CANYON, Texas – West Texas A&M head baseball coach Cory Hall claimed his first victory in Maroon & White on Saturday afternoon as the #23 Buffaloes split a Lone Star Conference doubleheader with the St. Edward's Hilltoppers at Lucian-Hamilton Field in Austin.
 
The Buffs look to salvage a weekend series split on Sunday afternoon with first pitch of the finale set for 1:00 p.m. in Austin.
 
GAME ONE
The Hilltoppers struck first on Saturday afternoon in the bottom of the third as a Carlo Figueroa two-run triple to the gap in left center plated Trevor Sebek and Jeremy Hill for the 2-0 advantage. SEU added to their lead in the fifth as Figueroa drove in Sebek with an RBI double followed by a Connor Cox single to left that plated Figueroa to make it 4-0.
 
WT got on the board in the top of the sixth inning on a Jovan Camacho single up the middle with two outs that scored Seth Ochoa and Elijah Batista followed by a Kyle Micklus three-run homerun just inside of the right field foul pole to give the Buffs a 5-4 lead.
 
St. Edward's responded in the bottom half of the frame as Figueroa drew an RBI walk with the bases loaded and two outs followed by a Marco Barrera single thru the right side that plated a pair for the 7-5 advantage.
 
Tai Phetluangsy picked up the loss (0-1) for the Buffs, allowing three earned runs on two hits with three walks in his 0.2 innings of relief.
 
GAME TWO
WT jumped out to an early lead in the second inning of the nightcap as Zac Rackham lifted a solo homerun to left center during his first plate appearance as a Buffalo for a 1-0 advantage. SEU responded in the bottom of the frame as an errant throw by the Buffs plated Dylan Tate to tie the game at 1-1.
 
The Buffs retook the lead in the top of the third as Elijah Batista doubled to the wall in left to plate a pair followed by a Jalen Meyers RBI single, WT took advantage of a St. Edward's error to score Glenn Noronha for the 5-1 lead.
 
St. Edward's cut into the lead in the home half of the third on a Cox RBI double to the wall in center with two outs that plated Figueroa to make it 5-2. 
 
Davis Luikart picked up the win (1-0) on the mound for the Buffs, allowing no runs on no hits with a pair of strikeouts in his 1.1 innings of relief. Phetluangsy claimed his first save of the season, allowing one hit in the final frame.