Box Score
Box Score

The Fort Hays State baseball team dropped the rubber match of the three-game series at West Texas A&M on Sunday by a score of 9-6. The loss puts FHSU at 1-2 on the young season.

FHSU looked to be in good shape with a 5-1 lead after five and a half innings, but West Texas A&M stormed back for five runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to take the final game of the series.

The Buffs struck first in the third inning with a run, but FHSU tied the game in the fourth on a ground ball double play off the bat of Brett Macari. Nash Smith broke the tie with an RBI double in the fifth and then Mace Krol hit a three-run homer, the first home run of the season by a Tiger, to extend the lead to 5-1.

West Texas A&M came alive in the sixth against reliever Connor Beer, scoring five runs against him in his inning of work. Kyle Leroy surrendered the last two runs to the Buffs. Starter Shawn Lewick went 5.1 innings, allowing just one earned run with three hits and two strikeouts.

The Tigers host their first home series of the season next weekend in Hays against Northwest Missouri State. That will be the first conference series of the season, a four-game series starting on Friday (Mar. 2).