CANYON, Texas – The #12 West Texas A&M Buffaloes ran their win streak to three games on Friday night as they topped the Arkansas-Fort Smith Lions, 3-1 in Lone Star Conference action at Wilder Park.
 
The Buffs got on the board in the home half of the first as Cade Engle singled up the middle to start the frame followed two batters later by a Kennedy Badgett RBI single to right center for the 1-0 lead. WT took advantage of three Lion errors in the bottom of the third as Reese Patterson lifted a sac fly to right field that plated Keone Givens and ran the lead to 2-0. 
 
The game was halted in the middle of the third by a lightning delay that lasted almost 90 minutes, Mathieu Gauthier came back after the delay as strong as the first three frames as he struck out a pair to run his game total to six. WT took advantage of another Fort Smith error in the seventh as Badgett scored from second on an errant throw to make it 3-0.
 
The Lions stopped a string of 13 consecutive outs as Hunter Church doubled to left field to start the eighth followed by a stolen base and a Dylan Hurt RBI single to left to cut the lead to 3-1. UAFS would knock Gauthier from the game with two outs and two on before Chris Rodriguez entered from the bullpen and slammed the door with a big strikeout to keep it 3-1. Rodriguez would force a double play ball to end the game and pick up his second save of the year, 3-1.
 
Gauthier picked up the win (4-2) on the mound for the Buffs as the senior allowed one earned run on five hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in his 7.2 innings of work. 
 
The nightcap has been postponed due to heavy fog in the area, teams will play a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon starting at 4 p.m. Stay tuned to GoBuffsGo.com for more information.