CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M baseball team returns home to host No. 14 Angelo State in the regular season finale at Wilder Park in a key Lone Star Conference series with conference regular season title implications.  The Buffs and Rams are scheduled for a single game Friday at 6:30 p.m., followed by a doubleheader Saturday at 4 p.m. and a single game Sunday at 1 p.m. for Senior Day.

THE TEAMS - The Buffs are 31-13 overall and 12-6 in Lone Star Conference play, while Angelo State is 36-10 and 14-5 in league play.  The Buffs split a four game series at Angelo State in non-conference play back in March, dropping the first two games and winning the final two.

HOW TO CATCH THE GAMES - Fans can access live stats and video streaming of the series against Angelo State on www.gobuffsgo.com on the baseball schedule page for each of the four games of the series.  Check back with the site for complete game recaps and stats following the games.

SECOND NCAA REGION RANKINGS - Wednesday, the second NCAA South Central Region rankings were released and the Buffs are fourth again this week.  With no changes to the rankings from last week,  Angelo State leads the rankings, followed by Colorado Mesa, Lubbock Christian, WT, Texas A&M-Kingsville, Tarleton State, Arkansas-Fort Smith and St. Edward's.  There will be one more public released rankings before the NCAA Selection Show the Weekend of May 13, following conference tournament play.  The Buffs have qualified for the last three NCAA South Central Regionals.   

PRELUDE TO A CHAMPIONSHIP - WT can win the Lone Star Conference regular season title, but will need some help as it will need to sweep Angelo State this weekend and have Cameron sweep Texas A&M-Kingsville.   If that happens, the Buffs would then host the 2017 Lone Star Conference Championship next week at Wilder Park.  WT, sitting third in the LSC standings right now, can finish second with a series win against Angelo State as the two teams most likely will meet in the first game of the LSC championship next week if WT doesn't host.   If the season ended today, the conference championship would be at Texas A&M-Kingsville for the third time in four years.  In addition, three teams, Cameron, Eastern New Mexico and Tarleton State all are battling for the fourth and final spot in the conference tournament as ENMU hosts UT Permian Basin and Cameron hosts TAMUK.  Tarleton State's season in complete.  To knock Tarleton State out of the conference tournament, Cameron or ENMU would need to sweep this week to have a better winning percentage than TSU.

RECAPPING LAST WEEKEND - Last week, the Buffs split a four game series at No. 21 Texas A&M-Kingsville, winning the first two games and dropping the final two.  WT won the opener behind junior Marshall Kasowski's 10 strikeouts as he broke the school-record for strikeouts in a season with 132.  The Buffs then came back with a 6-1 win in the opener of a doubleheader Saturday, but TAMUK responded with a 7-6 win in 10 innings in the nightcap.  On Sunday, the Buffs rallied to tie the game at 2-2, but TAMUK won with a run in the eighth for a 3-2 win, dropping WT to 2-6 this season in one run games.  Kasowski went seven innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs, walked two and fanned 10.  Sophomore Dominic Yearego pitched five scoreless innings in relief in two games with the save in the opener, fanning seven and walking two as he has been outstanding this season as a reliever.  WT's offensive struggles continued to some extent, but the team hit .285 for the series on 37 of 130, while recording six doubles, one triple, two home runs, driving in 18 and scoring 18 runs.  Five WT errors led to one unearned run, which proved costly in the finale.    

SENIOR WEEKEND -  This is Senior Weekend for WT as the Buffs have eight seniors playing in their final regular season home series.  The 2017 senior class includes; Aaron Vallance, John Baiada, Thomas Garland, Justin McAllister, Hunter Henderson, Troy LaBrie, Chad Brown and Joshua Payne.   These seniors have had outstanding careers for WT and helped continue the success of the Buffalo baseball program over the last nine years and we wish them the best in their future endeavors. 

KASOWSKI BREAKS "K" RECORD - West Texas A&M junior pitcher Marshall Kasowski fanned 10 at Texas A&M-Kingsville last weekend as he set the school-record for strikeouts in a season with 132.  He broke the previous record of 126 held by former Buff Dylan James in 2014.  Kasowski has  tallied double-digit strikeouts in eight starts this season.  He is 8-3 with a 2.36 ERA in a team-high 72.1 innings of work.  He has allowed 37 hits, 22 runs - 19 earned, walked 40 and fanned 132.  Kasowski is 26 strikeouts from tying the LSC record for K's in a season at 158 set in 2004.  He ranks first nationally  in strikeouts,    and first in strikeouts per nine innings at a 16.42 clip.  Kasowski also leads the nation in hits allowed per nine innings at a 4.6 clip. 

SEEING DOUBLE - Senior Troy LaBrie ranks 35th nationally and second in the LSC in doubles with 17, while ranking 20th  nationally in doubles per game at a 0.41clip.  Junior Adam Adkins ranks third in the league with 15 doubles, while ranking third in the league in doubles per game at a 0.38 clip. 

SAVING MCALLISTER - Senior Justin McAllister has a team-high seven eight on the year as he ranks 17th nationally and second in the LSC in saves.  Angelo State's Joe Hauser leads the league with 12 saves  McAllister is 1-4 on the year with a 4.66 ERA in 36.2 innings of work.

PRESIDENT'S AWARD - West Texas A&M senior Justin McAllister earned the prestigious honor of earning the WTAMU President's Award as the highest academic honor the athletic department has each year.  McAllister has a 3.36 GPA  in marketing and has done a lot of community and volunteer work during his time at WT.  Each year one male and one female are awarded the President's Award at WT.

LOOKING AT THE BUFFS -  The Buffs are hitting .315 on the year on 438 of 1392 from the plate.  WT has scored 301 runs with 102 doubles, 13 triples, 28 home runs and driven in 273.  The team is slugging .467 on the year and reaching base at a .403 clip with 181 walks and 38 hit batsmen.  The Buffs are 37 of 54 in stolen bases and have a .970 fielding percentage with 44 errors leading to 27 unearned runs.  Individually,  junior  Nick Canas leads the team hitting .359 with 56 hits, 35 runs scored, 12 doubles, five triples, two home runs and 29 RBI.  Junior Jimmy Cubillos is second in average at a .352 clip on 51 of 145 with a team-high 45 runs scored, eight doubles, two triples, one home run and 18 RBI.  Junior Luis Amaro is third in average at a .345 clip on 48 of 139.  He has 17 runs with 13 doubles, two home runs and drove in a team-high 42.  Junior Adam Adkins leads the team slugging .561, while senior Aaron Vallance is 10 of 11 in stolen bases to lead the team.  Senior Troy LaBrie, along with Adkins, each had four home runs to lead the team.  On the mound, the Buffs  have a 2.95 ERA in 351 innings of work. The team has six complete games with six shutouts and 13 saves.  WT has allowed 300 hits, 142 runs - 115 earned, walked 137 and fanned 449 as teams are hitting .230 against it.  Along with Kasowski, senior Joshua Payne has been strong this season as he has a team-best 2.16 ERA in 11 appearances with an 8-3 record.  He has two complete games with one shutout in 66.2 innings, allowing 56 hits, 22 runs - 16 earned, walked 14 and fanned 84 as teams are hitting .226 against him.  Yearego is 5-0 with a 2.40 ERA, while junior starters Noah Draper and Ryan Larison been successful, too.  McAllister leads the team with eight saves.

INSIDE THE SERIES WITH ANGELO STATE - ASU leads the all-time series 45-23, but the teams split four games in San Angelo  earlier this season.  ASU leads the series 15-13 in Canyon, while leading the series 26-9 in San Angelo.   WT has won the last two meetings in the series.  WT head coach Matt Vanderburg is  22-29 against Angelo State for his career.

LAST TIME OUT VS. ANGELO STATE - The Buffs earned a split at Angelo State in a non-conference matchup in March, dropping the first two games and battling back for wins in the final two, including a thrilling 8-6 win in the finale after trailing midway through the game 5-2 on Sunday.  Despite scoring a season-low 13 runs for the series, the Buffs hung tough and pulled out the split with strong pitching and some timely hitting.  WT hit just .256 for the series on 32 of 125 from the plate with eight doubles, one home run and drove in 13, while scoring 13 runs.  WT slugged .344 and reached base at a .316 clip.  The Buffs committed just two errors in the series for a .985 fielding percentage.  WT senior John Baiada led the way at the dish going four of nine with two runs scored and a team-best .444 average.  Junior Jimmy Cubillos hit .429 with three hits in seven at bats, plating two and scoring once.  Junior Nick Canas led the team with five hits in 16 at bats, scoring once and driving in one, along with a double.  Senior Troy LaBrie paced the team with three doubles on four hits with a run scored.  Junior Bodie Bryan had a big week as he hit the only WT home run of the series in the final to put WT up 2-0 in the third inning and then responded with a two RBI double to left in the top of the eighth tying the game as the Buffs eventually won 8-6.