March 18, 2008

Box Score

CANYON, Texas - The West Texas A&M offensive effort was stymied by a seven inning performance from Oklahoma Panhandle State's starting pitcher as the Aggies beat the Buffs by a 17-7 margin at Conner Park on Tuesday afternoon. Jake Clinton (2-3) earned the win for OPSU as WT's Josh Talley (0-2) took the loss for the Buffs, who fell to 7-19 on the season.

OPSU jumped out to a five-run lead in the second inning as James Fisher singled in one run and Chad Thies hit a grand slam. The Aggies continued their scoring drive as they tallied another five runs in the third, two in the fourth, one in the fifth and four in the sixth.

West Texas A&M scored a run in the second inning when freshman Jake Parsons singled in junior Kevin Els, then benefited from two solo home runs in the third from junior Will McLaughlin and senior Justin Graham.

The Buffs tried to rally in the seventh, as senior Brian Schupp hit his 14th home run of the year - a two-run shot that also scored freshman designated hitter Darby Walker - and then brought home McLaughlin and senior Bed Edge. McLaughlin scored as Graham reached on an error by OPSU's third baseman and sacrifice fly to right field by Els scored Edge, but the four runs were not enough as the Aggies went on to win.

WT returns to conference match-ups with a four-game series against Texas A&M-Kingsville on March 20-22 in Kingsville, Texas.