A fast start from the UTPB softball bats Tuesday afternoon put it ahead of the top-ranked team in the nation for a few innings, but the Falcons dropped both games of a mid-week doubleheader 4-3 and 8-1 against #1 West Texas A&M at Schaeffer Park in Canyon, Texas.

Aurora Burks went deep for the fourth time in 2014 in the top of the first after Jennie Quam started off the game with a leadoff single to give the Falcons a 2-0 advantage.

UTPB kept the Lady Buffs scoreless until their turn in the third inning when Renee Erwin answered with a home run of her own, a three-run shot to right field for a 3-2 lead.

West Texas A&M scored the eventual winning run in the bottom of the fourth with an unearned run on a throwing error that would have ended the inning, but instead helped the Lady Buffs add a run to their lead.

Taylor Clancy grabbed the run back in the top of the fifth, executing a double steal of second and home with Quam, but the Falcons ran out of time before being able to tie the game in the 4-3 loss.

Game two belonged to the Lady Buffs as they scored once in the bottom of the second, three times in the third and doubled their lead with four more in the fifth.

Quam drove in the Falcons only run in the game with a groundout to second in the fifth inning, scoring Clancy from third base.

UTPB closes out the regular season this weekend at home, hosting Newman for three games Friday and Saturday afternoons. With one win this weekend the Falcons clinch a trip to the 2014 Heartland Conference Softball Championships.