Feb. 29, 2008

Box Score

WEATHERFORD, Okla. - The West Texas A&M capitalized on 10 hits to beat Southwestern Oklahoma, 8-4, in the first game of a double header on Friday afternoon, but fell to the Bulldogs by a 9-0 margin in the nightcap. The split brings the Buffs' overall record to 5-9 and their Lone Star Conference ledger to a 3-6 mark.

Senior Ben Edge and junior Will McLaughlin both went 2-for-7 at the plate; McLaughlin scored one run and tallied one RBI while one of Edge's hits was a double. Senior Brian Schupp finished the day with two hits - both doubles - while scoring two runs and bringing home three.

On the mound, sophomore Billy Zeleznak (2-0) earned the win in game one as he pitched seven innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out six Bulldog batters. Eric Henderson (1-3) took the loss in game two, also fanning six SWOSU batters, but allowing nine runs - three earned - in five innings pitched.

Game #1 Recap - WTAMU 8, Southwestern Oklahoma 4

Game one was knotted in a scoreless tie until the fourth inning, when McLaughlin led off and got on base by virtue of an error by Southwestern Oklahoma left fielder Moose Wathen. Senior Greg Shanks laid down a sacrifice bunt to the first baseman that moved McLaughlin to second, then fellow classmate Justin Graham singled to put WT runners on first and third.

Edge came up next and laid down a bunt to advance Graham to second then freshman Kelly Starr hit a two-run double to put the Buffs ahead, 2-0. Junior Kevin Els rounded out the fourth inning scoring as he singled to score Starr.

The Bulldogs came back to equalize the score in their half of the fifth inning as Ryan Starzenski walked with the bases loaded, Dakota James sacrifice flied out to center field and Blain Perkins grounded out to second to score SWOSU's third run.

After the Buffs tallied two more runs in the seventh - Schupp doubled to score freshman Darby Walker, then scored as Graham reached first on an error by SWOSU short stop Caleb Cole - and held Southwestern Oklahoma scoreless in the bottom of the inning, they added another three scores to their total in the eighth inning.

With two outs in the top of the eighth inning, freshman Jake Parsons doubled then stole third. Walker came up next and walked, then Schupp brought both runners home on his second double of the day. WT added another run to go ahead, 8-3, as McLaughlin singled home Schupp.

Freshman Chris Gutierrez replaced Zeleznak on the mound after SWOSU was able to get runners on second and third. The Poolville, Texas, native closed out the inning with three consecutive outs - the Bulldogs were able to score their runner from third - then shut down the home team in the ninth to earn his second save of the season while Southwestern Oklahoma's Travis Long (0-2) took the loss.

Game #2 Recap - Southwestern Oklahoma 9, WTAMU 0

Southwestern Oklahoma recorded five unearned runs in the third inning en route to a 9-0 shutout of the Buffs in game two; WT's bats went cold as the team only tallied two hits while also racking up five errors in the field.

SWOSU opened up the scoring in the second inning as James singled and advanced to second as Perkins hit into a fielder's choice and WT's Schupp committed the team's first error of the inning. Kenny Hare came up next and singled to score James.

The Buffs caught a big break as Bow Buckner hit into a fielder's choice and Edge threw out Hare at second, then Schupp tagged Perkins out. However, Buckner was able to score thanks to two more Buff errors before starting pitcher Henderson got Matt Ferreira to fly out to center field.

In the bottom of the third inning, SWOSU tacked on five more runs, all with two outs already in the books, as Jonathan Fontanet reached on an error by Walker that should have ended the inning.

West Texas A&M could not string anything together and the Bulldogs were able to add two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth to end the game ahead, 9-0.

Freshman Keegan Neill allowed just one hit after he came to the mound in the sixth inning in relief of Henderson, as SWOSU's Max Grocki (1-1) recorded the win for the Bulldogs.

WT faces Southwestern Oklahoma in another double header tomorrow - slated to begin at Noon - then returns to Canyon next week for a 2 p.m. game against Oklahoma Panhandle State on March 4.