Hounds bounce back with twin bill sweep

PORTALES – After a gut-wrenching loss in Thursday's series opener at Greyhound Field, Eastern New Mexico University's baseball team couldn't afford any more shenanigans in Friday's Lone Star Conference doubleheader against last-place Cameron.

ENMU eked out a 3-2 win in the first of two seven-inning contests on Friday, then finally broke loose a bit late in Game 2 en route to a 10-4 victory over the Aggies.

The Greyhounds (10-13, 8-13 LSC) went into Saturday's finale seeking a series win. ENMU moved from 11th in the 13-team league when the series began to a virtual three-way tie for eighth, with six four-game league series remaining.

The top eight teams make the conference tournament in early May.

"It was nice to see us have some timely hitting today, especially in the second game," Hounds coach Riley Price said.

ENMU left eight runners on base – six in scoring position – between the second and fourth innings in the opener, but erased a 2-0 deficit and pulled out the win behind a complete-game five-hitter from junior left-hander Ruger Bravo (4-3), who worked around six walks.

"Game 1 (was won because of) a great job by our starting pitcher, Ruger Bravo," said ENMU sophomore shortstop Willie Ponce, who had nine RBIs in the first three games of the series. "He kept us in there, even though it wasn't our best game offensively."

Freshman left fielder Jonatan Clough, who struck out his first three times up, delivered a go-ahead RBI single with two out in the sixth inning.

"Ruger did a good job," Price said. "He kept them off-balance and didn't allow them to have extra base hits."

Against a staff with a collective 12.68 earned run average entering the series, the Hounds went a stretch of 13 innings with only three runs and again trailed 2-0 in the fourth in the nightcap before managing to tie it with runs scoring on a throwing error and a wild pitch.

After falling behind again 4-2 in the top of the fifth on designated hitter Jayce Clem's two-run homer, ENMU sophomore DH Spencer Roach hit leadoff doubles in a five-run fifth and a three-run sixth as the Hounds pulled away. Freshman third baseman Dylan Hummel and Ponce had two-run singles in the fifth and sixth, respectively.

"I'm glad we were finally able to put them away," Ponce said. "It felt good going back out there on defense (in the seventh) with a big cushion."

Senior right-hander Javier Luna (1-0) earned the win with three shutout innings in relief. Sophomore righty Julian Lopez, making his first start after four relief appearances, got the Hounds through four-plus innings and struck out seven.

"I thought J-Lo, even though he didn't have his best stuff, did a good job of keeping them at bay," Price said of Lopez.

Although the Aggies are undergoing a down year, they had won 10 of the previous 11 matchups with the Hounds before Friday's games.

ENMU travels to Odessa this weekend for four games against Texas-Permian Basin, beginning with a 1 p.m. (MDT) single game on Friday.

Cameron 16, ENMU 15 (Thursday) – In a wild series opener, the Greyhounds led 9-4 after three innings, 14-9 after four and 15-11 after five before their bats suddenly went quiet.

It was a messy game, featuring six errors, 18 walks and seven hit batsmen. ENMU turned a triple play and two double plays and still came up on the short end.

In fact, the Aggies – who snapped an eight-game losing streak – scored what proved to be the winning run after loading the bases with no one out in the seventh. Designated hitter Drew Durst hit into a 6-4-3 double play which allowed left fielder Hunter Smith to score what turned out to be the final run of the day.

Senior right-hander Drew Henderson (3-3), the Aggies' third pitcher, entered in the second inning and struggled early but went the final 7 1/3 – throwing a whopping 140 pitches. He allowed seven runs (three earned) on nine hits with four walks and five strikeouts, but retired 14 of the final 17 hitters and got two fly-ball outs with the tying and winning runs on base in the bottom of the ninth.

Seven pitchers combined for 402 pitches – 202 for the Aggies, 200 for the Hounds.

After two walks, a hit batsman, a run-scoring single and a run-producing error in the fifth, ENMU turned what would have been a 6-4-3 double play. Cameron's Ryan Allen, though, rounded third and was thrown out trying to get back by Hounds first baseman Nyles Duren for the third out.

Clem drove in four runs with a pair of homers, including a tying two-out, three-run shot in the fourth. Center fielder Trent Mallonee and shortstop Kody Bigford each had two hits and three RBIs.

Ponce went 4-for-6 with six RBIs for ENMU, including a second-inning grand slam, while Hummel and sophomore second baseman Demetrio Archuleta both had three hits and a pair of RBIs. But three players combined to go 0-for-16 at the plate for ENMU.