CANYON – Angelo State committed five errors, including a throwing error which ended the game in the 11th inning as West Texas A&M took a 2-1 Lone Star Conference extra-inning win over the Rams on Friday in the series opener at Wilder Park.

J.C. Snyder tied the game with a sixth-inning solo home run for the only run for the Rams (27-13, 15-12 LSC), but would also commit the throwing error to allow the winning run to score for the Buffs (27-14, 17-10 LSC). WT now leads the season series 3-2 over ASU going into a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Saturday.

"We competed great tonight and that's all we can ask for," ASU head coach Kevin Brooks said. "Our guys made some big plays and big pitches, but West Texas was able to take advantage of a couple of our mistakes. Offensively, we have to get more hits and production than we did tonight. I was proud of how we played through. It's tough to lose this game, but I think we played a good game despite our errors."

Steve Naemark received a no-decision in the game but had six strikeouts and became the all-time single-season record holder in ASU history. Naemark scattered seven hits in eight innings and now has 94 strikeouts this season in 78.0 innings of work. His 94 strikeouts passed Michael Gunter who had 89 strikeouts in the 2007 season. Despite another stellar start by the junior left-hander, ASU lost the game in extra innings and remains in third place in the conference standings.

The Rams, who led the nation in fielding percentage coming into the week, committed four errors in a 10-9 win over St. Mary's on Tuesday and then five errors against the Buffs on Friday. With Naemark in control and not allowing the errors to correlate into damage, things seemed all right. But in the bottom of the 11th, WT put the first two runners on with reliever Graylon Brown hitting the first batter and then seeing the second batter reach when he couldn't field a sacrifice bunt. After a fielder's choice, runners were on second and third with Ryan March coming to the plate. With only one out, March hit a ball to third base and Shiflett scored on the throwing error.  

Snyder drove in the only ASU run of the game with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning, while Brett David led the Rams by going 2-for-4 with a single and double. Snyder now has six home runs which matches Nehwon Norkeh for the team lead, while Paxton DeLaGarza hit a double and Sam Kohler and Cameron Massengill each had singles to account for the six Angelo State hits in the game.

Brown (2-2) took the loss for the Rams after seeing the unearned run score in the 11th after he entered the game in the bottom of the ninth and recorded seven outs. Brown had one strikeout and allowed only two hits in 2 1/3 innings of work.

Kyle Tinius (5-1) earned the win for the Buffs after throwing five innings of relief for the Buffs where he had four strikeouts in relief of starter Tyler Gibson who allowed only the Snyder home run and scattered five hits in six innings.

The series resumes at 1 p.m. with a doubleheader on Saturday back at Wilder Park. Blake Bass (7-2) is scheduled to start the first game (7 innings) before Bryce Zak (4-5) takes the ball in the second game. ASU will return to action after this weekend's series with a 6 p.m. game on Monday against McMurry at Foster Field before hosting Texas A&M-Kingsville next weekend for a three-game series.