CANYON, Texas – The Buffaloes of West Texas A&M showed heart on Sunday afternoon as they plated a pair of runs in the bottom of the eight to claim a 7-6 victory over the #9 UT Tyler Patriots to split the Lone Star Conference weekend series in Canyon.
 
The Buffs got on the board in the home half of the second inning as Jacob Police singled up the middle to drive in Anthony Picciano and Jonluke Hobdy for the 2-0 lead. UT Tyler used the long ball to respond in the third as Cole Ketzner lifted a solo shot to right center.
 
The Patriots took their first lead of the game in the fourth as Drew Schmidt lifted a sac fly to right that plated Connor Clark followed by a wild pitch to score Bryce Jewell for the 3-2 lead. The Buffs answered in the bottom of the frame with a Hobdy RBI single up the middle to score Will Franklin at 3-3.
 
UTT took advantage of a Buffalo miscue in the fifth to retake the lead before WT answered again on a Daniel Castellanos sac fly that scored Police at 4-4. Kaston Mason gave the Patriots the lead again in the sixth with an RBI double to right to score Schmidt.
 
Police continued his big day at the plate in the bottom of the seventh with a solo homer the other way to right field at 5-5. The Patriots scored a run on a double-play grounder by T. Chelette in the top of the eighth for a 6-5 lead.
 
WT wouldn't go down without a fight as Timothy Haynes doubled to the warning track in center with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to score Picciano and Police. UTT made things interesting in the top of the ninth with a leadoff double but Riley Kettner shut down the threat with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout for the 7-6 win.
 
Kettner claimed the win (4-1) for the Buffs, allowing no runs on just one hit with no walks and two strikeouts over the final two innings.
 
The Buffs hit the road next weekend as they travel to Alpine, Texas for a four-game LSC series against the Sul Ross State Lobos.