CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes hit the road for Lone Star Conference action this weekend as they head to Austin, Texas to take on the #15 Hilltoppers of St. Edward's in a four-game series beginning on Friday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Lucian-Hamilton Field.
 
A LOOK AT THE HILLTOPPERS
St. Edward's enters the weekend a perfect 6-0 on the season with a 4-0 mark in LSC action as they picked up a road sweep of Texas A&M-Kingsville on opening weekend followed by a pair of regional victories last weekend at Colorado State-Pueblo. 
 
Hunter Connor leads the way offensively for the Toppers as the junior outfielder from Cypress is hitting .391 with one triple and two homeruns to drive in 12 RBI for a slugging percentage of .739 to go along with three walks and five strikeouts for an on-base clip of .462. LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Wesley Gafford will take the ball on Friday, holding a 2-0 record with this season with a 3.27 ERA as the tall righty from Georgetown has allowed five runs (four earned) on nine hits with four walks and 19 strikeouts in his 11.0 innings of work for an opposing batting average of .209.
 
SEU HEAD COACH BRYAN FAULDS
Bryan Faulds is in his second 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 28th time on the diamond on Friday afternoon in Austin as St. Edward's holds the 16-11 all-time series lead dating back to 2003. The Buffs are 2-5 all-time at Lucian-Hamilton Field as they picked up a 2-1 series win during their last trip in May of 2021.
 
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 15th season at the helm of the Buffs. He holds an overall record of 453-250 (.645) during his time in Canyon while registering a career record of 552-321 (.632) in his 18 seasons in collegiate baseball.
 
THE COACHING STAFF
Cory Hall is now in his 13th year at West Texas A&M as the Buffs' Pitching Coach, serving the last seven 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 in 2022 as the Toronto native returns for his seventh season in Canyon.
 
2023 LSC PRESEASON POLL
Defending South Central Regional Champion Angelo State picked up 23 of the possible 32 first place votes to sit atop of the poll with 407 points followed by WT (eight first place, 388), Texas A&M-Kingsville (one first place, 315), Lubbock Christian (298), St. Edward's (296), UT Tyler (291), Oklahoma Christian (206), St. Mary's (203), Texas A&M International (160), UAFS (131), Eastern New Mexico (88), Cameron (82) and UT Permian Basin (47).
 
Adam Becker from West Texas A&M claimed Preseason Player of the Year accolades while Wesley Gafford from St. Edward's was named the league's Preseason Pitcher of the Year.
 
Becker made an immediate impact on the diamond for the Buffs as the Lone Star Conference Player of the Year finished his junior campaign hitting .402 with 22 doubles, two triples and 22 homeruns to drive in an incredible 92 RBI for a slugging percentage of .803 to go along with 27 walks for an on-base clip of .462. Becker was named First Team All-South Central Region by the D2CCA, NCBWA and ABCA/Rawlings.
 
NCBWA PRESEASON ALL-SOUTH CENTRAL REGION
Adam Becker, Ryan Johnson, Eddy Savoie and Nick Marshall were named to the squad while Will Fuenning was selected for the Honorable Mention Team. The Buffs were selected third in the preseason regional poll. The poll and all-region team was voted on by a committee of eight voters with four representing each conference (Lone Star and RMAC).
 
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 5-7. The winners of each opening round series will advance to a double-elimination tournament played May 11-13. 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.
 
LSC DIGITAL NETWORK
The LSC Digital Network is in its fourth season showcasing the academic and athletic events of the league and its 18 member institutions. 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.