CANYON, Texas (May 6, 2022) – A rough start put Oklahoma Christian in a hole and the Eagles weren't able to climb out on Friday night in the first game of the Lone Star Conference tournament at West Texas A&M.

No. 15-ranked WT seized control with a four-run first inning and the Buffaloes held off a late rally by OC to win 8-4 at Wilder Park to take the lead in the best-of-three series between the baseball teams.

Game two between seventh-seeded OC (21-30) and second-seeded West Texas A&M (36-15) will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday. The series winner will advance to a four-team, double-elimination tournament next week.

The game began in promising fashion for OC, which loaded the bases twice in the top of the first inning but came away with only one run. West Texas A&M starter Nick Marshall (10-3) settled down after that and eventually allowed only five hits in seven innings.

West Texas A&M jumped on OC starter Jacob Mattox (3-4) quickly. The hard-throwing right-hander, so effective down the stretch for OC, lasted only four batters on Friday, giving up a single, then hitting a batter, throwing a wild pitch and issuing two walks, the latter forcing in a run.

Another regular-season OC starter, Kyle Higgins, entered in relief and the Buffaloes greeted him with a two-run double by Will Fuenning before a sacrifice fly by Eric Ortiz made it 4-1. Izaiah Madrid's two-run homer off Higgins in the fifth inning extended West Texas A&M's lead to 6-1 and a solo home run by Kennedy Badgett made it 8-1 in the sixth.

A run-scoring single by Matthew Conerly and a RBI double by Cole Lee in the eighth pulled OC within 8-3 and Grant Lake drove home Michael DiFiore in the ninth, but the Eagles couldn't close the gap any further.

Lee, Lake and Jayvien Joseph each had two hits to lead the Eagles.

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