CANYON, Texas – The #22 West Texas A&M Buffaloes dropped Friday's opener before battling back in the nightcap to split a doubleheader with the Oklahoma Baptist Bison at Wilder Park on day two of the Bob Sloan Baseball Classic.
 
The Buffs and Bison return to action tomorrow afternoon with the series finale scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
Game One
The Bison jumped on the board early as Kevin Saenz went the other way for a solo shot down the right field line with one out for the 1-0 lead. 
 
OBU added to their lead in the fourth as Eric Carlson singled to the warning track in center to score Walker Keller with one out followed by a Kase Warner RBI single to right and a Colin Prince two-run single up the middle to make it 5-0.
 
The Buffs finally pushed across their first run of the afternoon in the sixth as Eric Ortiz doubled to the warning track in deep center to drive in Jonah Gonzales and cut the lead to 5-1. OBU put the game away in the top of the seventh with a Keller two-run blast to right center to make it 7-1.
 
Mathieu Gauthier picked up the loss for the Buffs, allowing five earned runs on eight hits with one walk and four strikeouts in his two innings of work.
 
Game Two
WT took the early lead in the nightcap as Ortiz doubles to the power alley in left center to leadoff the bottom of the second followed layer in the inning by two OBU errors to score the game's first run.
 
The Bison used the long ball again in the top of the fourth inning as Keller connected on his second of the day, this time a three run blast to center field for the 3-1 lead. 
 
Kyle Moos started the bottom of the fifth with a double down the left field line followed by an Izaiah Madrid single to center to put Buffs on the corners, Cade Engle lifted a sac fly to center to score Moos with one out to cut the lead to 3-2.
 
WT tied up the game in the home half of the sixth as Keone Givens singled to left to start the inning followed by an Ortiz double to the gap in right center to make it 3-3. Reese Patterson singled to left on the slash to plate Kix Ferrel followed by an Abel Pena ground-rule double to left to make it 5-3. Madrid singled thru the left side to drive in another run with no outs at 6-3.
 
OBU made it interesting in the seventh with a pair of walks to start the inning, Chris Rodriguez entered from the bullpen and registered three straight strikeouts to end the game and pick up the save. Justin Zamora registered the win on the mound, allowing no runs on no hits with two walks and three strikeouts in his 2.2 innings of relief.