ENMU's Sunday contest suspended due to wind

PORTALES – Sunday's finale of a four-game Lone Star Conference baseball series between Eastern New Mexico University and No. 15 St. Edward's at Greyhound Field was suspended in the middle of the first innings due to high winds which made playing conditions unsafe, according to a release from the ENMU sports information office.

The Hilltoppers (9-4, 7-4 LSC) had scored twice and the Greyhounds (6-9, 6-9) were coming to bat when play was halted. The release said more information regarding resumption of play would be announced at a later time.

ENMU took two of the first three in the series, winning 9-4 on Friday before the teams split a twin bill on Saturday. The Hounds return to action with four games at rival West Texas A&M, beginning with a 5 p.m. (MST) start on Friday.

ENMU 6-5, St. Edward's 1-6 (Saturday) – Adrian Rubio's first three starts at ENMU hadn't gone too well, but he was able to change that in the opener of the doubleheader.

Rubio (1-2) gave up a two-out run in the top of the first, but blanked the Hilltoppers after that as ENMU slowly pulled away to win it. He allowed six singles, walked just two and struck out seven in a 122-pitch complete-game performance.

"I just filled up the (strike) zone," said Rubio, a sophomore right-hander who came in with a 6.14 earned run average in 15 1/3 innings. "I had a lot of walks last weekend, but I limited that today."

ENMU coach Riley Price said the key was Rubio's ability to throw strikes.

"He finally developed a third pitch," Price said. "He was able to throw his changeup for strikes, which was huge against a good team like St. Edward's."

ENMU roughed up Hilltoppers starter Jack Granick (1-2) for nine hits and six runs in five innings. Freshman third baseman Dylan Hummel doubled and hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot leading off the fourth to make it 4-1.

The Hounds took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first when freshman left fielder Jonatan Clough hit an RBI triple and scored on freshman shortstop Willie Ponce's base hit. They added a run in the second on designated hitter Spencer Roach's double-play grounder, and picked up two more in the sixth on a run-scoring wild pitch and a single by second baseman Demetrio Archuleta.

At 100 pitches through the sixth inning, Rubio admitted he was a little surprised opted to leave him in.

"I wanted to just compete and try to get us through six innings," he said. "I didn't want to come out, but if I do so be it. I knew I threw pretty well for six innings."

Eight players hit safely for ENMU, with Hummel and Archuleta each going 2-for-3. Archuleta went 5-for-7 for the day, adding a double, triple and home run in the nightcap.

ENMU erased a 4-1 deficit in Game 2 with three in the seventh and had chances to win it in the seventh and eighth before the Hilltoppers escaped.

Junior catcher Cullen Ainsworth's fourth home run of the season, a two-out, two-run shot in the third, staked the Hilltoppers a 4-0 lead. Archuleta's first homer of the season leading off the bottom half made it 4-1, but junior left-hander Luke Short kept the Hounds at bay through six innings.

Consecutive one-out triples by Archuleta and senior center fielder Camden Matthews and a sacrifice fly by junior right fielder Cooper Hamilton made it 4-3 against reliever Jack Engelman, and the Hounds then got a walk and singles by Ponce and Hummel to tie it.

Right-hander Kevin Skweres (1-0) got senior first baseman Nick Schifftner on strikes to force bonus cantos, and the Hilltoppers scored twice and had the bases loaded with no one out in the eighth. Junior right-hander Anthony Gonzalez escaped by getting two strikeouts and a lineout to left, and the Hounds put together a two-out rally with Archuleta's double, an RBI single by Matthews, a single by Hamilton and a walk to Clough.

However, Skweres got Ponce – who had singled in each of his previous three at-bats – on a fly ball to center with the bases loaded to end it.

"It's what you get in the LSC," St. Ed's coach Bryan Faulds said. "Eastern New Mexico is way better than people thought in the preseason. They didn't quit, and that's what good teams do.

"Every win in this conference is big; anyone can beat anybody on a given day. We were lucky to do enough to get the win (in Game 2)."

ENMU junior left-hander Ruger Bravo (1-3) pitched into the eighth. Three of the Hilltoppers' six runs against him were unearned, the result of five errors.

"We kept a lot of pressure on them," Price said. "We executed well, and we were able to manufacture runs by moving guys over (on the bases)."

ENMU plays its next six games on the road, beginning with a four-game conference set at West Texas A&M this weekend.