CANYON, Texas – The No. 5 West Texas A&M baseball team closes out the 2018 regular season with a four-game series at Angelo State this weekend.  The series gets underway Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Foster Field at 1^st Community Credit Union Stadium.
 
The Buffs are 35-10 overall and 17-3 in Lone  Star Conference play and can clinch the first, outright Lone Star Conference title in program history with at least two wins in the series.  If the Buffs were to win one game, they would tie Tarleton State (18-6 LSC) for first in the league standings.  WT tied Texas A&M-Kingsville in 2015 as both teams finished with a 23-12 record in league play.  Tarleton State is idle this week so two or more wins by the Buffs would give them at least 19 and will be the regular season champions. 
 
WT is coming off Senior Weekend where it won three of four games against Texas A&M-Kingsville at Wilder Park.  With the wins, the Buffs tied the school-record for home wins in a season, going 24-3 at the friendly confines.  WT won the opener 12-9 courtesy of five runs in the fourth and three in the eighth as the Javelinas tried to rally from a 9-4 deficit going into the final three frames.  Junior Joe Corbett went seven innings, allowing six hits, four runs – two earned, walked three and fanned one as he improved to 8-2 on the year, while junior Braden Baker recorded his team-leading sixth save of the season.  TAMUK roared back for a 23-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader last Saturday as it was the worst loss of the season for WT and worst under tenth year Buffalo head coach Matt Vanderburg.  The Buffs battled back trailing 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth, plating four runs and tallying one in the bottom of the seventh for a walk-off win as WT improved to 7-1 on the year in one-run games with the 5-4 win.  In Sunday's finale, the Buffs scored in eight of eight innings batting with six runs in the middle three innings for an 11-6 win as Baker earned the win in relief and junior Dominic Yearego picked up his fourth save of the season.
 
For the series, the Buffs hit .317 on 40 of 126, while scoring 29 runs with eight doubles, two triples and five home runs.  WT drove in 27 and reached base at a .412 clip with 14 walks and seven hit batsmen, while slugging .532.  LSC Player of the Week senior Nick Canas hit .600 for the week on 6 of 10 from the dish with nine run scored, two home runs and six RBI.  It was his first weekly honor of his career.  The Javelinas hit .350 on 50 of 143 with 42 runs scored, 13 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 36 RBI.  TAMUK slugged .531 and reached base at a .441 clip with 23 walks and two hit batsmen.  WT held a 8.16 ERA in 32 innings, while allowing 42 runs – 29 earned as the Buffs committed eight errors for the series.  Baker earned a save and a win for the series, while junior Darin Cook earned a complete game win, going seven innings, allowing eight hits, four runs, two earned, walked one and fanned seven in the 5-4 win on Saturday.
 
Following the series win over TAMUK, the Buffs moved up to No. 5 in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25, while ranking No. 7 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Top 25.  Angelo State is receiving votes in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll.  WT is tops in the NCBWA South Central Region rankings for the fourth-straight week.  Angelo State is sixth in the NCBWA Region poll.
 
WT jumped four spots in the NCAA South Central Region rankings this week from No. 6 in the initial ranking last week to No. 2 this week.  Arkansas-Fort Smith, who WT beat two-out-of-three in Fort Smith, Ark., in February, remained the top team in the poll for the second-straight week, followed by WT.  Colorado Mesa jumped from a tie for fourth with Angelo State to third, followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville, Colorado School of Mines and Angelo State rounded out the top six.  St. Edward's was seventh for the second-straight week, while St. Mary's was eighth again this week.  There will be one more public ranking next Wednesday, prior to the official announcement of the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, May 13 at 9 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.
 
The Buffs are hitting .324 this season with 469 hits, including 109 doubles, 17 triples, 40 home runs and 330 RBI this season.  WT is slugging .506 with an on-base percentage of .426 on 201 walks, with 77 hit batsmen and 286 strikeouts.  The Buffs are 45 of 63 on the base paths, while committing 58 errors leading to 49 unearned runs. 
 
Junior Tag Baxter is leading the team in average at a .378 clip on 34 of 90 from the plate.  He has ten doubles, one triple, one home run and driven in 22, while scoring 22 runs.  Second on the team in average is senior Bodie Bryan at a .356  clip as he leads the team in hits with 58, while scoring 49 runs with 13 doubles, a team-high four triples and six home runs.  Bryan is slugging .595 and reaching base at a .436 clip, while going a team-best 14 of 18 in stolen baes.  Senior Luis Amaro has played in all 45 games as one of two Buffs to do so (Canas).  Amaro is third in average at .354, while leading the team with 51 runs scored.  He has 52 hits, 17 doubles and a team-high 13 home runs, while driving in a team-best 61.  Amaro is slugging a team-high .735, while reaching base at a .490 clip with a team-high 40 walks.  Canas is fifth in average at .348, while he leads the team with in triples with four and second in hits with 57, along with a team-high 18 doubles.  Junior Christian Loya is second on the team in home runs with seven.
 
On the mound, the Buffs have a 4.66 ERA in 365 innings.  WT has four complete games with two shutouts and 12 saves.  The Buffs have allowed 390 hits, 238 runs – 189 earned, walked 171 and fanned 392.  The opposition is hitting .273 against WT with 70 doubles, six triples and 28 home runs, while scoring 238 runs.  Individually Cook leads the team with a 9-1 record as he is one win shy of tying the school-record for wins set by Joshua Payne last season.  Cook has a 3.56 ERA in 13 appearances with eight starts, one complete game and has pitched 65.2 innings for second on the team.  He has allowed 61 hits, 34 runs – 26 earned, walked 23 and fanned 75 for second on the team.  Corbett is 8-2 with a 3.44 ERA in 11 starts with three complete games and a team-high 73.1 innings.  He has a team-high 78 strikeouts on the season.  Baker leads the team with six saves and is 6-2 with a 3.15 ERA in 19 appearances.  Yearego is 3-0 with a 2.73 ERA in 12 appearances with four saves. 
 
The Buffs and Rams split a four-game, non-conference series in Canyon back in March as WT won games two and four, while ASU won the opener and the third game.  Baxter hit .500 for the series on 5 of 10 with two runs scored and a double, along with two RBI.  Amaro went 7 of 15 from the dish with five runs scored, two doubles, three home runs and 10 RBI as he slugged 1.200 and reached base at a .500 clip.  WT hit .356 for the series on 48 of 135, scoring 32 runs with five doubles, three triples and four home runs, while driving in 27.  Cook and Yearego each had a win in the series.  WT scored 15 runs in the third inning of the finale for a 19-9 win and evened the series.
 
Angelo State leads the all-time series 50-29, but the Buffs have won eight of 11.  ASU won three of four during conference play last season in Canyon.  WT is no stranger to winning in San Angelo as the Buffs have won back-to-back LSC tournament titles there with wins over ASU in the process. 
 
Check back with www.gobuffsgo.com for the next poll release next Wednesday and keep up to date with WT Baseball on the baseball page.  Links to live stats and audio/video streaming for this weekend's games at ASU can be found on the baseball schedule page.
 
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