Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Box Score Hays, Kan.—The Panhandle State Aggie baseball team fought hard against Fort Hays State University on Wednesday afternoon. Despite a great defensive effort, the Aggies came up short with a score of 10-1.

The starting pitcher for Panhandle State was senior right-hander Josh Casillas, who took his first loss of the season in 3.2 innings of work. The Aggies played a very defensive game but struggled to close the gap in the score.

The Tigers opened scoring with a two-out homer in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead.  Panhandle's first run came through in the sixth inning as Nate Kelly reached on a fielder's choice and crossed home on two singles. Up 6-1 going into the seventh, FHSU put up three runs in the fourth, two in the sixth and four in the eighth off big hits and walks from the Aggies.

Panhandle totaled ten hits in the game, all singles with the exception of a double from Robert Rodriguez in the sixth; Rodriguez was putout at third on a fielder's choice play. Freshman Jake Bowman had the only RBI of the day for the Aggies on his single to left-center that scored Kelly in the third. Senior catcher B.J. Henry led at the plate with three hits in four at-bats. The Tigers finished the day with 16 hits, including six that went for extra bases; three doubles and three homeruns. FHSU pitcher Sam Capps notched his first win of the season in 5.0 innings with zero earned runs.

Aggie Baseball now holds a 2-5 record with some stiff competition on the horizon. The Aggies will take on No. 24 West Texas A&M on the Buff's home turf in Canyon Feb. 17-18 for a three-game series. The Buffs came into the 2017 season as the third-ranked LSC team in a pre-season poll and currently hold an undefeated 6-0 record. A single game on Friday is set for 6 p.m. with Saturday's doubleheader starting at 1 p.m. Fans can keep up with all the action online as live stats and video links are available at opsuaggies.com on the Baseball schedule page.