CANYON, Texas – The #6 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M hit the road for Lone Star Conference action this weekend as they head down Interstate 27 for a three-game series with the Lubbock Christian Chaps starting on Thursday night with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Hays Field.
LUBBOCK CHRISTIAN
The Chaps enter the weekend with an overall record of 8-13 with a 7-11 mark in Lone Star Conference play following a series loss to St. Edward's last weekend in Austin. SEU took the openter 5-1 before LCU rebounded with an extra-inning 10-9 victory, the Hilltoppers took the finale 7-2 to claim the LSC weekend series.
Nathan Blackwood is now in his 18th season at the helm of the Chap Baseball program, holding an overall record of 672-299 during his time in Lubbock. The LCU alum has led his alma mater to three NCAA Tournament appearances while also winning the 2009 NAIA National Championship.
Luis Navarro leads the way offensively for the Chaps as the junior from Panama is hitting .364 on the season with five doubles and three homeruns to drive in 17 RBI for a .545 slugging percentage to go along with 17 walks and 14 strikeouts for an on-base clip of .479. Ty Stephenson leads the way on the mound for LCU as the junior right-hander has gone 1-2 with a 3.44 ERA, allowing 10 runs (seven earned) on 20 hits with 10 walks and 18 strikeouts during his 18.1 innings of work for an opposing batting average of .290.
WT HEAD COACH MATT VANDERBURG
Matt Vanderburg has built West Texas A&M Baseball into a regional and national contender as the Norman, Oklahoma native is now in his 13th season at the helm of the Buffs. He holds an overall record of 396-226 (.637) during his time in Canyon while registering a career record of 495-293 (.628) in his 16 seasons in collegiate baseball.
THE COACHING STAFF
Cory Hall enters his 11th year at WT as the Buffs' Pitching Coach, serving the last five as the program's Associate Head Coach. Hall has had four different pitchers drafted in the MLB Draft during his time in Canyon with multiple other professional players learning under one of the top pitching minds in collegiate baseball. Assistant Coach
Shawn Neale returns for his fifth season in Canyon as the Buffs finished the 2020 season hitting .298 as a team with 76 extra-base hits and an on-base percentage of .403. WT also welcomes the program's all-time saves leader
Dominic Yearego to the coaching staff for his first season in the dugout.
2021 SCHEDULE
The 2021 schedule is highlighted by 22 regular season home games at Wilder Park with a maximum of 40 Division II contests, 36 of those coming in Lone Star Conference action with three-game series against all 12 member institutions. WT welcomes Great American Conference members Southwestern Oklahoma State and Oklahoma Baptist to Wilder Park on February 5-7 for a four-game round robin tournament to open the season. The "Bob Sloan Baseball Classic" will honor former WTAMU head coach Bob "Skip" Sloan with a dedication of a new pavilion at Wilder Park funded by former players, family and friends of Coach Sloan.
SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Eleven different seniors made the difficult decision following the shortened 2020 campaign to return to West Texas A&M for their final season as
Carter Brown,
Todd Danzeisen,
Chandler Dean,
Zach Dixon,
Cade Engle,
Mathieu Gauthier,
Keone Givens,
Cooper Harris,
Justin Martinez,
Kyle Moos and
Reese Patterson return for WT. Those 11 will be joined by senior transfers
Jonah Gonzales (San Francisco State),
Justin Robinson (Arkansas-Pine Bluff),
Jake Suddreth (Florida State) and
Jordon Wyke (Regis) as WT's senior class of 2021.
LOCAL TALENT STAYING HOME
The Buffs have made it a point to recruit local talent as they currently have 11 student-athletes that graduated high school within a 100-mile radius of campus. The local players are:
Clay Artho (Canyon),
Noah Bartlett (Randall),
Garrett Cobb (Canyon),
Ben Crist (Texico),
Cade Engle (Pampa),
Kix Ferrel (Memphis),
Caleb Flores (Amarillo),
Kason Haggard (Canyon),
Reese Patterson (Canyon),
Chris Rodriguez (Friona) and
Elijah Velasquez (Randall).
LSC DIGITAL NETWORK
Fans will be able to purchase a $10 daily pass that will give them access to all football, volleyball and basketball contests on the network that day as well as access to previously aired games from the current season for 24 hours. In addition to live and archived streaming options, viewers will have the option to purchase and download games from the 2020-21 season for $10 each.
Fans can watch games and purchase passes online at www.lonestarconferencenetwork.com on computer and mobile devices. Viewers can also tune in to games on the LSC Digital Network via OTT apps available on Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Roku by searching for "LSC Digital Network".
