BASEBALL DROPS SERIES FINALE TO WT, 10-8

Game Recap: Baseball | 2/13/2022 6:30:00 PM | Cameron Brennan

Eastern New Mexico baseball dropped its series finale against #15 West Texas A&M University, 10-8, on Sunday afternoon at Greyhound Baseball Field. The Hounds fall to 1-7 overall, along with a 1-7 conference standing. WT move to 6-0, and 4-0 in LSC play.

The visiting team struck first in the opening inning with two runs. With two runners on base, the Buffs used back to back singles to score, 2-0 WT. ENMU were stymied by the Buffs pitching, as they were held without a hit through the first five innings. Meanwhile, West Texas A&M used runs in the third, fourth, fifth, and six innings to take a 9-0 advantage after five and a half innings.

However, the Greyhounds posted four runs on the board in the sixth frame. The inning started with an Andres Quintana hit by pitch, Camden Matthews singled to put runners on the corners for Dax Edmonds. Edmonds hit a line drive up the middle to plate the first run for the Hounds. Sammy Williamson followed and repeated the feat, singling into centerfield and bringing home another run, 9-2 WT.

With the bases loaded and two outs, Cooper Hamilton took a hit by pitch to send another run home to the plate. The next batter, the Eastern bases runners took advantage of a wild pitch to score the Hounds fourth run of the game. WT ended the inning with a groundout, but the Hounds put four runs on the board during the inning, 9-4 WT.

After a scoreless seventh inning, WT capitalized on a wild pitch to score a run in the top of the eighth inning, 10-4 WT. In the bottom of the eighth, the Eastern bats added more pressure to the game. A single from Spencer Roach, followed by Jorge Colon walk, setup Braeton Matthews for an RBI single into right center. Hamilton stepped to the plate and lifted a flyball to left field for a sacrifice and sending Colon to the plate, 10-6 WT.

After a hit from Nick Schifftner, and a walk loaded the base, C. Matthews represented the game tying run as he entered the batter’s box. C. Matthews hit the right center gap for a single, driving in two runs, 10-8 WT. However, the Hounds scoring ended there, as the Buffs escaped the 8^th and closed out the ninth inning. The final score read 10-8 WT.

NOTABLE STATS

Eastern totaled seven hits during the game with seven RBI’s.
C. Matthews led the offense with two hits, while five other Greyhounds recorded a hit.
Hamilton and C. Matthews each had two RBI’s in the contest, while Edmonds, Williamson, and B. Matthews also picked up an RBI.
Noah De La Riva is set with the loss, allowing four runs (three earned), along with four strikeouts in four innings. Javier Luna and John Martinez each finished with two innings pitched, with five runs allowed and one run allowed, respectively. Hamilton saw one inning of action on the mound.
Jack Egan picked up the win in 3.0 innings of relief, allowing no hits with four strikeouts. Chris Rodriguez picked up his second save of the save, in 1.1 innings pitched.

FROM THE SOURCE

“Early on we made a few costly errors and gave away to many free bases with walks,” said Head Baseball Coach Riley Price. “We needed more discipline at the plate and put the ball in play more with two strikes. The bats finally started to pick up, but it was too late and we were two runs shy of tying at the end” said Price. Overall, it was good to see us compete against one of the top teams in the country and to get our younger guy’s feet wet this weekend. Moving forward we need a few bats to pick up the slack, our pitching to compete in the zone more often, and our overall defense needs to be cleaner” said Price.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

Hamilton made an appearance on the mound for the first time this season.
C. Matthews recorded his first multi-hit game this season, and first multi RBI game this season.
This is the first home four game conference series for the Hounds since Mar. 9, 2020 against UT Permian Basin.
Eastern will return to Greyhound Baseball Field next weekend to face Adams State University, in a non-conference matchup. The Hounds are scheduled to play a two-game series against the Grizzles, with game one on Saturday, Feb. 19, with first pitch set at 2 p.m.