CANYON, Texas – Four home runs including a grand slam by the No. 9 West Texas A&M Lady Buffs proved to be too much for the No. 6 Texas A&M-Kingsville softball team to overcome as they dropped the series' opener to WT, 11-3, on Friday night in Lone Star Conference action at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas.

The loss drops the Javelinas out of first place in the Lone Star Conference with an LSC record of 12- 4 and an overall mark of 26-5. The Buffs improve to 15-4 and 24-8.

Both starters kept the game scoreless through two frames before the Javelinas broke through in the third. Sophomore Claire Chernosky (Sugar Land, Texas) launched her first homer of the season over the left field fence, but it would prove to be a short-lived lead.

A lead-off walk in the bottom of the third was followed by a wind-blown fly ball to center courtesy of Kylee Moore that carried over the wall to put the home team on top. Two batters later, Shanna McBroom hit a two-run homer to left and Erica Vessels added another two-run blast two batters later and WT had quickly built a 6-1 lead.

West Texas's offense continued working in the fourth, loading the bases with one out on a walk and a pair of bunt singles, bringing up Brittany Cruz with one out. Cruz lifted a long fly to left that sailed over the fence for a grand slam and a 10-1 lead. The Lady Buffs tacked on one more before the inning was over to push their advantage to 10. In the fifth, an RBI single by senior Roxy Chapa (McAllen, Texas) and a hit batter with the bases loaded plated two runs for the Javelinas and closed out the scoring.

The chance to bounce back for the Javelinas comes on Saturday, when their play a doubleheader against WT beginning at 1 p.m. Keep up with Javelina softball all season long by following @TAMUKSB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter, @JavelinaSports on Instagram, visiting Javelina Sports on Facebook and checking out Javelinaathletics.com.