CANYON, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buffaloes started off their Lone Star Conference weekend series in style on Saturday afternoon as they picked up an 18-7 run-rule victory over the Cameron Aggies at McCord Field in Lawton, Oklahoma.
 
The Buffs wasted little time getting on the board in the top of the opening frame as Elijah Batista connected on a three-run homerun to left field with no outs for the 3-0 lead. The Aggies answered in the bottom of the frame on a Lance Barnett sac fly to center to plate Diego Villarreal followed by a two-out base hit down the right field line to make it 3-3.
 
WT retook the lead in the top of the second on a Kyle Micklus RBI walk with the bases loaded and no outs, Kory Schmidt would be hit by a pitch following a Cameron pitching change to plate another followed by a trio of passed balls to score three more for the 8-3 lead.
 
The Buffs added to their lead in the top of the third inning as Jovan Camacho doubled down the left field line to score Rodric Black followed later in the frame by a Schmidt RBI single to left to make it 10-3. Cameron cut into the lead in the bottom of the third inning as Owen Rice doubled home a pair of runs at 10-5.
 
WT extended their lead in the top of the fourth on an errant throw by the Aggies to score Ryan Camacho followed by a Schmidt RBI walk with the bases loaded and a Dylan Fesperman RBI single to left for the 13-5 lead.
 
The Buffs continued their hot start to the series at the plate in the fifth as Black grounded out to short to plate Seth Ochoa followed by a Batista RBI walk with the bases loaded. WT continued to add to their lead in the sixth as R. Camacho and Black drove in a run on RBI groundouts followed by a Micklus infield RBI single for the 18-5 lead.
 
The Aggies would cut into the lead again in the bottom of the sixth on a Barnett two-run single to right center with no outs to make it 18-7.
 
Julius Carpio claimed the win (1-0) for the Buffs, allowing no runs on just one hit with two walks and four strikeouts in his 1.2 inning of relief.
 
The two teams return to the diamond tomorrow afternoon for a doubleheader starting at 2:00 p.m. in Lawton.