CANYON, Texas  – The No. 20 West Texas A&M baseball team returns to the road this week as it travels to Eastern New Mexico for a four game series beginning Thursday in Portales, N.M.  The Buffs are 19-7 on the year with an 8-4 record in Lone Star Conference play and are in a three-way tie for first in the league standings.
 
The Buffs are coming off a four game series split at home with Angelo State last weekend.  WT took the opener 2-1 on Friday evening and split a doubleheader on Saturday with the Rams winning 3-2 in the opener and the Buffs taking the nightcap 4-2.  Sunday saw the Buffs jump out to a 4-2 lead midway through the game, but ASU rallied for six runs in the final three innings, winning 8-5 to earn the split.
 
WT had leads in each game of the series, but were unable to hang on in the second and fourth games as ASU plated two runs in the top of the seventh in the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, while the Buffs scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth in the nightcap for the 4-2 win.  Late-inning runs were a common theme to the series as the teams combined for 27 runs for the series with 10 coming in the final three innings and seven combined in the seventh alone with WT plating five and ASU with two.
 
For the series, WT outhit the Rams .292 to .261, but managed two more hits for the series (31-29).  Seven walks hurt the Buff effort as leaving 20 on base, but the Buffs turned three double plays in the series. 
 
Junior John Baiada continued his hot hitting as he went 5 of 10 with three runs scored and two RBI, while slugging .500 and reaching base at a .545 clip with one walk.  Senior Trace Hansen also had five hits as did senior Matt Cole who notched a triple as well.  Hansen tallied three RBI to lead the team and also scored three times.

On the bump, junior Justin McAllister had another strong outing in the opener, going eight innings, allowing four hits, one unearned run, one walk and he fanned five in the 2-1 win.  Senior Kyle Tinius earned his league-leading fifth save of the year in the contest.  Senior Austin Moore tossed a complete game, four-hitter, allowing two unearned runs in the nightcap Saturday with one walk and two strikeouts.  For the series, WT had a 3.09 ERA in 32 innings of work, allowing 29 hits, 14 runs – 11 earned, seven walks and striking out 17 as ASU hit .261.  WT had four errors leading to the three unearned runs.  The first two games were the fifth and sixth consecutive games of one run against Angelo State in Canyon as the opening game of Saturday's doubleheader ASU snapped a 6-0 streak by the Buffs in one run games at Wilder Park.  WT now is 6-1 in its last seven games in Canyon in one run contests with the Rams. 
 
McAllister earned LSC Pitcher of the Week honors for the second time this season, joining Moore as the only two players in the LSC to earn multiple Player/Pitcher of the Week honors.
 
The ENMU series was moved to Thursday-Saturday to accommodate the Easter Holiday.  The games are scheduled for a single, nine inning game Thursday at 7 p.m. (CT), followed by a single, nine inning game Friday at 7 p.m. (CT) and a doubleheader on Saturday at 1 p.m. (CT).  Links to live stats and streaming can be found on www.gobuffsgo.com on the baseball schedule page for the games.
 
ENMU leads the all-time series with WT at 52-50 since 1994.  WT has won 10 of the past 14 games since 2014 and went 2-1 in Portales last season and 5-3 overall in the series in 2015.  Since 2014, the Buffs have gone 5-2 in Portales.
 
For the season, the Buffs are led by Cole who leads the team with a .376 average in 26 starts.  He is 35 of 93 from the plate, with eight doubles, three triples, one home run, 16 RBI and 17 runs scored.  Cole is slugging .559 and reaching base at a .464 clip.  Hansen leads the team in hits with 38 and runs scored (25), while also boasting a .376 average.  He has a team-high 12 doubles with one triple and has three home runs, while driving in 19.  He leads the team with a .606 slugging percentage and is reaching base at a .430 clip, while going 7 of 8 in stolen bases.  Baiada is third in average at .373 in 19 games with 18 starts.  Baiada has 22 hits, three doubles and eight RBI, while scoring 13 runs.  Redshirt freshman Christian Loya leads the team with five home runs and has a .340 average with 15 RBI and scored 12 runs.
 
As a team, the Buffs are hitting .311 for the year with 251 hits, 59 doubles, four triples, 20 home runs.  The team has driven in 137 and scored 156 runs.  WT is slugging .469 and reaching base at a .394 clip, while going 22 of 33 in stolen bases. 
 
On the mound, the Buffs are led by Moore who is 5-1 with a 1.44 ERA in a team-high 43.2 innings of work.  He has a team-best three complete games and one shutout, while allowing 27 hits, 14 runs – seven earned, walked 14 and fanned a team-high 50 as teams are hitting just .175 against him.  Senior Brooks Trujillo is 4-2 with a 3.74 ERA in 43.1 innings.  Trujillo has allowed 33 hits, 19 runs – 18 earned, walked 11 and fanned 49.  Tinius has five saves with a 1.64 ERA and a 3-1 record in 12 appearances in 22 innings. 
 
As a staff, the Buffs carry a 3.67 ERA into the series this weekend in 211 innings and have allowed 191 hits, along with 111 runs – 86 earned, walked 62 and fanned 212.  Teams are hitting .241 against the Buffs as the team has 30 errors on the year.
 
This series begins a stretch of 11-straight games on the road for the Buffs.  Following the short week and the ENMU series, WT will travel to Texas A&M-Kingsville (Apr. 1-3) who, along with Angelo State, is 8-4 in conference play.  Following the TAMUK series, WT will begin the second half of the conference season at Tarleton State (Apr. 8-9) for a three game series.  WT took three of four against Tarleton State in Canyon Mar. 4-6.  The Buffs are 5-2 on the road this season and are 14-4 at home, while going 0-1 in neutral site matchups.
 
Nationally speaking, WT is 24^th in doubles to lead the league (59), 36^th in ERA (3.67), 56^th in hits (251), 20^th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.15), 53^rd in home runs (20), 54^th in slugging percentage (.469), 11^th in strikeout to walk ratio (3.42), 26^th in strikeouts per nine innings (9.0), ninth in WHIP at a 1.20 clip and 11^th in walks allowed per nine innings (2.64).
 
Individually, Moore ranks ninth in complete games with three, while Hansen is 16^th in doubles (12), Moore is 37^th in ERA (1.44), Hansen is 63^rd in hits (38), Moore is 24^th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.56), Loya leads the conference in home runs (5) and 107^th nationally, while Hansen is second in runs scored (25).  Tinius is 10^th in saves (5), Hansen is 77^th in total bases to lead the league (61) and is the toughest to strikeout in the league (16.8).  Cole is second in the LSC in triples and 37^th nationally (3), while Moore is 13^th in wins (5) and WHIP at a 0.94 clip which is 39^th nationally.
 
The Buffs are 20^th this week in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Poll, 21^st according to D2baseballnews.com and third in the South Central Region according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and 18^th in the national poll. 
 
ENMU is 9-17 overall and 2-10 in Lone Star Conference play.  The Greyhounds avoided a sweep at home last weekend at the hands of Texas A&M-Kingsville as ENMU plated four runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and one in the 10^th for the game winner forcing the three-way tie in the league standings between WT, TAMUK and ASU.
 
The Greyhounds are led this season by Daniel Ward who is hitting .420 on the year with 30 hits, 10 doubles, five home runs, 20 RBI and 21 runs scored in 20 starts.  He is slugging .786 and reaching base at a .494 clip.  Justin Paul is second in average at a .374 clip with 34 hits, six doubles, four home runs, 21 RBI and scored 24 runs.  Tregra Williams is hitting .365 with 19 hits, four doubles, two home runs, 10 driven in and nine scored. 
 
ENMU is hitting .301 on the year with 244 hits, 48 doubles, seven triples, 17 home runs, 140 RBI and 157 runs.  The team is slugging .440 and reaching base at a .383 clip.  The Greyhounds have committed 54 errors on the year.
 
As a staff, ENMU has three players each with a team-high two wins.  J'Daylin Jackson leads the team in innings pitched at 24.1 as he has allowed 44 hits, 32 runs – 23 earned, walked nine and fanned 16 for a 8.51 ERA.  Jerrott Gray leads the team among starters with a 2-1 record and a 6.08 ERA in 23.2 innings, allowing 37 hits, 18 runs – 16 earned, eight walks and 17 strikeouts.  Nick DeArmond leads the team with 24 strikeouts.   ENMU has a 9.23 ERA in 199 innings, allowing 303 hits, 245 runs – 204 earned, 152 walks and 180 strikeouts as teams are hitting .346 against the Greyhounds.
 
WT head coach Matt Vanderburg earned LSC Co-Coach of the Year honors last season taking the Buffs to their second-straight NCAA Regional.  Vanderburg is in his eighth season at the helm of the Buffs and is 224-160 at WT.  He is in his 10^th season overall coaching and is 323-227.  Vanderburg is 21-12 against Eastern New Mexico since taking over at WT in 2009 as the fourth head coach of the Buffs.  Vanderburg is 130-118 in Lone Star Conference play at West Texas A&M.
 
ENMU head coach David Gomez is in his third season as head coach of the Greyhounds.  He led ENMU to a 26-24 record in his first season as it was the first winning season for the Greyhounds since 2000 and the fourth in program history.  Gomez is 51-71 at ENMU and 4-10 against WT.