CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M's Ryan Johnson connected on a pair of homeruns as the senior drove in six runs on Friday night as the Buffaloes picked up a 16-10 Lone Star Conference victory over the St. Mary's Rattlers at Wilder Park in Canyon, Texas.
 
The Buffs jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning as Mike Manetta singled to right field to drive in Bryant Bailey followed by a three-run homerun to right center by Ryan Johnson for the 4-0 lead. 
 
The Rattlers responded in the top of the fourth as Rudy Solis tripled off of the center field wall to plate Eason Parrish followed by a WT fielding error that plated another run to make it 4-2. WT responded in the home half of the inning as Johnson connected on his second long ball of the game, this time a two-run shot off of the scoreboard in left for the 6-2 lead.
 
St. Mary's answered with a long ball of their own in the fifth as Clay Bradford crushed a three-run shot to left with no outs to cut the lead to 6-5. WT added to their lead with two outs in the home half of the fifth as Adam Becker doubled to shallow center field with the bases loaded to drive in three and make it 9-5.
 
StMU cut into the lead again in the sixth as Brandon Broughton drew a walk with the bases loaded and one out to followed by an RBI fielder's choice groundout from Parrish to make it 9-7. WT added to their lead again in the bottom of the sixth as Johnson doubled to the gap in left center to score Manetta followed by a Becker RBI single, the Buffs weren't done yet as Eddy Savoie drew an RBI walk and an Evan Leibl RBI groundout before a Manetta bases-clearing double later in the frame made it 16-7.
 
The Rattlers would cut into the lead again in the top of the eighth as Broughton singled thru the left side to plate Jake Mares followed by a wild pitch that plated Bradford and a Solis RBI single to cut the lead to 16-10.
 
Nick Marshall picked up the win (8-1) for the Buffs, allowing seven runs (six earned) on nine hits with six walks and four strikeouts in his 5.1 innings of work. The junior from Antigo, Wisconsin moved into a tie for third on WT's all-time wins list (19) alongside Chris Carson (1996-99).
 
The Buffs and Rattlers continue their series tomorrow afternoon with doubleheader action set for 3:00 p.m. at Wilder Park.