CANYON, Texas – The #10 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M battled from a three-run deficit on Friday night as they ran their win streak to nine games with a 7-6 victory in the Lone Star Conference series opener against the St. Mary's Rattlers at Wilder Park in Canyon.
 
The Rattlers jumped on the board early as Brandon Broughton singled to left with one out to score Jake Mares followed by a Mitchell Caskey RBI single to center to make it 2-0.
 
WT cut into the lead in the first as Keone Givens lifted a sac fly to center to score Cade Engle followed by a Kyle Moos triple down the right field line in the second to score Will Fuenning and make it 2-2.
 
The Buffs took the lead in the third as Ryan Johnson drove in Engle with a sac fly to deep right center with the bases loaded and one out. StMU responded in the fourth as Mares singled to center with the bases loaded before Fuenning showed off his arm, gunning down a run at the plate for a double play to end the frame at 3-3.
 
St. Mary's retook the lead in the fifth as Brian Juarez singled up the middle with two outs to score Caskey followed by a WT error that plated a pair to make it 6-3. The Buffs responded in the home half as Kennedy Badgett lifted a sac fly to left center to score Givens at 6-4.
 
The Buffs continue to chip away in the sixth as Izaiah Madrid score from second on a Rattler error in the infield to make it 6-5. Chris Rodriguez threw up another zero in the seventh before WT took the lead again as Fuenning double to the alley in right center followed by a Kyle Moos RBI single for the 7-6 lead.
 
Jake Suddreth entered from the bullpen to start the ninth as the senior forced a grounder to Badgett at third followed by a strikeout, the Rattlers put the tying run on via a walk before Suddreth ended the game with a strikeout for his first save. 
 
Rodriguez picked up the win (2-0) on the mound, allowing one unearned run on four hits with no walks and four strikeouts in his 3.1 innings of relief.