CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M senior right hander Tori Bayer set a brand new Lone Star Conference single season record for saves against her former team on Wednesday night as the #2 Lady Buffs started past and outlasted the Lady Chaps of Lubbock Christian, 13-6 in front of over 350 fans at Schaeffer Park in Canyon on Faculty/Staff Appreciation Night. The Lady Buffs move to 45-2 overall including 27-1 at home in their final regular season home game while LCU falls to 36-11.
 
The Lady Chaps started off the scoring in the top of the first inning as they capitalized on a WT error with one out on a Katera Eltsosie single down the left field line and the misplay in the outfield before Kilee Halbert responded with two outs to end the frame. WT responded in the home half of the first as Shea Ibrahim flared a single to shallow left center with one out before Lacey Taylor added to her LSC-leading double total with her 19^th to drive in the run from first and tie the game at 1-1.
 
WT flipped the script and took advantage of a Lubbock Christian errant throw in the home half of the second as the Lady Buffs caused some chaos with two outs with a double steal to move runners into scoring position but an errant throw down the line in third allowed Andrea Sitter to score to give WT the 2-1 lead. The Lady Buffs added to their lead in the bottom of the third as Ibrahim reached with a walk followed two batters later by an Ashley Hardin double to the left center field alley to put runners on second and third with two outs, Allie Smith found the outfield green with a two-run single followed two batters later by Shayne Starkey's first collegiate homerun with a three-run shot to right center to run the WT lead to 7-1.
 
LCU responded in the top of the fifth inning with three runs with no outs to knock Halbert from the game, the nation's save leader Tori Bayer entered and registered two quick outs with a ground ball to Brittany Gehle at short and a flyout to Brittany Cruz in right before Sammie Murrietta singled to the left center field gap to drive in another run before the senior forced a popup in foul territory to Starkey to end the inning with WT leading 7-5.
 
The Lady Buffs used the long ball to their advantage again in the home half of the fifth as Cruz, the reigning LSC Hitter of the Week, laced a ball down the left field line just inside the foul pole onto the batting cages past the black monster to run the WT lead to 9-5. LCU responded again with the help of two WT errors to cut the lead to 9-6 with one out before Bayer struck out the nation's homerun leader, Morgan Colburn, followed by a walk to load the bases before forcing a popup to Starkey in foul ground to end the frame at 9-6.
 
Ibrahim led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk on five pitches followed by another Taylor RBI double to the left center field gap to run the score to 10-6, Hardin singled to center field to put runners on the corners followed by a passed ball to move the sophomore into scoring position. Andrea Sitter singled to second base to score a run followed by a stolen base to move to second before a wild pitch scored both runners to run the score to 13-6 headed into the seventh inning.
 
That's all the lead the Bayer would need as the senior right hander set a new LSC single-season record for saves with her ninth as she allowed one run (unearned) on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts in her 3.0 innings of relief. Halbert picked up the win (19-1) for the Lady Buffs, giving up five runs (two earned) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts in her 4.0 innings.
 
The Lady Buffs take a break from action this weekend before they head to Lubbock, Texas on Tuesday night for a non-conference matchup with the Lady Chaps at PlainsCapital Park at 6 p.m.