SAN ANGELO, Texas – The West Texas A&M Buff’s 2012 campaign came to an end on Saturday, falling 12-5 to Angelo State in an elimination game for WT at the Lone Star Conference Baseball Championships at Foster Field in San Angelo, Texas. The Rams (38-14) recorded 18 hits in the contest and used a five-run second inning to pull ahead of the Buffs (29-19) en route to the seven-run victory. WT cranked out eleven hits, but had four fielding errors in addition to giving up season-high in hits to an opponent. But in the end, it was still a memorable season for the Buffs as they made the conference tournament for the first time in six years. ASU’s Quaid McKinnon homered to right field with one out in the top of the first inning to give the Rams an early 1-0 lead, and Brett Parsons later drove in a run on his single through the right side to make it a 2-0 game. McKinnon drove in his second run of the game in the top of the second inning with an RBI-single up the middle and Lee Neumann later followed with an RBI double. McKinnon came around to score on the hit and Parsons forced WT’s infield to make a decision as he was rounding third. WT second baseman Cody Wright was bringing in the ball following the cutoff, but he threw the ball to third and Parsons ran home on the throw to give ASU a five-run lead. The next two batters reached base, which forced WT starter Ryan Houston (4-4) out of the game with just two outs in the inning. Billy Gonzalez came into the game for his eighth relief appearance of the season and the first batter he faced, Andrew LaCombe, doubled to left field to drive in two runs and take a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the frame. The Buffs plated home its first run in the bottom of the second inning with a sacrifice fly from Jarvis Smith. His fly out to right field brought in Justin Henderson to score after he led off the inning getting hit by a pitch. With runners still at first and second and two outs, ASU’s Matt Rechkemmer managed to get out of the inning with another fly out and the Rams led 7-1 after two innings of play. WT’s first two batters reached base in the bottom of the fourth inning and Smith moved them over on his sacrifice bunt to the catcher. Eric Dorton then drove home Nick Marquez with his liner over the second baseman’s head to make it a 7-2 game. Wright then grounded out to second base, but Chad Miles scored on the play to cut the deficit to four runs, down 7-3. The Rams would get those two runs back though, as Quad McKinnon plated home another two runs, his third and fourth RBI of the game, to put ASU us 9-2. With no outs and a runner on, that would be the final batter Gonzalez would face as Zach Walker came into the game, and got the Buffs out of the inning with a double-play ball and a strikeout. ASU looked to make it a 10-3 game in the top of the sixth inning when Neumann singled to third base and advanced to third on an error from Boone. As Neumann was heading to third, Jess Cooper picked up the ball and fired it back over to Boone, but it one-hopped past Boone and Smith was there to back it up. Neumann headed to home on the play, but he was tagged out on the throw from Smith to Miles. Following a two and a half hour lightening and rain delay, ASU resumed play in the top of the seventh with a runner on third and just one out. McKinnon was at the plate when the delay began, and he picked up right back where he left off with a double down the right field line to score Tate Allison and give the Rams a 10-4 lead. The Buffs looked to open-up a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning when Boone smacked a solo home run into the left field bullpen to pull the Buffs back to within six runs, but following a walk and a single from Jordan Easom, ASU’s new pitcher Jake Albert managed to get a ground out and get out of the jam with the Rams up 10-4. The Rams continued to crank out hits, even in the late innings, as Ryan Greer led off the top of the eighth with a single up the middle and he later came around to score on LaCombe’s double to left and giving the tournament hosts an 11-4 lead. ASU later loaded the bases and McKinnon again drove in a run, this time on a sacrifice fly to left field that scored Zach Cohen on the play that extended the Rams lead to 12-4. Henderson was saddled with the loss and ends the season with a 4-4 record. He gave up seven runs (six earned) on seven hits in 1.2 innings of work. The Buffs then used four more pitchers (Gonzalez, Zach Walker, Carlos Maese and Paul Pulley) to close out the contest that took just a little over six hours to finish. WT loaded the bases with three straight singles following the first two outs of the inning and Ramirez walked in a run to make it a 12-5 game in the bottom of the ninth, but the rally was squandered as ASU’s pitcher struck out the final batter. Rchkemmer (3-0) picked up his third win on the season for the Rams, giving up just three runs on five hits and striking out three in six full innings of work. Jake Albert, Craig Blair, and Travis Stavinoha worked the final three innings in relief for the Rams. The Buffs, who were just one win shy of recording 30 wins in consecutive seasons, say goodbye to 13 seniors, but will have a lot to look forward to heading into 2013 as they will return 18 letterwinners from this year’s team back to the diamond.
