CANYON, Texas – The #15 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M open up Lone Star Conference action this weekend as they head to Portales, New Mexico for a four-game series with the Eastern New Mexico Greyhound starting on Friday night with first pitch set for 5:00 p.m. CT at Greyhound Field followed by a Saturday doubleheader (4 p.m. CT) and Sunday's series finale set for 2 p.m. CT.
 
A LOOK AT THE GREYHOUNDS
Eastern New Mexico enters the weekend with an overall mark of 1-3 following an Opening Weekend series loss on the road in Austin to the St. Edward's Hilltoppers. The Hounds took the opener 4-3 before falling in the final three games by a combined score of 28-10. ENMU was picked 13th in the LSC Preseason Poll following an 8-30 overall record in 2021 including a 7-28 mark in league action.
 
Spencer Roach led the way offensively for the Greyhounds last weekend in Austin as the redshirt freshman outfielder from Cape Coral, Florida went 5-of-10 (.500) at the plate with a pair of doubles to register seven total bases for a slugging percentage of .700 to go along with a walk for an on-base clip of .545 while also stealing a base. Round Rock native Damian Acosta picked up the win on the mound in the series opener, tossing a complete game with five runs allowed (four earned) on nine hits with two walks and four strikeouts.
 
ENMU HEAD COACH RILEY PRICE
Riley Price is now in his third season at the helm of the Eastern New Mexico baseball program, holding an overall record of 12-52 during his time in Portales. Price took over the Hounds following oen season as the top assistant at Minot State. Before his time in North Dakota, Price spent time as an assistant at Angelo State, Baker University and Washburn. The Berryton, Kansas native played his collegiate ball at Washburn, Southern Arkansas and Allen Community College.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Buffaloes lead the all-time series against the Greyhounds, 72-53 with WT winning the last 13 meetings between the two teams in a series that dates back to the 1994 season. The teams are deadlocked at 29-29 in Portales as the Buffs have won their last three trips to the Land of Enchantment. Last season saw the Buffs take both meetings from the Hounds by a combined score of 30-5 at Wilder Park as the series finale was cancelled due to inclement weather.
 
BOB SLOAN BASEBALL CLASSIC RECAP
The Buffaloes opened the 2022 season in style this past weekend as they picked up big wins over Colorado State-Pueblo (10-3) and New Mexico Highlands (17-2) during the second annual Bob Sloan Baseball Classic at Wilder Park. WT registered a .388 team batting average over the weekend with 11 doubles and a homerun to drive in 26 RBI and 45 total bases for a slugging percentage of .563 to go along with 10 walks for an on-base clip of .474. The Buffalo pitching staff dominated the pair of RMAC foes with a 2.00 ERA, allowing five runs (four earned) on 11 hits with 10 walks and an incredible 34 strikeouts over 18.0 innings of work.
 
2021 RECAP
The 2021 campaign saw the Buffaloes claim their third Lone Star Conference Championship with a 28-4 mark in league action as they advanced to a seventh straight NCAA Tournament, making an appearance in the program's first ever Regional Finals with an overall record of 34-9. 
 
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 14th season at the helm of the Buffs. He holds an overall record of 411-238 (.633) during his time in Canyon while registering a career record of 510-299 (.629) in his 17 seasons in collegiate baseball.
 
THE COACHING STAFF
Cory Hall enters his 12th year at West Texas A&M as the Buffs' Pitching Coach, serving the last six as the program's Associate Head Coach. Hall has had four different pitchers drafted in the Major League Baseball 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 was named WT's Recruiting Coordinator this summer as the Toronto native returns for his sixth season in Canyon. WT welcomes former All-LSC catcher Kyle Moos to the coaching staff as a graduate assistant. 
 
2022 LSC PRESEASON POLL
Angelo State picked up 27 of the possible 36 first place votes to sit atop of the poll with 452 points followed by West Texas A&M with five first place votes and 432 total points. UT Tyler sat third with 364 points followed by Texas A&M-Kingsville (three first place, 360), Oklahoma Christian (315), Lubbock Christian (289), St. Mary's (one first place, 287), UAFS (201), St. Edward's (195), UT Permian Basin (138), Texas A&M International (106), Cameron (90) and Eastern New Mexico (47).
 
ASU's Aaron Walters was named the league's Preseason Player of the Year while teammate Carson Childers picked up Preseason Pitcher of the Year accolades. The league's preseason poll reflects the opinions of LSC head coaches, sports information directors and various media representatives throughout the region.
 
THIS IS LSC BASEBALL
The LSC Championship will feature a two-week tournament comprised of the top eight teams with the opening round at on-campus sites May 6-8. The winners of each opening round series will advance to a double-elimination tournament played May 12-14. The winner of the postseason tournament will be recognized as the LSC Tournament Champion and receive the conference's automatic qualifier to the NCAA postseason.
 
HOME OF CHAMPIONS
West Texas A&M is home to one of the most successful athletic programs in all of NCAA Division II. The 2020-21 season saw WT claim seven LSC Regular Season Championships, three LSC Tournament Titles, three Regional Championships, four Top-three track & field finishes, a men's basketball national title game appearance and the 2021 NCAA Division II Softball National Championship.
 
LSC DIGITAL NETWORK
The LSC Digital Network is in its third season showcasing the academic and athletic events of the league and its 18 member institutions. Under the new structure for 2021-22, football, volleyball, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, baseball and softball broadcasts will be available via conference-wide pay-per-view passes.
   
The LSC Digital Network will offer season passes for football, volleyball, soccer, basketball, baseball and softball, giving fans access to all regular-season contests for that sport. In addition, viewers will continue to have the option to purchase a $10 day pass that provides access to all broadcasts aired that day and access to all archived content for 24 hours. 
 
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".