of four in Kingsville against Cameron last weekend as CU was outscored 24-14 in the four games. This will be the first home series for Cameron since the William Jewell series on Feb. 19-21.
Cameron is led this season by Cody Bower who is hitting .431 in 15 starts. He leads the team with 22 hits, including six doubles and is second in home runs with three, while driving in a team-high 15 and scoring 13 times ranking tied for second on the team. Bower is slugging.725 and reaching base at a .463 clip, while going 5 for 5 in stolen bases. Nate Hale is hitting .378 on the year with a team-high 16 runs scored and also is 5 for 5 in stolen bases. Cole Williams (.343) leads the team with four home runs on 12 hits and has driven in 12.
As a team, the Aggies are hitting .337 for the year with 163 hits, scoring 102 runs, while hitting 41 doubles, one triple and 13 home runs. Cameron has driven in 92, while slugging .502 and reaching base at a .302 clip. CU is 20 of 27 in stolen bases and has a .966 fielding percentage with 17 errors leading to seven unearned runs.
On the mound, Javarias Banks leads the team with 22 innings pitched as he is 2-1 with a 4.09 ERA. He is tied for third in strikeouts with 24 and walked just nine. Bryan Belote is 2-1 with a 4.71 ERA in 21 innings of work and leads the team with 31 strikeouts. Logan Fanning leads the team with three saves and a 0.82 ERA in 11 innings.
As a staff, the Aggies have a 3.63 ERA in 119 innings. It has allowed 103 hits, 55 runs – 48 earned, walked 56 and fanned 155 as teams are hitting just .228 against it.
WT owns a slim 32-31 lead in the all-time series with Cameron. The Buffs have won five-straight in the series and eight of 12. Last season, the Buffs went 5-2 against the Aggies. WT head coach
Matt Vanderburg is 19-14 against Cameron.
