Tourney spot up for grabs

PORTALES - Even the most optimistic of Eastern New Mexico baseball fans would concede this has been a frustrating season for the Greyhounds. Their win percentage (.325) is slightly higher than their batting average (.301), they've been outscored by 90 runs in 40 games and they have six pitchers with double-digit ERAs and another seven with ERAs 6.75 or higher.

Tartleton State's optimists don't have a lot of source material, either. The Texans' head coach took off in January for a player-development job with the Texas Rangers, and the team left to interim coach Brennan Rogers has been outscored 330-192 with only one player hitting above a .300 clip.

But stay vigilant, optimists. One of the above teams is getting a spot in the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament, and this weekend's four-game series between them at Greyhound Field will likely decide it.

The host Greyhounds are 1-15 in the Lone Star Conference (13-27 overall) and visiting Tarleton State is 2-14 with a 12-30 overall mark.

After the 7 p.m. Friday series opener, one team will end its losing streak - 12 for Eastern New Mexico, eight for Tarleton State. They'll follow it up with a 1 p.m. Saturday doubleheader and a single nine-inning game 1 p.m. Sunday.

A well-known paradox is, "What happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?" Thanks to the Lone Star Conference playoff format, where seven teams battle for six playoff spots, this weekend is the polar opposite. Something will go right for one team in a season that's otherwise gone wrong.

The Lone Star Conference's seven baseball teams each play a 10-week, 40-game conference season comprised of a four-game series each weekend. The LSC standings that decide postseason spots are comprised only of the final 24 games, where every team faces the other six teams exactly four times.

After this series, the Greyhounds visit fourth-place Texas A&M-Kingsville (9-7) and the Texans host fifth-place UT Permian Basin (5-11). Plenty still needs to shake out, but essentially:

n The Greyhounds control their own playoff destiny with a series win,

n They'll need help from UTPB if they split or lose the series 3-1, or

n They'll be eliminated if Tarleton sweeps.

The Greyhounds and Texans met in the second week of the LSC season in Stephenville, with the Texans sweeping 14-4, 5-0, 7-4, and 9-8. While those games have no bearing on the LSC standings, they would matter should the Greyhounds and Texans finish tied in the standings. Conference tiebreakers are decided first by head-to-head record, then by records against other LSC teams in descending order of finish.

Angelo State (18-2) should be the top seed, barring a disastrous finish, but West Texas A&M (15-5) and Cameron (10-6) are in the fight to be the top two seeds and receive first-round byes in the May 9-11 LSC championship. The top seed will host the Thursday first-round games (3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5). The May 11 championship game winner will receive an automatic bid into the May 16-18 NCAA South Central Regional.