Clough drives in five as Hounds win series opener

FORT SMITH, Ark. – Freshman left fielder Jonatan Clough drove in five runs, two on a go-ahead homer in the top of the seventh, and Eastern New Mexico University’s baseball team rallied past Arkansas-Fort Smith 11-6 on Thursday in the opener of a four-game Lone Star Conference series.

The teams were slated to play two games on Friday and a single contest on Saturday to complete the series. Thursday’s win vaulted the Greyhounds (16-18, 14-18) into a tie for seventh place with idle St. Mary’s, with the top eight qualifying for the LSC’s postseason tournament in early May.

Clough’s three-run double in the top of the first staked the Hounds to an early lead, but the last-place Lions (7-28, 5-28) came back to lead 5-3 after two innings and 6-4 after four.

ENMU tied it in the sixth when junior catcher Rutger Poiry lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly – his second of the game – and senior center fielder Camden Matthews followed with a run-scoring single to center.

ENMU blanked the Lions the rest of the way, but not without some suspense. UAFS loaded the bases with no one out in the seventh, but reliever William McBride got out of it with a popup and a 6-4-3 double play.

In the eighth, Poiry drove in his third run of the game, driving home pinch-runner Braeton Matthews with a single, and he later scored on an error. Fort Smith loaded the bases again in the bottom half, but McBride retired right fielder Brandon Ulmer on a popup to end it.

ENMU tacked on one more in the ninth when Braeton Matthews stole second and first baseman Nick Schifftner scored from third when Fort Smith catcher Junior Torres threw the ball into center field. It was the Lions’ fourth error of the day, resulting in three unearned runs.

Sophomore righthander Adrian Rubio (3-4) pitched into the seventh before giving way to McBride after the first two hitters reached. McBride recorded his second three-inning save in two games, having done the same thing against Texas-Tyler four days earlier.

Fort Smith outhit the Hounds 11-10. In addition to Clough, who was 2-for-4, Camden Matthews, junior right fielder Cooper Hamilton had a pair of hits each, while Poiry was 1-for-1 with his two sac flies and a walk.

Sophomore right-hander Brayden Ross (0-3), the second of five Lions hurlers, took the loss, giving up four earned runs in 1 2/3 innings.

ENMU returns to action on Friday when it begins a four-game conference series against Oklahoma Christian at Greyhound Field.