#23 West Texas A&M (10-4, 8-4) vs. UT Permian Basin (2-14, 2-14)
Game 1	Friday, February 28th at 2:00 p.m.
Game 2 & 3	Saturday, March 1st at 1:00 p.m.
Game 4	Sunday, March 2nd at 1:00 p.m.
Location	Canyon, Texas | Wilder Park
Live Statistics	Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 | Game 4
Live Video (FloCollege)	Game 1 | Game 2 & 3 | Game 4
Other Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The #23 Buffaloes return to Wilder Park this weekend for a four-game Lone Star Conference series with the UT Permian Basin Falcons beginning on Friday afternoon in Canyon.
 
A LOOK AT THE FALCONS
UT Permian Basin enters the weekend with an overall record of 2-14 with an identical record in Lone Star Conference play. The Falcons enter the weekend on an eight-game losing skid, being swept the last two weekends by Texas A&M-Kingsville and St. Edward's.
 
The Falcons are hitting .247 as a team this season with 25 doubles, four triples and three homeruns to drive in 51 RBI for a slugging percentage of .341 to go along with 49 walks and 104 strikeouts for an on-base percentage of .333. Jack Haggerty leads the way at the plate, hitting .327 with four doubles to drive in five runs while also stealing two bases.
 
UTPB's pitching staff holds a 9.97 ERA as they have allowed 150 runs (127 earned) on 174 hits with 80 walks and 74 strikeouts in their 114.2 innings of work for an opposing batting average of .355. Potential Friday starter Trevor Barth is 0-4 on the season with a 8.41 ERA, allowing 26 runs on 25 hits with 15 walks and 16 strikeouts in his 20.1 frames.
 
FALCONS IN 2024
UT Permian Basin advanced to the school's first NCAA Tournament a year ago with an overall record of 34-25 with a 28-20 mark in LSC action. The Falcons finished fourth in the league standings under former head coach Gabe Grinder who left Odessa to take the head coaching job at Southeastern (Fl.) this past summer.
 
UTPB HEAD COACH JUSTIN PHILLIPS
Justin Phillips is in his first campaign as the skipper of the UT Permian Basin baseball program, coming to Odessa following a stint as an Associate Scout for the Kansas City Royals. Phillips served as the head coach at Trinity Christian School in Lubbock from 2015-22. His collegiate coaching experience comes as an assistant at Delta State from 2012-14.
 
SERIES HISTORY
WT holds a 31-3 advantage in the series that dates back to 2017. The Falcons are 1-15 all-time at Wilder Park with their last trip to the Texas Panhandle coming in 2023.
 
WT HEAD COACH CORY HALL
West Texas A&M didn't have to look far to find the new head coach for Buffalo Baseball as longtime Associate Head Coach Cory Hall was promoted to the skipper of the Buffs announced on June 28th. Hall has spent 14 seasons as the top assistant and pitching coach for the Buffs, having four different pitchers (Austin Moore, Josh Payne, Marshall Kasowski, Joe Corbett) drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft during his time in Canyon with multiple other professional players learning under one of the top pitching minds in collegiate baseball.
 
WT COACHING STAFF
Shawn Neale was named WT's Recruiting Coordinator in 2022 as the Toronto native returns for his ninth season in Canyon, the Buffs ranked 13th nationally in batting average (.334) last season while sitting 16th in hits (623) and 24th in on-base percentage (.432). 
 
WT alumni Cooper Harris returns to Canyon as the new pitching coach for the Buffs following two seasons at LSC foe Cameron. Nollan Koon enters his first season in the dugout for the Buffaloes as a graduate assistant coach in December of 2024. Koon returns to the Texas Panhandle following time as a hitting coach at Northeastern State.
 
LONE STAR CONFERENCE PRESEASON POLL
Defending Regional Champion Angelo State picked up 29 of the 37 possible first place votes for a total of 483 points to sit atop of the poll followed by Lubbock Christian (five first place, 457), West Texas A&M (two first place, 411), UT Tyler (one first place, 386), St. Edward's (311), Texas A&M-Kingsville (268), UT Permian Basin (266), Texas A&M International (two first place, 234), St. Mary's (205), Eastern New Mexico (200), Cameron (143), Oklahoma Christian (119) and Sul Ross State (66).
 
Angelo State's Jacob Guerrero was tabbed the league's Preseason Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. The outfielder and graduate student from Colleyville, Texas batted .368 with 11 home runs, four triples, 25 doubles and 76 RBIs. He was the conference's stolen bases leader (30) and scored 79 runs. 
 
Rawley Hector of UT Tyler earned Preseason Pitcher of the Year honors as the senior right-hander from Van Alstyne, Texas went 7-3 with a league-best 2.95 ERA. Hector, the reigning LSC Pitcher of the Year, recorded a pair of complete-game shutouts and struck out 56 batters over 73 1/3 innings. Opponents hit just .241 off him.
 
NCBWA DIVISION II TOP-25 POLL
The West Texas A&M Buffaloes jumped back into the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (NCBWA) Division II Top-25 Poll this week as the are ranked 23rd announced on Wednesday.
 
North Greenville claimed 15 of the 20 first place votes for a total of 490 points followed by Angelo State (one first place, 475), Tampa (four first place, 461), Central Missouri (440), UIndy (404), Florida Southern (390), UT Tyler (357), Westmont (327), Southern New Hampshire (323) an West Chester (301) to round out the top ten.
 
The South Central Region was represented by Angelo State (2nd), UT Tyler (7th), St. Edward's (18th) and West Texas A&M (23rd)
 
THIS IS LSC BASEBALL
The LSC baseball season begins as early as Jan. 31. Throughout the year, all 13 LSC teams will play a single round-robin schedule with a four-game weekend series against each league opponent. 
 
The LSC Baseball Championship will feature a two-week tournament comprised of the top seven teams. The opening round is best-of-three series and will be held May 2-4 at the sites of the No. 2 (vs. No. 7), 3 (vs. 6) and 4 (vs. 5) seeds. The league's top seed from the regular season will receive an opening-round bye and host the double-elimination championship round on May 8-10.
 
AROUND THE LSC
After four weeks of Lone Star Conference baseball, Angelo State and UT Tyler are atop the league standings at 14-2. Both squads are nationally ranked. ASU has won 10 games in a row, while UT Tyler has won eight straight. ASU is unbeaten at home, while UT Tyler has not lost on the road. They split their four-game series in Week 2.
 
St. Edward's is close behind ASU and UT Tyler at 13-3. The Hilltoppers have won eight games in a row.
 
ASU is leading the conference in hitting (.392), pitching (2.90 ERA) and fielding (.978). LCU has hit a league-high 24 home runs, led by senior infielder Brevin McCool's conference-high 11. McCool is also leading the LSC in batting average (.500), RBI (30), runs scored (28), slugging percentage (1.250) and OPS (1.853). SEU's Kobe Jaramillo and UT Tyler's Bo Willis are both 4-0 on the mound, while SEU's Parker Tennill has five saves to lead the league. Oklahoma Christian's Tristan Copeland has struck out a league-high 35 batters.