Aggies sweep Hounds

The Eastern New Mexico University baseball season — its worst in the 25 seasons of the current program’s existence — almost got an unexpected bright ending Saturday, with the host Hounds rallying from a 13-0 deficit to claim a 19-15 lead over Cameron.

But things went south a final time for the Greyhounds, as the visiting Aggies posted three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to notch a 21-19 victory and a three-game sweep on the final weekend of the Lone Star Conference regular season.

The Aggies (30-19, 18-17), who pulled above .500 in LSC play with the sweep, won Friday’s single game 10-2 and Saturday’s opener 14-6.

Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Junior pitcher Chris Miranda-Carr gives the ball to coach David Gomez after being pulled in the first inning of the second game against Cameron. Miranda-Carr faced just five batters, walking three and hitting the other two. ENMU went through three pitchers in the inning as Cameron scored 13 runs off five hits in the top of the first. Cameron won 21-19.

The Greyhounds (10-40, 3-32) lost their final 17 games to finish 30 games under .500 for the first time since the team reformed in 1992, and posted a record-low three wins in LSC play.

Brian Pulgados went 3-for-4 on the game for Cameron, including a pair of two-run singles in a 13-run first where Cameron sent 17 men to the plate.

The Greyhounds chipped away with three in the first, one in the second and four in the third before taking the lead in an eight-run fifth where none of the 13 batters recorded an extra-base hit.

Eastern extended the lead in the sixth when Charles Sandberg hit an RBI double, then scored on Dylan Nault’s homer for the 19-15 advantage.

Cameron pared the lead to one after six, and went ahead for good in the seventh on Tyler Cook’s one-out single.

First game, Cameron 14-6 — The Aggies chased starter Keenan Dodd (0-4) in the fifth with three consecutive one-out hits and back-to-back two-out singles to knot the score at 5-5, and his relief didn’t fare much better.

Chris Miranda-Carr pitched the remainder of the inning, starting with a five-pitch walk to Nate Hale to load the bases and a double by Cody Knight to clear them. Cameron posted six runs on six hits in the inning, and added three more in the sixth and seventh innings to put the game on ice.

Hale went 2-of-4 with a pair of hits, an RBI and three runs scored, while Pulgados went 2-for-5 with a three-run shot in the sixth and an RBI groundout in the seventh.

The Greyhounds finished with seven hits — including a two-run homer by Charles Sandberg in ENMU’s four-run second and a solo shot in the third by Tregra Williams.

Jackson Tetreault (4-1) picked up the win in relief, retiring seven of the eight batters he faced with five strikeouts. Dodd struck out 10 himself, but was charged with six earned runs in his 4 2/3 innings on eight hits and two walks.

Friday, Cameron 10-2 — Hale went 3-for-4 with four RBIs, including RBI singles in the second and third as the Aggies built an early 9-0 advantage on Anthony Inge (0-1) and the bullpen.

Dirk Masters (3-5) allowed two runs on four hits in six innings of work, while Andrew Garza and Adam Bosch scattered three hits and four walks over three scoreless innings of relief.

Dodd, playing second base, went 2-for-2 for the Hounds with an RBI sacrifice fly in the fourth after ENMU got on the board with a bases-loaded walk to Sandberg.