Baseball | 2/19/2015 11:13:00 PM
BASEBALL vs WEST TEXAS A&M - FEB. 20-21: LIVE STATS | LIVE VIDEO
LAS VEGAS, N.M. – In a change of schedule, the New Mexico Highlands baseball team (4-3) will battle West Texas A&M (7-2) in a three game series this Friday (Feb. 20) and Saturday (Feb. 21). The Cowboys and Buffs play a double header on Friday (seven inning followed by a nine inning contest) beginning at 11 a.m. with a single nine inning game on Saturday at 11 a.m. Every game will be streamed live through America One.
Ride the America One Wave New this year, the vast majority of home games will be shown through America One.The weekends where just baseball is playing, every game will be shown. However, in weekends where both softball and baseball are home (Feb. 28-March 1, April 11-12 and April 25-26), the softball games will be shown on Saturday while baseball will be shown on Sunday. All games will be $8 while a monthly and seasonal plan will be unveiled soon.
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One Honor, Two Honor, Three Fifth-year senior
Matthew Chavez won three honors this week when he was named Highlands Subway, Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association of the week after going 10-for-14 with eight RBIs and seven runs scored against Eastern New Mexico Las weekend. He also had what proved to be the game-winning two-run home run against the Greyhounds Sunday (Feb. 15).
Chavez currently leads the conference in batting average (.556) and on-base percentage (.647).
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here. Streaks Alive The Cowboys currently have numerous streaks going on. A total of eight different players have reached safely in all seven games this season (fifth-year senior
Matthew Chavez and
Omar Garcia, seniors
Nick Gonzales,
Joe Cervantes,
Colby Wilmer and
Andrew Ratterman and juniors
Jesus Caporal and
Kenneth Fudge). Also so far this season, three players have had four or more games hitting streak: Gonazales (six, current) Chavez (five, current) and Wilmer (four, currently two games). Finally, Chavez has a hit and/or run scored in all seven games this season.
Leading the Way Besides Chavez above, the Cowboys lead the conference in numerous statistical categories. As a team, the Cowboys easily lead the conference with a .385 batting average, more than 60-points better than CSU-Pueblo. Individually, junior
Omar Garcia leads the conference with 15 hits, three more than Chavez. In fact, eight players have nine or more hits on the season in the conference: Highlands has five of them. Garcia and senior
Andrew Ratterman lead the conference in home runs (three) and sacrifice flies (two).
Scouting West Texas A&M (Courtesy of gobuffsgo.com) The Buffs are No. 10 nationally in the latest National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Top 25 and ranked second in this week's NCBWA South Central Region poll. WT is 12th nationally this week in the Collegiate Baseball News Poll.
WT is coming off of five wins this past week with a 9-8, 10-inning victory at Southwestern Oklahoma a week ago Tuesday and a three-game sweep of Oklahoma Christian and a neutral site win over Dakota State also at Oklahoma Christian.
For the week, the offense really came alive for the Buffs as the team hit .384 with 11 doubles, one triple and four home runs on 68 hits and scored 53 runs. WT slugged .525 and reached base at a .446 clip. The Buffs cut down on the errors with four leading to just three unearned runs. In the first four games of the season, WT hit just .214 going 2-2.
Defensively, this past week WT carried a 2.70 ERA as the staff allowed 15 runs with 12 earned runs over 40 innings with 36 hits allowed and 14 walks, while fanning 44. The opposition hit just .245 for the week.
WT senior Dylan Dyson hit 9 of 13 for the week for a .692 clip and earned LSC Player of the Week honors going 8 of 10 in the weekend series at Oklahoma Christian and against Dakota State. Dyson had one double and four RBI for the whole week and scored a team-high seven runs, while slugging .769 and reaching base at a .733 clip. He had 22 put outs in 23 chances with one assist. A total of 12 Buffs hit .300 or better for the week.
For the season, junior Matt Cole leads the team with a .458 batting average in seven starts. He is 11 of 24 with two doubles, one home run and seven driven in, while scoring seven times. Cole is slugging .667 and reaching base at a .519 clip. He has two put outs and 13 assists in 15 chances at the hot corner. Dyson is third in average at .409 clip with nine hits in 22 at bats as he is tied for the team-lead in runs scored with eight. Junior Mason Shiflett leads the team with 10 RBI, while junior Jace Reese has a team-high 12 hits.
As a team, the Buffs are hitting .314 for the year with 94 hits in 299 at bats, along with 17 doubles, two triples and five home runs. WT has driven in 66 and scored 69 runs, while slugging .435 and reaching base at a .385 clip. The Buffs are 9 of 13 in stolen bases and have a .961 fielding percentage with 12 errors leading to six unearned runs.
On the mound, senior Justin Disbro has a 0.79 ERA in two starts with one complete game and one shutout, while working 11.1 innings. He is 1-0 on the year and has allowed eight hits, three runs – one earned, one walk and fanned 10. Senior Tyler Gibson leads the team in innings pitched at 16.0 as he is 1-0 with a 1.69 ERA in three appearances with two starts. Gibson has allowed 11 hits, four runs – three earned with three walks and he leads the team with 18 strikeouts. The opposition is hitting just .196 against him. Senior Kyle Olason leads the team with a 2-1 record in three appearances and two starts, while senior Sean Michel leads the team with two saves.
As a staff, WT has a 3.17 ERA in 71 innings of work. WT has allowed 65 hits, with 31 runs (25 earned), while walking 27 and striking out 77. Teams are hitting just .243 against the Buffs.
Next Up After this three-game set, the Cowboys finish off their 11-game home stand next weekend (Feb. 27-March 1) when Highlands begins RMAC play with a four-game set against Adams State.
