Greyhound baseball squad rallies to top Angelo State

CANYON, Texas — Fourth-seeded Angelo State found just enough heroics in the eighth inning of their Lone Star Conference playoff game with Eastern New Mexico, as Brad Mathiowetz delivered a game-tying two-run homer and the Rams small-balled Michael Urquidi home on two groundouts for a 4-3 lead.

Turned out the Greyhounds had a few heroics of their own left over. Nick Ankerman doubled to knot things up again in the ninth, and his Greyhound teammates pushed three more runs in on RBI singles for a 7-4 win in the first round of the LSC playoffs at West Texas A&M.

Reliever Levi Shandrew (2-0) picked up the win despite the eighth-inning hiccup for ENMU (24-23), which will face the top-seeded Buffaloes in a 6 p.m. contest. The winner will play in a 2 p.m. Saturday championship.

Keenan Dodd picked up the save in his first relief appearance of the season, getting a 5-3 double play to end the game after the Rams loaded the bases in the ninth.

First baseman Julian Heredia went 2-for-4 with an RBI single, while Garlind Webster and Alex DeLaCruz each went 2-for-5 for Eastern — which took a 2-0 lead on an RBI single by Heredia and a passed ball later that allowed Heredia to come home himself.

The Greyhounds never trailed until the final inning, and picked up what it thought would be insurance in the seventh when Zach Shank stole third and took home on a throwing error.

Shank, DeLaCruz and Endy Villalona each had RBI singles in the ninth to follow up Ankerman's double.