CANYON, Texas – The #15 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M opened up the 2022 season in impressive fashion on Saturday afternoon as they struck out 18 different Thunderwolves on the way to a 10-3 win on Opening Day over Colorado State-Pueblo at Wilder Park during the Bob Sloan Baseball Classic.
 
The Pack looked to get on the board early as they stared off the game with a leadoff double down the left field line before Maddux Hoaglund settled in with three straight outs to send the Buffs to the plate. WT struck first in the bottom of the second inning as Eric Ortiz drew a walk with one out followed two batters later by an Izaiah Madrid double to the wall in left to make it 1-0. 
 
The Buffs added to their lead in the third as Will Fuenning doubled to the gap in right center to score Ryan Johnson with one out followed later in the inning by an Ortiz single RBI to center to drive in a pair to make it 4-0. Pueblo got on the board in the top of the fourth inning as Max Pawela connected on a two run bomb to right center to cut the lead to 4-2.
 
WT responded in the home half of the fourth as Kennedy Badgett drove in Paul Wittmann with an RBI groundout followed by a Fuenning RBI single thru the left side to score Eddy Savoie and extend the WT lead to 6-2. CSUP used the long ball again in the top of the fifth as Brady Prewitt started off the frame with a solo homerun down the left field line.
 
The Buffs answered with a long ball of their own in the bottom of the sixth as Adam Becker crushed a two-run shot over the scoreboard in left field with one out followed later in the frame by a Mike Manetta RBI double to left center that plated Ortiz and make it 9-3. WT would add an insurance run in the seventh on a Badgett RBI single thru the left side to score Savoie.
 
A.G. Ayala picked up the victory on the mound for the Buffaloes as the senior allowed just one earned run on one hit with three walks and four strikeouts during his 2.2 innings of work out of the bullpen. WT finished the night with 18 strikeouts highlighted by seven from Hoaglund, four from Ayala, four from Brennan Berdon and three from Colton Charnholm in the ninth.