ODESSA, Texas – The #8 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M will look for a non-conference series sweep of the UT Permian Basin Falcons tomorrow afternoon in Odessa, Texas following a pair of Saturday victories highlighted by a career-high eight strikeouts by Zach Dixon in the nightcap.
 
The Buffs and Falcons wrap-up their series on Sunday afternoon at Roden Field with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
THE BASICS:
- Game 1 Score: #8 West Texas A&M 7, UT Permian Basin 4
- Game 2 Score: #8 West Texas A&M 14, UT Permian Basin 0
- Records: WT (16-3) / UTPB (5-8)
- Location: Odessa, Texas
- Venue: Roden Field
- Series (Streak): Buffs lead 11-0 (W11)
 
GAME ONE RECAP:
The Falcons started off the scoring in the home half of the first inning as Andres Romero singled to center field to drive in Tyler Vlasek followed by a base hit by Skyler Palermo to score Trent Golson for the 2-0 advantage. The Buffs responded in the top of the second as Jake Pederson singled to left to score Justin Martinez and make it 2-1.
 
UTPB took advantage of three Buffalo errors with two outs in the bottom of the third as an errant throw plated Golson to make it 3-1. Keone Givens started off the fourth with a walk followed by a stolen base and a wild pitch to move the junior to third with one out, Clay Koelzer drew a walk before Kyle Kaufman crushed a three-run shot to right center to give the Buffs the lead at 4-3.
 
The Falcons looked to respond in the fifth with a two-out walk and base hit to force a move to the WT bullpen as Mitchell Miller entered as the lefty ended the frame with a big strikeout to keep it 4-3. The Buffs added to their lead in the top of the sixth as Darius Carter drew a walk with one out before Justice Nakagawa singled thru the left side to extend the lead to 5-3.
 
Kaufman drove in his fourth run of the afternoon in the top of the seventh as the senior doubled to the left center field gap to score Koelzer followed later in the inning by a UTPB fielding error that drove in another run at 7-3. The Falcons wouldn't go down without a fight as Jonathan Bermudez homered to left with one out before Miller responded with two strikeouts to end the game.
 
Mesecher picked up the win (2-1) on the mound for the Buffs, allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits with two walks and four strikeouts in his four innings of work while Miller earned his first save, allowing one run on one hit with a walk and five strikeouts in the final 2.1 frames.
 
GAME TWO RECAP:
WT got on the board first in the top of the opening inning Givens tripled to leadoff the game followed by a Koelzer sac fly to left for the 1-0 advantage. Reese Patterson picked up his first career start for the Buffs as the Canyon product drew a walk with one out in the second followed by Cade Engle being hit by a pitch, Givens walked to load the bases before Nick Guaragna singled to left to drive in a pair followed by an RBI base hit for Koelzer to run the lead to 4-0.
 
The Buffs added to their lead in the top of the third inning as Patterson singled up the middle with no outs to score Tag Baxter followed by an Engle RBI single to right center that drove in Justin Martinez at 6-0, Nakagawa walked to load the bases followed by a wild pitch and a throwing error that scored a pair before Givens singled to right to drive in Nakagawa and force another move to the bullpen. Koelzer picked up his third RBI of the game with a sac fly to right for the first out followed by a Kaufman RBI single thru the right side, Christian Loya blasted a three-run shot to right to run the lead to 13-0.
 
WT added another run as Loya tripled to the left center field gap to leadoff the seventh followed by a Martinez sac fly to right to plate Loya and make it 14-0. Dixon was dominant on the mound as the senior picked up the win (2-0) for the Buffs, allowing no runs on just three hits with two walks and a career-high eight strikeouts in his five innings of work, Austin Gehle tossed a pair of scoreless frames with four strikeouts to finish off the win.