CANYON, Texas – Sophomore Dominic Yearego came up big out of the bullpen as the No. 8 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M defeated UT Permian twice on Sunday at Wilder Park to complete the series sweep. The Buffs used an Adam Adkins three-run home run to win game one, 5-3, while WT used a strong first inning and pitching performance from Yearego to win the second game, 2-0. The Buffs improve to 25-5 and 7-1 in Lone Star Conference play while UTPB falls to 7-21 and 0-4 in LSC play.

The Buffs went 15-for-48 at the plate for the doubleheader including one home run, two doubles and seven RBI's. Yearego was the winning pitcher for both games as he improved to 5-0 on the season after pitching a combined 6 2/3 allowing one hit and striking out 10.  

The Buffs will make the short trip down Interstate 27 to face off against regional foe Lubbock Christian on Tuesday, April 4, at 6:30 p.m.

West Texas A&M 5, UT Permian Basin 3
Ryan Larison got the start for the Buffs in game one where he allowed a double in the top half of the first before striking out Jackson Pritchard to strand Mitchell Hazlett on second. WT didn't have to wait long to take the lead as they went up 1-0 in the bottom half after Nick Canas singled to left field with one out before moving to second on a passed ball. After Adam Akins grounded out to the shortstop, Troy LaBrie hit a shot down the right field line to plate Canas and register the Buffs first extra base hit of the game.

Larison found himself in a jam in the third after Tyler Houlihan doubled off the right field wall with two outs followed by a walk to Hazlett. The Luling, Texas native buckled down as he got Pritchard to hit a one hopper to Chad Brown who made the easy paly and tagged out Houlihan. The Buffs added to their lead in the bottom half of the inning courtesy of a one out three run bomb to right field from Adkins to make it 4-0.

The Falcons stranded three more runners in the fourth as Dominic Yearego relieved Larison to strike out Doug Clapperton to end the threat and preserve the four run lead. LaBrie drove in his second RBI of the game in the bottom of the fifth extending the Buffs lead to 5-0 on a sac fly to centerfield to plate Canas after the junior reached base on an error.

Things got interesting in the top of the seventh as the Falcons scored three unearned runs before Justin McAlliste came into record the final out for his seventh save of the year. Yearego earned his fourth win of the season after pitching 2 1/3 innings and allowing zero hits while striking out two.

West Texas A&M 2 , UT Permian Basin 0
Game two turned into a pitcher's duel after the Buffs scored two runs in the first inning. Yearego picked up his second win of the day out of relief as he struck out eight over 4 1/3 innings while only allowing one hit.

Noah Draper made his fifth start of the season and found his groove in the top of the second where struck out the three straight batters after allowing a leadoff single to Chris Ortega.  The Buffs scored the only two runs of the game in the bottom half of the inning as LaBrie continued his hot day at the plate with a double down the left field line to plate Amaro with one out. LaBrie moved to third on a sac bunt from Brown before coming around to score on a Bodie Bryan single to left field. Vallance and Cubillos followed that up with singles of their own to load the bases with two outs. The Buffs weren't able to add any more runs as Canas's deep fly to center ran out of juice to end the inning.

The Falcons left the bases loaded in the top of the third for the second time in the series as Matt Vanderburg brought in Yearego to relieve Draper and get the Buffs out of the jam. The Prosper, Texas native did just that as he struck out the first batter he faced to preserve the Buffs two run lead.

Just like in game one, the Falcons continued to have no answer for Yearego as the sophomore struck out five of the final six batters to secure the sweep for the Buffs and earn his second win of the day.