CANYON, Texas – The #15 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M continue their postseason run on Thursday afternoon as they open up the double-elimination portion of the 2022 Lone Star Conference Championships against the sixth-seeded St. Edward's Hilltoppers with first pitch set for 2 p.m. at Foster Field in San Angelo, Texas.
 
A LOOK AT THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's enters the weekend overall record of 29-21 as they finished the LSC schedule 27-21 overall. The Hilltoppers are coming off of an LSC Championship Opening Weekend sweep on the road in Lubbock as they topped third-seeded Lubbock Christian (9-7, 20-17) at Hays Field. 
 
Sophomore infielder Stacey Bailey leads the way offensively for St. Edward's as the Kerens, Texas product is hitting .391 on the year with 10 doubles, one triple and 12 homeruns to drive in 52 RBI for a slugging percentage of .739 to go along with 31 walks and 42 strikeouts for an on-base clip of .511. Potential Thursday starter Wesley Gafford is 8-3 on the mound for the Toppers with a 3.99 ERA as the junior right-hander from Georgetown has allowed 47 runs (39 earned) on 104 hits with 21 walks and 84 strikeouts in his 88.0 innings of work with an opposing batting average of .300.
 
SEU HEAD COACH BRYAN FAULDS
Bryan Faulds is in his first season at the helm of the St. Edward's baseball program after spending four seasons as the pitching coach for the Hilltoppers. Faulds came to Austin following four seasons as the pitching coach at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The San Ramon, California native pitched collegiately at the College of San Mateo and Western Illinois.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Buffs and Hilltoppers will meet for the 25th time on the diamond on Thursday afternoon in San Angelo as St. Edward's holds the 15-9 all-time series lead dating back to 2003. The Hilltoppers are 10-6 all-time in Canyon including 5-5 at Wilder Park. Last season saw the two teams split their six meetings 3-3 as the Buffs picked up a series victory in Austin to close out the regular season LSC Championship before the Hilltoppers traveled to Canyon and knocked the top-seeded Buffs out of the Opening Round of the LSC Championships in three-game series. 
 
The Toppers came to Canyon two weekends ago and handed the Buffs their first home series loss since May of 2017. WT lone victory in the series came in game two as Jack Eagan tossed a two-hit complete game shutout in a 2-0 victory with Eric Ortiz providing the run support with a long ball in the fourth inning. SEU outscored the Buffs 37-23 in the series.
 
THE BUFFS IN THE LSC CHAMPIONSHIP
West Texas A&M enters the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championship for the 12th time beginning this weekend as the Buffs hold a 15-15 (.500) all-time record in the event with five appearances in the title game to go along with three LSC Tournament Championships (2016, 2017, 2019).
 
LSC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP
Top-seeded Angelo State, No. 2 West Texas A&M, No. 5 UT Tyler and No. 6 St. Edward's will all take part in the second week of the championship. The tournament will be held May 12-13-14 at Foster Field in San Angelo, Texas, as ASU earned the right to host as the tournament's highest remaining seed. The double elimination tournament begins Thursday, May 12, with two games, followed by a triple-header on Friday, May 13. The championship concludes on Saturday, May 14.
 
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 14th season at the helm of the Buffs. He holds an overall record of 446-253 (.642) during his time in Canyon while registering a career record of 545-314 (.636) in his 17 seasons in collegiate baseball.
 
THE COACHING STAFF
Cory Hall is now in 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"