CANYON, Texas – The #17 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Tyler, Texas for a three-game Lone Star Conference baseball series with the #11 Patriots of UT Tyler starting on Friday night at Irwin Field.
#11 UT TYLER
The Patriots enter the weekend with an overall record of 7-2 following a Lone Star Conference series sweep of St. Edward's last weekend in Austin. UTT dropped the opening series of the season to top-ranked Angelo State followed by a series sweep of Texas A&M International on the road in Laredo. They are 1-2 so far this season at Irwin Field in Tyler.
Brent Porche is now in his fifth season at the helm of the UT Tyler baseball program holding an overall record of 276-130 during his time in East Texas, claiming the 2018 NCAA Division III National Championship.
NCBWA Regional Hitter of the Week Jordan Gochenour leads the way offensively for the Patriots as the sophomore from Houston is hitting .364 this season with one double and three homeruns to drive in nine RBI for a slugging percentage of .667 to go along with seven walks and a hit-by-pitch for an on-base clip of .476. Austin Schneider is the ace of the staff as senior from Azle has gone 2-1 so far this season with a 4.08 ERA, allowing eight earned runs on 14 hits with nine walks and 22 strikeouts in his 17.2 innings of work for an opposing batting average of .222.
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 enters his 13th season at the helm of the Buffs. He holds an overall record of 385-225 (.631) during his time in Canyon while registering a career record of 484-292 (.624) 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.
TICKET INFORMATION/PROTOCOLS
Fans will be asked to practice social distancing and wear a mask upon entry into the Buffalo Sports Park. All seats at Wilder Park will be considered general admission to allow for social distancing, we ask that masks be worn while not eating or drinking.
Buffalo Baseball Season Tickets are available now for only $75, fans cans purchase a single-game ticket for $10 with a limit of 100 being sold per day. It is recommended that purchases be made online. If you are having issues, reach out to the WT Ticket Office (806) 651-1400.
There will be no tickets sold at the gate, all tickets must be pre-purchased, online purchases will be available until 30 minutes after first pitch. These tickets will be E-Tickets, which can be scanned from your phone, or printed out at home. Please be sure to select the "Print At Home/Mobile Delivery" option as there will not be Will Call available.
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".
