April 1, 2006

Box Score

The West Texas A&M University baseball team won both games Saturday against #7 Texas A&M University-Kingsville to take three out of four in their first Lone Star Conference South division series in front of a strong crowd at Potter County Memorial Stadium. In a high scoring affair, WTAMU pulled to win the day's first game, 11-10, and completed the day sweep winning game two, 7-1.

WTAMU advances to 3-1 in LSC play, and 18-18 overall. TAMU-K drops to 1-3 against LSC opponents, and had their overall record moved to 26-8. The Buffs have not had a .500 record this late in the season since the 2002 campaign, finishing 31-17.

In the first game, TAMU-K would jump out to an early 2-1 after the first inning, but WTAMU would respond scoring seven runs in the 3rd inning, giving them a 8-4 lead. WTAMU would never trail the rest of the game.

Sophomore Brian Schupp went 3-5 with 3 runs scored and an RBI double. Junior Matt Ray also went 3-5 with 2 RBI singles and a run scored. Senior Patrick Wallis would go 2-3 with a two-run double and a run scored. Senior Drew Conley went 1-3 with a solo home run of the season, his third of the season.

Freshman Ruben Batistia allowed seven earned runs in 5 2/3 innings, striking out two batters. Senior Brandon Wright followed, allowing two runs in 2 1/3 innings on four hits. Wallis entered in the ninth, giving up a run on three hits, but securing the game along with his third save of the season.

In the final game of the series, WTAMU scored first, with four runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth to take an early 7-0 lead. That's all freshman starter Brandon Corbitt would need to secure the win for the Buffs.

Corbitt went the distance for the Buffs for his third consecutive start, pitching seven innings and allowing his first earned in his last 18 innings pitched. He struck out two batters and gave up only six hits.

On the weekend, sophomore outfielder Justin Graham led the offense, going 7-14 with three RBI and three runs scored. Graham is now leading the team with .376 batting average. Leadoff man Cody Dean led the Buffs with four RBI on the weekend, while Schupp and Graham follow with three RBI. Sophomore Josh McCreary went 5-11 with five runs scored and scored twice.

WTAMU will hit the road next weekend, facing border-rival Eastern New Mexico University in a four-game LSC battle. The Buffs will return to Potter County Memorial Stadium April 14-15 to host Angelo State University.