ODESSA, Texas – The #15 West Texas A&M Buffaloes dropped their season opener for the first time under 12^th year head coach Matt Vanderburg on Friday afternoon as they fell to the UT Permian Basin Falcons in Lone Star Conference action at Roden Field in Odessa.
 
The Buffs look to rebound tomorrow afternoon as they send LSC Preseason Player of the Year Zach Dixon to the mound for Game Two with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.
 
THE BASICS:
- Game One Score: UT Permian Basin 7, #15 West Texas A&M 2
- Records: WT (0-1, 0-1 LSC) / UTPB (1-0, 1-0 LSC)
- Location: Odessa, Texas
- Venue: Roden Field
- Series (Streak): Buffs lead 11-1 (L1)
 
RECAP:
The Falcons got on the board early as Torren Brozovich tripled off of the center field wall to score Pemron Burrows with no outs in the home half of the first followed later in the frame by a Nick Hernandez sac fly to right for the 2-0 lead. The Buffaloes responded in the top of the second inning as Eric Ortiz led off the frame with a first-pitch solo homerun over the center field wall for his first career long ball to cut the lead to 2-1.
 
UTPB answered in the home half of the second as they scored four runs on four hits highlighted by another Brozovich triple that plated two and ran the Falcon lead to 6-1. Ortiz continued his hot start to the season in the top of the sixth as the freshman connected on his second homerun of the game, a solo shot to left center, cutting the lead to 6-2.
 
The Falcons would add an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as Hernandez singled thru the right side to score Michael Clapperton at 7-2. Mathieu Gauthier picked up the loss (0-1) for the Buffs, allowing six earned runs on five hits with four walks and six strikeouts in his four innings of work. Noah Bartlett was strong out of the bullpen for WT as the Amarillo product allowed just one run over three innings followed by a scoreless eighth inning from Chris Rodriguez.