CANYON, Texas – The #25 Buffaloes of West Texas A&M suffered just their second Lone Star Conference series defeat on Sunday afternoon as they fell 7-6 to the St. Mary's Rattlers at Wilder Park in Canyon, Texas.
 
The Buffs got on the board in the home half of the first inning as Dylan Fesperman stayed hot at the plate with an RBI double down the left field line to score Ryan Camacho for the 1-0 lead. WT added to their lead in the second as Glenn Noronha doubled to right field to score Daniel Castellanos to make it 2-0.
 
The Rattlers took the lead in the top of the third on a Jacob Elizondo RBI single to center that scored Tristan Moreno followed by a Dillon Lopez RBI double to left, Easton Parrish kept the inning going with a ground-rule double to right center that plated two followed by a Raithen Malone RBI groundout for the 5-2 lead.
 
St. Mary's added to their lead in the top of the fifth as Parrish singled to right center with two outs to score Hogan Heller for the 6-2 lead. The Buffs responded in the bottom of the fifth as Kory Schmidt doubled to left field with the bases loaded to drive in a pair followed by a Fesperman RBI groundout at 6-5.
 
The Buffs used the long ball to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh as Schmidt crushed a leadoff solo shot to left center. The Rattlers retook the lead in the top of the ninth inning as Dilon Lopez scored from third on a wild pitch with two outs for the 7-6 lead.
 
Davis Luikart picked up the loss (2-1) for the Buffs, allowing one earned run on four hits with no walks and no strikeouts in his 1.2 innings of relief.
 
The Buffs hit the road next weekend as they make the short drive to Lubbock, Texas for a four-game LSC series against the defending league champion Lubbock Christian Chaps beginning on Friday night at Hays Field.