Greyhounds claim series win

MIDLAND, Texas — Finally, Eastern New Mexico University’s baseball team can claim a series win … and a Lone Star Conference series win as well.

The Greyhounds were outhomered 7-1 by Texas Permian Basin for the weekend, but earned a pair of 7-3 victories in Sunday’s series-ending twin bill to take three of the four games, including two of three LSC contests. The finale, a seven-inning matchup, was not a conference tilt.

ENMU (4-8, 3-8 LSC) has now won four of six after an 0-6 start to the campaign. The Hounds’ last series win was in late March 2019 against Dallas Christian, and their previous conference series win was March 1-2, 2019, when they took two of three from Cameron at Greyhound Field.

The key to this series was defense. While the Hounds committed just one error in the four games, the Falcons (2-8, 2-7) were guilty of 17 miscues, including at least three in each game. That resulted in 19 of ENMU’s 34 runs being unearned.

Texico redshirt freshman Dalton Thatcher earned his first college victory in Sunday’s opener, throwing 108 pitches over six innings. Thatcher (1-1) allowed seven hits, two earned runs and three walks with five strikeouts.

Sophomore right-hander Damian Acosta went the final three to notch the team’s first save of the season.

Meantime, ENMU took a 6-1 lead with a six-run third — five unearned — to chase UTPB starter Tyler Stone (0-2). The rally was capped by catcher Andres Quintana’s two-run homer, his first of the season.

Right fielder Nick Hernandez drove in all three UTPB runs with two solo homers and a single. He belted four round-trippers in the series, and now has five for the season.

In the second game, the Hounds broke a 1-1 tie on third-inning RBI doubles by left fielder Cole Luedeking and first baseman Nick Shifftner and never looked back. Luedeking went 2-for-4 in each game, scoring four runs and driving in one.

The Hounds resume LSC play with a three-game series this weekend at Texas-Tyler.

UTPB 14, ENMU 12 (Saturday) — Second baseman Joe Allen IV drove in seven runs with a first-inning grand slam, a fifth-inning RBI double and a sixth-inning, two-run single and the Falcons held on to win a wild one from the Hounds.

Allen’s slam, his first home run of the season, started the scoring, but ENMU came back to lead 9-6 with a seven-run fourth highlighted by third baseman Matthew Kory’s two-run double.

ENMU stayed ahead until Allen’s two-run single tied it at 11-11. Collin Fabio’s RBI single put the Falcons in front later in the frame, and they added insurance on a two-run, eighth-inning homer by Hernandez.

It proved to be the difference when the Hounds struck in the ninth, but UTPB turned a double play to minimize the damage and reliever Jake Rhode retired Kory on a bouncer to second to secure his first save of the season.

The teams combined for 14 walks and five hit batsmen. While the Hounds outhit UTPB 17-11 and played errorless ball in the field, they were unable to take full advantage of six Falcons errors.

ENMU swept in softball — Suffice it to say, it was a long season-opening weekend for the ENMU softball squad in Texas.

After managing just four hits in 12-0 and 13-0 losses at fifth-ranked Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday, the Greyhounds (0-4, 0-4 LSC) picked up only one hit — a second-inning single by Azalea Martinez in the opener — in 15-0 and 11-0 setbacks at 10th-ranked Texas-Tyler on Sunday.

All four games ended in 4 1/2 innings on the eight-run rule.

On the positive side, the team has been given clearance to play at home beginning this weekend, and will now have six LSC doubleheaders at Greyhound Softball Field — starting with No. 23 Angelo State at 3 p.m. on Friday and No. 25 Lubbock Christian at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Other home twin bills will be against St. Mary’s on March 26, St. Edward’s on March 28, Western New Mexico on April 23 and Texas-Permian Basin on April 25.

Texas-Tyler (10-4, 4-0 LSC), which had hit five home runs for the season coming in, doubled that total on Sunday — led by right fielder Amanda Marek, who doubled her season tally to six with a home run in the opener and two more in Game 2.

Three bases-loaded walks capped a four-run first for Tyler in the lidlifter. Marek added a two-run homer in the second and Lauren Harris also went deep in the contest for the Patriots.

Tyler scored five in the first inning of the nightcap on an RBI double by Ashley Perez, a two-run homer by Marek and a two-run double by Tristin Anders. The Patriots then added a six-run fourth, getting three-run homers from Marek and Shelby Houston.

Senior left-hander Erin Hill (6-1) threw a five-inning no-hitter in the nightcap. She lost her perfect game on a one-out error in the fifth, but promptly ended it by getting ENMU’s Alanna Larkins to roll into a 6-4-3 double play.