4/8/2022 | Baseball | Box Score

PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico baseball were handed a close loss to #23 Lubbock Christian University, 5-3, on Friday afternoon at Hays Field. The Hounds move to 14-19 on the season, with a conference standing of 13-18. The nationally ranked Chaps improve to 25-10 on the season and 23-10 in LSC action.

The Hounds hitters jumped out early on the Lubbock Christian pitching in the first inning. With two outs, Cooper Hamilton reached base on a double to left field to get a base runner on. Nick Schifftner worked in a nine pitch at bat, culminating in a triple to deep center field to score the games first run, 1-0. Spencer Roach followed and singled up the middle to bring Schifftner across the plate. Sammy Williamson followed with a single, but no more runs were produced in the top of the first inning has ENMU led 2-0.

Both teams were held scoreless until the fourth inning, with the Greyhounds picking up a run. After Andres Quintana led-off the inning with a walk, Jorge Colon pushed him to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Braeton Matthews then stepped to the dish and punched a base hit into right field, scoring Quintana for a 3-0 lead. However, the Chaps opened their scoring in the following half inning. A triple along with a double posted the first run of the game for the home team but ended the inning with two runners stranded on the base paths, 3-1 ENMU after four full innings.

Lubbock Christian roared back in the fifth inning to tie the game up at 3-3 with two runs. A lead-off single put a runner on, and a two out home run to left center tied the ball game. LCU took its first lead of the game in the following inning. A double started the inning off and scored on a two out single two batters later, 4-3 LCU. The next batter posted a double in the right center gap and sent the Chaps fifth run around to score. Eastern escaped a runner on third and second jam with a flyout to end the inning.

After the sixth inning, the Lubbock Christian pitching allowed one hit the rest of the way, as Eastern fell in the series opener 5-3 against #23 Lubbock Christian.

NOTABLE STATS

  • Five different Hounds posted a base hit in the game, with three ENMU hitters recording RBIs. Schifftner, Roach, and B. Matthews each posted two hits in the contest, while all being responsible for one RBI.
  • Noah De La Riva tossed 5.2 innings during the contest taking the loss. De La Riva finished with five runs allowed (four earned runs) with four strikeouts. Tommy Perez finished the game with 2.1 innings of action and giving up just one hit.
  • For the Chaps, Tyler Hardwick gets credit for the win in 6.0 innings of work, conceding three runs from seven hits. Koi Carillo picks up a save, throwing three innings and allowing just one base runner in nine batters.

FROM THE SOURCE

“(Noah) De La Riva threw a good game and kept us in it and (Tommy) Perez did a great job in relief,” said Head Baseball Coach Riley Price. “LCU can swing it with power, and they hit a couple mistakes, but overall it was a pretty clean game. After putting up three runs early on, we just didn’t string anything together,” said Price. “I look forward to bouncing back tomorrow”.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

  • 5-3 is the closest game in terms of scoreline since 2015, when the Hounds beat the Chaps 3-2 in Midland, Texas.
  • The Chaparrals hold the all-time series 37-10 over ENMU.
  • Roach posted his team leading 14th multi-hit game, while Schifftner (9) and B. Matthews (4) also provided multi-hit games.
  • The Hounds look to recover tomorrow in a doubleheader against the Chaps. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m. (MST).