CANYON, Texas – The #4 Buffs of West Texas A&M plated eight runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of Saturday's nightcap to pick up a Lone Star Conference doubleheader split with the UT Tyler Patriots on Saturday afternoon at Wilder Park in Canyon.
 
The Buffs and Patriots conclude their series tomorrow morning with first pitch scheduled for 10:00 a.m. at Wilder Park.
 
GAME ONE
The Patriots jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning as Lane Hutchinson lifted a two-run homerun to left field with no outs followed by a Blake LaBuda walk with the bases loaded, UTT wasn't done yet as Connor Clark lifted a sac fly to left followed by a Jordan Ardoin RBI double before a wild pitch and a Nathan Carriere RBI single. Ethan Menard kept the inning alive with an RBI double to center for the 8-0 lead.
 
UTT added to their lead in the top of the second inning as Austin Ochoa lifted a solo shot to left center to start the frame for the 9-0 lead. WT responded in the bottom of the second as Owen Alsup drew an RBI walk with the bases loaded and one out followed by an Elijah Batista grand slam to left and a Ryan Camacho RBI double to make it 9-6.
 
The Patriots added to their lead in the top of the third as Ethan Bedgood singled thru the left side with two outs to drive in a pair followed by an Ochoa two-run homerun to left field to make it 13-6.
 
The Buffs responded with another big inning as Batista was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded followed by a Pau Wittmann RBI double to center that scored two, Kyle Micklus lifted a sac fly to right followed by back-to-back RBI doubles from Ryan Camacho and Kory Schmidt to cut the lead to 13-12.
 
UT Tyler extended their lead in the sixth as LaBuda singled thru the right side with no outs to score Bedgood followed by a double play grounder that scored Ochoa to make it 15-12. WT answered in the bottom of the frame as Glenn Noronha doubled down the left field line to plate Rodric Black followed later in the frame by a Camacho two-run single up the middle to tie the game at 15-15.
 
The Patriots retook the lead in the top of the ninth with two outs as Menard singled thru the right side to drive in Ardoin for the 16-15 lead.
 
Reese Miller claimed the loss (3-2) for the Buffs, allowing one earned run on two hits with no walks and a strikeout in his 1.0 innings of work.
 
GAME TWO
The Patriots struck first in the nightcap as they took advantage of a WT fielding error to plate a pair for the 2-0 advantage. 
 
The Buffs got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning as Jovan Camacho singled thru the right side with one out to drive in Noronha followed later in the frame by a Micklus grand slam down the right field line, WT wasn't done yet as Fesperman doubled to left to drive in a run followed by a Noronha two-run single up the middle for the 8-2 lead.
 
Matt Milner picked up the win (3-1) for the Buffs, allowing two unearned runs on six hits with three walks and five strikeouts in his 6.0 innings of work.