The WTAMU Buffalo baseball team opened their season with a four game series against Colorado State-Pueblo from Feb. 8 to 10 at Wilder Park in Canyon. The Buffs managed to claim three wins against the Thunderwolves over the weekend with strong pitching and defense.
After Pueblo Thunderwolves opened the scoring with an RBI single in the top of the fourth inning of the season opener on Feb. 8, WT answered with an RBI double by junior catcher Patrick Ramirez and a run scored on an error by the shortstop to take a 2-1 lead after four innings. The Thunderwolves responded with a run in the fifth, three runs in the sixth and another run in the eighth to take a 6-3 going to the Buffs’ half of the eighth.
WT posted a four-run inning capped off by back-to-back homers by senior Tate Baker and junior Matt Redfearn to give the Buffs a 7-6 season-opening win. Junior Scott Cone (1-0) came in for 0.1 innings of relief for the win, and senior Ryan Houston, who started the game, went six innings and gave up five runs on nine hits. Redfearn finished the game four of five at the plate with a homerun, an RBI and two runs scored.
WT’s offense was completely stifled in the first game of a doubleheader on Feb. 9. However, shortstop Mario Sanchez hit two homeruns and had two RBIs in the Thunderwolves 5-0 defeat of the Buffs. Junior Joshua Weyker (0-1) went six innings and gave up five runs on eight hits for the loss.
The WT bats awoke in the second game of the double header, as they scored 17 runs on 14 hits in the game. Senior Parker Wood led the Buffs, going three-for-three at the plate with two doubles and four RBIs on the day. Senior reliever Billy Gonzalez (1-0) got the win for WT, going 1.2 innings giving up no runs on four hits.
“It was about time our offense really got it going. We’ve really struggled swinging it so far,” Head Coach Matt Vanderburg said.
Junior Tyler McKnight led the Buffs to their third win of the weekend on Feb. 10. McKnight went three-for-three at the plate with a grand slam homerun, two doubles, two runs scored and six RBIs on the afternoon.
“We also pitched as well as a team can in the wind this weekend,” said Vanderburg. “Pitching and defense are going to be the backbone of this team this year.”
WT will host the University of the Southwest for a doubleheader on Feb. 12. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
