The No. 5-ranked Buffs won Friday’s opener 5-1 before falling in the nightcap 8-2. In a single game Saturday, WTAMU bounced back to beat the No. 18-ranked Chaps 7-5 before dropping the series finale Sunday 5-4.
The Buffs (33-13 overall) lead the Lone Star Conference at 32-12 by one game over LCU (32-14, 31-13 LSC) with four regular season games remaining.
WTAMU closes out the regular season schedule with a trip to No. 22 Angelo State with the first of a four-game series starting on Friday.
Game 1-2
The Buffs opened the series with a hot start plating three runs in the third inning highlighted by a pair of doubles from Ryan Camacho and Dylan Fesperman to go up 3-0.
WTAMU pitcher Reese Miller (4-2) made that lead standup tossing six innings, scattering three hits giving up an earned run while striking out 10 LCU hitters.
Fesperman was 2-for-3 in the win with two doubles and three RBIs.
In the 8-2 loss in the night cap, the Chaps jumped on Buff starting pitcher Hayes Justice for five runs through the first three innings and WTAMU never could recover.
Despite the defeat, Fesperman went for two more RBIs giving him a total of five runs driven in on Friday.
Games 3-4
WTAMU senior Nick Marshall moved into a tie atop of the all-time victories list on Saturday afternoon during the Buffs 7-5 victory.
Marshall picked up the win on the mound (3-4) for the Buffs, allowing one earned run on five hits with two walk and four strikeouts in his 4.2 innings of relief.
Marshall moves into a tie atop of all-time wins list with former All-American Joe Corbett (2018-19) with 23 victories.
The offense came from Kory Schmidt who delivered a two-run single in the first and Elijah Batista’s two-run blast to left field in the bottom of the second. Fesperman doubled once again driving in two more runs.
In Sunday’s finale, LCU’s Frayner Chavez doubled home the tying run in the eighth and hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth to give the Chaps the go-ahead lead at 5-4 to get the win and salvage a split.
Fesperman drove in another run in the loss giving him a team-best eight RBIs over the four games.