CANYON, Texas – The #4 Buffaloes clinched another Lone Star Conference series on Sunday as they used an 11-run fifth inning to outlast the UT Tyler Patriots, 18-16 at Wilder Park in Canyon. The win marked the 500^th victory by WT head coach Matt Vanderburg as the skipper of the Buffaloes as well as his 599^th career win.
 
The Buffs started out the scoring in the bottom of the first inning as they took advantage of a Patriot error with two outs as Paul Wittmann scored for the 1-0 lead. The Patriots tied up the game in the top of the second inning as Blake LaBuda doubled to left field to plate Ethan Bedgood.
 
UT Tyler used the long ball to take the lead in the top of the third as Lane Hutchinson lifted a two-run shot to left center to score Nathan Carriere to make it 3-1. WT responded in the home half of the frame as Dave Janssen started the frame with a solo shot to left field followed by a Kory Schmidt RBI single to left and a Josh Zapata three-run homerun to center for the 6-3 lead.
 
The Pats used the long ball again in the fourth as Kaston Mason started the inning with a solo homerun to center followed later in the frame by a Hutchinson RBI single to left with two outs to make it 6-5. UTT retook the lead in the top of the fifth as a pair of runs scored on a WT error with two outs.
 
The Buffs took the lead again in the home half of the fifth as Dylan Fesperman crushed a three-run homerun down the left field line followed by a Janssen RBI single to center with the bases loaded, the Pats would walk three straight Buffs with the bases loaded followed by a Schmidt RBI single and Fesperman being hit by a pitch and a Zapata two-run double to make it 17-7.
 
UTT cut into the lead in the sixth as Hutchinson doubled to center to drive in Drew Schmidt followed by a balk that scored Carriere at 17-9. The Buffs added to their lead in the bottom of the seventh as Owen Alsup drew a walk with the bases loaded and one out to make it 18-9.
 
The Patriots used the long ball again in the top of the eighth as Hutchinson connected on his second homer of the game to start the frame followed later by a RBI doubles from Bedgood, LaBuda and Austin Ochoa to cut the lead to 18-13. UTT wouldn't go down without a fight as Carriere and Hutchinson started off the ninth with solo homeruns followed later in the frame by a LaBuda RBI single to center.
 
Nick Yeager picked up the win (3-1) for the Buffs, allowing seven runs (five earned) on 10 hits with one walk and five strikeouts in his 5.0 innings of work. 
 
The Buffs hit the road on Easter weekend for a Lone Star Conference series at Crowder Field in Fort Smith, Arkansas as they take on the Lions of UAFS beginning on Thursday afternoon with first pitch set for 3:00 p.m.