Hounds grab series finale with Patriots

PORTALES – Eastern New Mexico University's baseball team got the salvage game in their Lone Star Conference series against Texas-Tyler on Sunday at Greyhound Field.

All it took was an outing with season highs in runs and hits – not to mention three innings of hitless relief by side-arming senior right-hander William McBride.

ENMU banged out 21 hits, including three home runs, and held off the Patriots 17-14 after Tyler, which swept Saturday's doubleheader, took Sunday's lidlifter 22-8. The series was pushed back a day due to gusty winds on Friday.

With the breeze howling toward the outfield barriers, the teams combined for a whopping 101 runs in the four-game set. Tyler (24-12, 24-12 LSC) reached double digits in all four games, outscoring the Hounds 61-40 and outhomering them 8-4.

"The wind was blowing out again today and Tyler came out swinging it well again," ENMU coach Riley Price said. "Before Game 2, I challenged our guys to get back to our approach at the plate and that we needed to score in multiple innings to give ourselves a chance to walk away with a win."

Junior right fielder Cooper Hamilton, who delivered a seventh-inning grand slam in the opener, had a personal-best four hits in the second game.

ENMU (15-18, 13-18) scored in each of the first six innings in the nightcap to lead 17-10 before Patriots designated hitter Kaston Mason belted his fourth homer of the series, a grand slam to center with no one out off ENMU right-hander Damian Acosta (2-4). McBride, making just his fourth appearance of the season, came in to get two flyouts and a lineout, then pitched around two hit batsmen with a 6-4-3 double play to escape the eighth before working a 1-2-3 ninth.

"McBride ... did a great job shutting them down to secure the win for us," Price said.

Sophomore second baseman Demetrio Archuleta went 3-for-4, finishing a triple short of the cycle, and knocked in six runs for the Hounds. Three others had three hits for ENMU, and all nine men in the batting order hit safely.

Senior first baseman Nick Schifftner hit his first homer of the season, a two-run blast, in the fourth while freshman left fielder Jonatan Clough added a solo shot, his team-high eighth, with one out in the fifth.

In the seven-inning opener, nine of Tyler's 19 hits went for extra bases. Third baseman Austin Ochoa capped a four-run first with a three-run homer, and that score stood until the Patriots chased ENMU left-hander Ruger Bravo (4-5) in a six-run fifth that included a grand slam from Mason.

The teams then combined for 20 runs over a wild final two frames. Ochoa finished with five RBIs while Mason and first baseman Ethan Bedgood had four apiece.

Sophomore left-hander Braden Freeman (2-1) had a three-hit shutout through five innings before the Hounds got to the Patriots' bullpen late.

Despite losing the series, the Hounds remain in eighth place in the LSC, with the top eight making the league's postseason tournament next month. They head to last-place Arkansas-Fort Smith (7-27, 5-27) for a four-game set starting on Thursday.

ENMU is one-half game behind seventh-place St. Mary's (16-18, 14-18), and has a four-game series coming up against the Rattlers in San Antonio from April 22-24. Right behind them are Texas A&M International (16-22, 15-21) and Texas-Permian Basin (15-22, 14-22).

Texas-Tyler 11-14, ENMU 9-6 (Saturday) – The Hounds erased a 6-0 deficit in the opener with an eight-run second on eight hits, capped by Archuleta's two-run single and a two-run triple by sophomore shortstop Willie Ponce. That score held until the sixth, when the Patriots regained the lead with four runs and held on from there.

Junior right-hander Harrison Lee (1-1) picked up the win with three shutout frames, allowing just one hit. Sophomore right-hander Garrett Arredondo worked the final two innings for his fourth save.

Tyler outhit the Hounds just 13-11, but eight of the Patriots' hits went for extra bases, including a pair of home runs by Mason.

In in the nine-inning nightcap, freshman third baseman Dylan Hummel's RBI single staked the Hounds to a first-inning lead, but the Patriots scored all their runs over the next six innings for a 14-2 cushion. Clough's two-run double and Ponce's sacrifice fly cut the margin to 14-5 in the seventh and kept the game going, and catcher Jack Thompson added an RBI double in the eighth.

Tyler outhit the Hounds 18-10, with shortstop Edward Ortiz and first baseman Ethan Bedgood each collecting four knocks. Eight players hit safely for ENMU, with Archuleta and Clough both going 2-for-4.