GOODWELL, Okla. – The Eastern New Mexico baseball team got off to a strong start, but Oklahoma Panhandle State rallied to score six runs in the final three innings to hand the Hounds a 6-5 defeat on Tuesday afternoon.
Momentum was with the Hounds (5-4) early in their final non-conference game before the start of conference play. After loading the bases in the top of the first inning, junior right fielder Joseph Zubia smashed a double to score Malcolm Smith and Malcolm Boehm to grab a 2-0 lead.
The Aggies (9-7) threatened in the bottom of the second. After getting runners to second and third on a pair of singles and a stolen base, ENMU starting pitcher Enrique Perez clamped down by striking out three consecutive batters to stop the OPSU threat.
Neither team could muster another score until the top of the seventh, when Boehm smashed a double to center field to score Joseph Paulino from first to make it a 3-0 game. Senior catcher Eurick Perez added another insurance run on the very next at-bat on a single down the right field line to score Boehm and stretch the advantage to 4-0. In the very next at-bat, Zubia added to the lead by smacking a double to center field to score Perez, expanding the Hounds lead to 5-0.
Oklahoma Panhandle fought back with a pair of runs in their half of the seventh frame off of reliever Fernando Burgos, but Burgos managed to strike out OPSU’s Gerson Padilla with runners on second and third to stop the Aggies rally.
The Aggies comeback carried over to the bottom of the eight as OPSU tallied three runs to tie the game up at five before ENMU reliever Michael Hollidaystruck out Panhandle’s Parker Bowles end the inning.
In Eastern’s top of the ninth inning, the Greyhounds responded quickly by loading the bases on a Paulino single, Boehm being hit by a pitch and Perez reaching on a fielding error. However, the Hounds couldn’t push across the go-ahead run in the next three at-bats as the game went into the bottom of the ninth still tied at five.
In the Aggies part of the frame, OPSU opened with an infield single that was followed by an error and a walk to load the bases with nobody out. In the final at-bat of the game, OPSU’s Jared Mayeda slashed a single down the left field line to give Oklahoma Panhandle the walk-off win.
The Hounds scored their five runs on nine hits and an error while Oklahoma Panhandle’s six runs came off 11 hits to go with two errors.
Zubia led the ENMU bats, going 2-for-5 from the plate with three RBIs. Smith also reached three times, slashing 2-for-4 with a walk and a run scored.
Enrique Perez threw six shutout innings while giving up just four hits and one walk while striking out nine, expanding his team-leading strikeout total to 30 through three starts. Holliday took the loss for ENMU coming out of the pen, giving up two earned runs on three hits and a walk while striking out two.
The Greyhounds will look to bounce back this weekend as they will return home for both their home opening and Lone Star Conference opening series against Cameron. The four game series is scheduled to start on Friday with a 7 p.m. first pitch. The two teams will face each other in a doubleheader on Saturday, starting at 1 p.m. and will close out the series on Sunday for a 1 p.m. first pitch.
