CANYON, Texas –Arkansas-Fort Smith plated five runs with two outs in the top of the third inning while West Texas A&M stranded nine baserunners in a 10-4 loss to the Lions during game two of the opening weekend of the Lone Star Conference Championships at Wilder Park in Canyon.
 
The Lions jumped out to an early lead in the top of the first inning as Noah Davis lifted a solo homerun to left field with one out for the 1-0 advantage. Davis drove in his second run of the game in the top of the third inning with an RBI double to the gap in right center followed by a Nico Patrick RBI single and a Cayden Burch two-run triple before a wild pitch that plated Burch to make it 6-0.
 
WT responded in the bottom of the frame as Glenn Noronha singled up the middle to score Elijah Batists followed later in the frame by a Kory Schmidt double to the wall in center field that cleared the bases to cut the lead to 6-4. 
 
UAFS added to their lead in the top of the seventh inning as a WT error to start the frame moved a runner into scoring position followed by a Davis RBI single to left field with one out to score Jordan Helm for the 7-4 lead. The Lions added an insurance run in the top of the eighth on a Ryan Riggs sacrifice fly to center that score Burch to make it 8-4.
 
The Lions extended their lead in the eighth on a Michael Brinton two-run double to left center with one out for the 10-4 lead.
 
Maddux Hoaglund picked up the loss (3-2) for the Buffs, allowing six earned runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout in his 3.0 innings of work.
 
The Buffs and Lions close out the weekend tomorrow afternoon with a winner-take-all series finale set for 1:00 p.m. at Wilder Park.