Coombes Provides Strong Pitching Performance In Loss To Texans

PORTALES, N.M. – Freshman starter Ethan Coombes put together his finest start of the season against Tarleton State on Friday night, but the Hounds struggled offensively in a 2-1 loss in the first game of their final home series of the season.

Suffering a tough luck loss, Coombes threw seven strong innings, giving up just one unearned run on six hits and a walk while striking out a career high 10 batters.

Through the first five innings, neither team had many scoring chances as the Greyhounds (13-28, 1-16 Lone Star Conference) were the only team to have a runner reach second on walks by Chris Padilla and Malcolm Smith in-between a Bryan Waltemath strikeout to start out the third inning.

The Texans’ (13-30, 3-14 LSC) first scoring opportunity came in the top of the sixth after Jordan Parker and Hunter Thomas reached on back-to-back singles after a Sam Scarborough strikeout. However, Coombes was able to maneuver out of the threat by drawing a lineout to right and then getting a putout at first on a groundout to Tristan Bowden, keeping Tarleton State off the board.

Tarleton was able to push across the first run of the game in the seventh, scoring that go-ahead run on a throwing error by Paul Tapia trying to turn a double play to take a 1-0 lead.

The Hounds put together a solid scoring chance of their own in the eighth as Eastern put runners on second and third with one out following a Nicholas Ankerman single to left and a Paul Tapia double down the left field line, but couldn’t quite push the tying run across with a pair of shallow flyouts to right ending the frame.

The Texans added what would be the game-deciding run in the ninth inning by taking advantage of another Greyhounds error to stretch its edge to 2-0.

The Greyhounds didn’t go down without a fight as catcher Eurick Perez led off the frame with a double that dropped just fair down the left field line. Perez crossed home two batters later on a Chris Padilla RBI groundout to third to trim the deficit to 2-1, but the Hounds could not generate any more offense in the contest.

Tarleton State notched its two runs on seven hits with no errors while Eastern tallied its one run on five hits and committed two errors.

On top of Coombes’ phenomenal start, Cesar Capellan pitched a pair of strong innings in relief, giving up one unearned run on one hit and one walk with five strikeouts.

Five different Greyhounds tallied hits in the game with Padilla recording the Hounds’ lone RBI and Perez scoring ENMU’s only run.

Eastern will look to bounce back tomorrow as the Hounds will face the Texans in a Military Appreciation Day doubleheader. The first game is slated for a 1 p.m. start.