Game Recap: Baseball | 2/9/2020 5:37:00 PM | Zac Alfers
Baseball Earns First Victory of 2020 over Texas A&M International
Eastern New Mexico baseball finished its three-game series against Texas A&M International on a high note as it defeated the Dustdevils in a 9-6 slugfest Sunday afternoon.
The Greyhounds had their best day at the plate, hitting .345 as a team and plating nine runs on ten hits while also drawing nine walks. Starting pitcher Josh Lewis pitched well for the first six innings as he was awarded the win before junior Lane Saunders tossed the final three frames, earning the save.
Shortstop Daniel Hunt, third baseman Jospeh Zubia and first baseman James Romero all finished with two hits apiece while seven total Hounds tallied at least one base knock. The pitching duo of Lewis and Saunders struck out nine TAMIU batters while only issuing three bases on balls.
The Dustdevils struck first with a pair of runs as the Greyhounds responded with a huge seven-run inning in the bottom of the first frame. Centerfielder Malcolm Smith continues to get himself on base as he worked a lead off walk and later scored off an RBI single from Zubia.
Hunt scored on a passed ball which led to Zubia crossing home plate safely as Ryan Anderson drew a walk with the bases loaded. Left fielder Jude Perea drove in a pair of runs with a single through the right side of the infield in his first start of the season and in just his second collegiate at bat.
Designated hitter Ross Montoya sent a sacrifice fly to center, driving Anderson home before right fielder Alex Kuhn capped off the inning with an inside the park homerun. With two outs in the inning, Kuhn drilled the ball to deep right center and bolted around the base path as the ball split the center and right fielders before dribbling to the fence. The sophomore safely jogged across home plate for a standup in the parker for the Greyhounds second homerun in a two-game span.
International was able to close the gap with three-runs in the fourth but again the Greyhounds answered. Zubia led off the fourth with his first double of his senior campaign before scoring on an infield single to second base from Anderson. With second baseman Trevor Moses planted on second, Perea recorded his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to right field. Moses quickly reached third and took a wide turn before racing across home plate as he punished the lethargic Dustdevil defense.
TAMIU added another run to begin the sixth inning to trim the Greyhound lead to 9-6 before Saunders entered the game on the mound and halted any chance of a comeback. Saunders, the Los Alamos, N.M. native, tossed three very dominant innings as he allowed just four hits while facing 14 batters.
The Green and Silver will look to win its first series next week as they travel to UT Tyler for a four-game set scheduled to begin on Friday at 6 p.m.
