CANYON, Texas – The #8 Buffaloes took an early 5-0 lead on Friday afternoon before the Drury Panthers responded with a seven-run fifth inning on their way to a 14-6 victory over West Texas A&M at Wilder Park in Canyon.
 
The Buffs took an early lead in the bottom of the first as Rodric Black stole a pair of bases followed by a Ryan Camacho RBI groundout to short before Kory Schmidt connected on a solo shot the other way to right for the 2-0 advantage.
 
WT added to their lead in the second as Black tripled off of the center field wall with one out to score Elijah Batista and Josh Zapata followed by a Kyle Micklus sac fly to left to score Black and make it 5-0. The Panthers got on the board in the top of the fourth as Luke Burke tripled down the right field line to score Wes Collins with one out followed by an RBI groundout by Max Elmer at 5-2.
 
Drury cut into the lead again in the top of the fifth as Collins singled thru the left side with two outs to score Landon Willbrand followed by a three-run homerun to right center by Burk for the 6-5 lead. The Buffs made a move to the bullpen as Willbrand drew an RBI walk with two outs followed by a Kaden Byrnes two-run double to make it 9-5.
 
The Panthers added to their lead in the top of the sixth as Tyler Bastunas doubled to left with two outs to drive in a pair followed by a Connor Bain ground-rule double that plated Bastunas, Bain would steal third and score on a wild pitch for the 13-5 lead. DU added to their lead again in the seventh on a Cooper Munro RBI triple to right center to make it 14-5.
 
The Buffs cut into the lead in the home half of the eighth as Micklus grounded out to short with the bases loaded and one out to plate Paul Wittmann to make it 14-6. 
 
Nick Marshall picked up the loss (1-1) for the Buffs, allowing nine earned runs on 11 hits with three walks and three strikeouts in his 4.2 innings of work.
 
The Buffs and Panthers continue the series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 2:00 p.m. at Wilder Park.