Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff report
SAN DIEGO — After a romp through Atlanta last weekend, the Eastern New Mexico University baseball team is experiencing the other side of the spectrum this week on the proverbial Left Coast.
Point Loma Nazarene had baserunners all over the place for the second day in a row and the Sea Lions waltzed to a 16-2 rout of the Greyhounds on Friday in the second of the teams’ four-game series. They’ll finish it off with a doubleheader starting at 10 a.m. (MST) today.
Senior right fielder A.J. Derr and senior pitcher Kellen Sheppard belted three-run doubles in a seven-run first, and the Sea Lions (6-3) cruised from there. After collecting 16 hits and nine walks in Thursday’s 11-6 victory, PLNU pounded out 15 hits and took advantage of 11 bases on balls in this one.
Eight of the runs were unearned, the result of three ENMU errors for the second game in a row.
Truth be told, it could’ve been worse — the Sea Lions have stranded 25 baserunners in two games, including 10 on Friday.
Senior center fielder Charles Sandberg Jr. had two hits for the Hounds (5-3), leading off the game with an infield single and eventually scoring on junior Daniel Ward’s sacrifice fly. But it was a shortlived lead, to say the least.
Junior right-handed Keith Kozak (1-1) made it through the first, allowing four hits and seven runs — three earned — with three walks and two strikeouts. Kozak and three relievers combined for 11 strikeouts, but couldn’t keep the Sea Lions off the bases.
Sheppard (2-1), a right-hander, allowed eight hits, walked one and struck out three over six innings. Three relievers finished with an inning apiece.
Ward and junior first baseman Wesley Jordan were both 2-for-3 for ENMU. Ward singled leading off the sixth and scored on Jordan’s two-out single to right.
Sophomore left fielder Cale Hathaway went 3-for-4 with two runs and a pair of RBIs for the Sea Lions, while five others chipped in a pair of hits. Sheppard was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and drove in a fourth run with a groundout in the sixth.
