Baseball takes three in Austin

AUSTIN, Texas — Eastern New Mexico University’s baseball team lost Friday’s series opener against Huston-Tillotson about the worst way a baseball team could lose a game — via grand slam with two outs to eliminate a three-run lead.

The Greyhounds, however, had the best reaction, winning the final three games of the series by a 22-4 count.

Eastern New Mexico split Friday’s doubleheader with a 7-6 loss and an 8-1 win, then won 9-2 on Saturday and 5-1 on Sunday to improve to 5-3 on the season.

The Greyhounds pounded out 35 hits to the Rams’ 17, and got complete-game efforts from Joel Torres and Enrique Perez.

First game (7-6 loss): The Greyhounds rallied late with five in the sixth inning, closed out by a two-run double by Paul Tapia for a 6-1 lead.

But the Rams weren’t to be outdone. Huston-Tillotson posted a run on a wild pitch in the sixth, then posted five in the seventh. Following a Jorge Lopez single, the Rams loaded the bases for Travis Williamson.

Eastern brought in reliever Ethan Coombes to face Williamson, and Williamson hit his first homer of the season for the shocking victory.

Second game (8-1 win): Catcher Eurick Perez went 2-for-4 with RBI singles in the third and fourth innings.

Greyhound batters roughed up Ram starter Todd Deleon, who left in the fourth inning after giving up eight runs on 11 hits.

Torres pitched a two-hitter for the Greyhounds, walking three and striking out six.

Third game (9-2 win): Eastern had seven of their 10 total hits in the sixth and seventh innings, with three runs scored in each.

There were no extra-base hits on the evening for the Greyhounds, but Eastern drew eight walks and stole five bases (two each for Malcolm Smith and Nicolas Ankerman).

Enrique Perez struck out 11 and walked just one in a complete-game effort with five hits allowed.

Fourth game (5-1 win): Malcolm Boehm went 1-for-3 with a two-run triple in the fifth.

Other Greyhound runs came on an Ankerman sacrifice fly in the seventh and an Alex Kuhn RBI single in the fourth.

Braden Delamare allowed a run on three hits in five innings of work. He walked three and struck out seven. Michael Holliday allowed a walk in two innings and struck out three to pick up his first save of the season.

The Greyhounds were scheduled to face Oklahoma Panhandle State in a road doubleheader Tuesday before opening the Lone Star Conference season with a four-game series against Cameron. They will host the Aggies with a 7 p.m. nine-inning game Friday, followed by a doubleheader of seven-inning games 1 p.m. Saturday and a nine-inning single game 1 p.m. Sunday.

Angelo sweeps ENMU softball — Veronica Vasquez picked up her second-straight win in relief to open Saturday’s doubleheader, and the No. 6 ranked Rambelles posted 33 hits in their 13-4 and 19-2 wins.

Courtney Barnhill had a pair of doubles in each game, and also had one of four Rambelle homers in the nightcap.

Elysa Rodriguez had a double in the opener and a homer in the nightcap for the Greyhounds.

Eastern (4-7, 0-3) continues the Lone Star Conference season on the road with a three-game series at Texas Woman’s, starting with a 5 p.m. single game on Friday and followed by a noon Saturday doubleheader.