CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M's Justice Hayes was dominant on the mound on Friday afternoon as the senior from Arlington allowed just two hits in the second game of a Lone Star Conference doubleheader to split a pair of games with the UAFS Lions at Crowder Field.
 
The Buffs and Lions conclude their series tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m. 
 
GAME ONE
The Buffs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Dylan Fesperman lifted a sacrifice fly to center field with one out to plate Paul Wittmann, WT added to their lead in the third on a Ryan Camacho RBI groundout that score Wittmann followed later in the frame by a Fesperman RBI double off the left field wall to run his hitting streak to 22 games and make it 3-0.
 
UAFS got on the board in the home half of the third as Matt Schilling was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs to make it 3-1. The Lions cut into the lead again in the fourth with a Dakota Peters RBI walk with the bases loaded to cut the lead to 3-2.
 
The Lions tied up the game in the bottom of the fifth on a Noah Davis sac fly to left field that plated Schilling. Fort Smith took the first lead of the game in the home half of the sixth as Nico Patrick lifted a two-run homerun to right field with two outs for the 5-3 advantage.
 
Nick Marshall picked up the loss (3-3) for the Buffs, allowing three runs (two earned) on one hit with one walks and a pair of strikeouts in his 2.1 innings of relief.
 
GAME TWO
The Buffs got on the board first in the nightcap as Owen Alsup lifted a sac fly to center with one out to plate Josh Zapata for the 1-0 lead. WT added to their lead in the top of the third with a Ryan Camacho RBI single to right center to score Kyle Micklus to make it 2-0.
 
WT used the long ball to add to their lead in the top of the third as Elijah Batista lifted a three-run shot to left field, the Buffs added to their lead again in the fifth as Fesperman crushes a three-run homerun to left field followed later in the frame by a Batista RBI double to make it 9-0.
 
Micklus added to the WT lead in the top of the sixth as the junior started off the frame with a solo homerun down the right field line followed later in the frame by a Fesperman three-run shot to left field for the 13-0 lead. The Buffs continued their hot streak at the plate in the top of the seventh as Fesperman singled to center to drive in his seventh run of the game before Zapata lifted a three-run long ball to left field followed later in the inning by a Batista RBI single up the middle at 18-0. UAFS plated their only run of the game in the seventh with a leadoff solo homerun by Cayden Burch.
 
Hayes picked up the win (3-0) in his first start in Maroon & White, allowing one earned run on two hits with no walks and three strikeouts in the complete game victory.