Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
FORT SMITH, Ark. — Arkansas-Fort Smith erupted for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday to post a 7-3 Lone Star Conference baseball victory over Eastern New Mexico University, completing a doubleheader sweep.
The Lions held on late to take Game 1 from the Greyhounds 9-7. The teams were to finish the three-game series with single contest on Saturday afternoon.
Pinch-hitter Trevor Brown’s two-run single off reliever Alex Kuhn (0-1) snapped a 3-3 tie. Brown later scored on a wild pitch, while second baseman Morgan Crenshaw drove in the final run with a two-out single to center.
ENMU (5-12, 4-12 LSC) loaded the bases with one out in the ninth, but UAFS reliever Coby Greiner pitched out of it by getting a strikeout and a groundout to earn his second save of the campaign.
Fort Smith (7-10, 6-8), which survived seven errors in the opener, played errorless ball in the second game and took advantage of three ENMU miscues, accounting for three unearned runs.
The Hounds outhit the Lions 10-9, with catcher Jack Thompson going 3-for-4 and third baseman Trevor Moses, right fielder Cole Luedeking and center fielder Camden Matthews all finishing 2-for-4.
ENMU grabbed a 3-2 lead with sixth-inning RBI singles from Nicholas Tamez, Matthews and Thompson, but the Lions tied it in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Baxter Mays.
In the opener, UAFS erased a 2-1 deficit with a four-run fifth, scoring on two sac flies, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch and a wild pitch. The Lions built the lead to 9-3 through seven innings before a late Hounds rally fell short.
The teams combined for 10 errors and, as a result, nine of the 16 runs in the contest were unearned.
Lions freshman right-hander Logan Grant (1-2), who entered the game with a 9.53 earned run average in five previous starts covering 17 innings, went seven in this one. He threw 96 pitches, allowing six hits and one earned run with one walk and six strikeouts.
Fort Smith committed four errors over the final two stanzas, and three of ENMU’s four runs during that time were unearned.
First baseman Nolan Riley went 2-for-3 for UAFS, with a two-run single and a sacrifice fly.
For ENMU, shortstop Jude Perea and first baseman Kian Johnston each had a pair of hits, including a solo home run by Johnston — his first of the season — in the sixth inning.
ENMU’s softball struggles continue — In a nightmarish start to the season, Azalea Martinez has provided a bright spot for the Greyhounds.
The redshirt freshman outfielder from Albuquerque went 3-for-4 in a Lone Star Conference doubleheader on Friday at 15th-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville, belting a pair of doubles in an 8-0 first-game loss to the Javelinas and launching a leadoff home run in the second inning of a 15-1 setback in the nightcap for ENMU’s lone run of the day. Both games ended in five innings on the eight-run rule.
The Hounds fell to 0-10 in LSC play and overall.
For a team batting just .186 this season, Martinez is hitting .409 (9-for-22) and has six of the squad’s 11 extra-base hits, including two of its three home runs.
Kingsville (16-3, 9-1 LSC), which trails co-leading Texas A&M-Commerce and Texas-Tyler (both 16-4, 10-0), made short work of ENMU. In Game 1, shortstop Kayla Gonzales hit a two-run homer in a three-run first and added an RBI groundout in a three-run second.
Beth Montes (4-1) scattered three hits in five shutout innings, walking one and striking out seven.
In the nightcap, Martinez pulled ENMU to 2-1 with a leadoff homer in the second, but the Javelinas countered with seven in the bottom half. Gonzales collected five more RBIs with a three-run homer in the second, her fifth of the season, and a two-run single in the fourth.
Meantime, Javs center fielder Jory Cervantes knocked in three runs with a pair of doubles, scored four times and finished the game 4-for-4. Kingsville’s Lizette De Angel (5-1) gave up six hits but managed to go the distance, needing only 64 pitches and striking out seven with no walks.
ENMU returns to action with a noon (MDT) twin bill today at Texas A&M International.
