#23 West Texas A&M (13-5, 11-5) vs. #7 UT Tyler (17-3, 17-3)
Game 1	Friday, March 7th at 6:00 p.m.
Game 2 & 3	Saturday, March 8th at 2:00 p.m.
Game 4	Sunday, March 9th at 1:00 p.m.
Location	Tyler, Texas | Irwin Field
Live Statistics	Sidearm
Live Video (FloCollege)	Game 1 | Game 2 & 3 | Game 4
Other Links	Game Notes

CANYON, Texas – The #23 Buffaloes hit the road for a huge Lone Star Conference Top-25 series this weekend as they travel to East Texas to take on the #7 UT Tyler Patriots in a four-game series beginning on Friday night at Irwin Field.
 
A LOOK AT THE PATRIOTS
UT Tyler enters the weekend tied atop of the LSC standing with an overall record of 17-3 as they are riding a three-game win streak. The Patriots traveled to St. Edward's last weekend where they dropped Friday's opener (5-4) before picking up three wins (7-0, 5-2 and 18-7). UTT is 6-2 so far this season at Irwin Field.
 
The Patriots are hitting .340 as a team so far this season as they rank inside of the Top-10 in the nation in hits (4th, 221) and runs scored (6th, 174). Sophomore Drew Schmidt leads the way offensively as he is hitting .466 with seven doubles and four triples to drive in 20 RBI to go along with six stolen bases.
 
UT Tyler's pitching staff holds a 3.29 ERA to rank 14th in Division II baseball as they have tossed three complete games and a pair of shutouts. LSC Preseason Pitcher of the Year Rawley Hector has been dominant on the mound, going 2-0 with a 1.19 ERA as the righty has allowed eight runs (four earned) on 19 hits with seven walks and 36 strikeouts for an opposing batting average of .176.
 
PATRIOTS IN 2024
UT Tyler advanced to the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Championships last season with an overall record of 29-23 including a 28-20 mark in LSC play, they would run into UT Permian Basin in the three-game series before falling in the deciding game, 10-6. 
 
UTT HEAD COACH BRENT PORCHE
Brent Porche is now in his ninth season as the skipper of the UT Tyler baseball program, holding an overall record of 261-127 during his time in East Texas. Porche led the Patriots to 2018 NCAA Division III National Championship in just his second season, being named the DIII National Coach of the Year. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native is in his 12th season as a collegiate head coach, serving four seasons as the skipper at LSU Shreveport.
 
SERIES HISTORY
The Patriots hold a 9-7 advantage in the young series that dates back to 2020 when the teams played just one contest before the stoppage of the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Buffs are 1-6 all-time at Irwin Field with their last trip to East Texas 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 remained 23rd in this week's edition of the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association Division II Top-25 Poll announced on Wednesday afternoon. The South Central Region was represented by Angelo State (3rd), UT Tyler (7th), St. Edward's (17th) and WT (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
Five weeks of Lone Star Conference baseball are complete. Angelo State and UT Tyler – both ranked in the top 10 in the national polls – are atop the league standings at 17-3. ASU had its 13-game winning streak stopped by St. Mary's, but the Rams took the series 3-1. 
 
UT Tyler had its eight-game win streak halted by St. Edward's, but the Patriots took the series 3-1. ASU and UT Tyler split their series in Week 2. SEU (14-6), West Texas A&M (11-5) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (12-8) have also reached double-digit conference wins.
 
NCBWA NATIONAL HITTER OF THE WEEK
Dylan Fesperman tied an all-time NCAA Division II record and set an all-time LSC record with 13 runs batted in during a 26-6 win in seven innings over UT Permian Basin. In the historic performance on Feb. 28 at Wilder Park in Canyon, Texas, Fesperman was 5-for-5 with two home runs, two triples and a double. He scored four times in the conference series opener. 
 
Fesperman joins the Division II record book for all-time RBI in a single game with Alabama-Huntsville's Kevin Nichols (1996) and Nichols State's Bob Ritchie (1965). He broke the LSC record of 11 RBI set by Harding's Mike Huebner in 1999. Over the four-game series, Fesperman was 9-for-16 – recording at least one hit in each game – and added a pair of runs and RBI.
 
The senior claimed Hitter of the Week honors from the Lone Star Conference and the NCBWA.