4/1/2022 | Baseball | Box Score

PORTALES, N.M. – Early runs propelled Eastern New Mexico baseball past St. Mary’s University 12-9 on Friday evening at Greyhound Baseball Field. The Greyhounds advance to 12-17 on the season and 11-16 in LSC action. The Rattlers slip 11-20 on the year, and 9-20 in conference play.

Both teams scored early and often in the first few frames. The Rattlers struck first with three runs in opening stages of the game. A two-run single broke the scoreless game, 2-0 StMU. Then, another single with two outs scored a third run, for a 3-0 lead. That lead didn’t last long as patient at bats put base runners on for the Hounds. Camden Matthewsstarting the inning with a walk, then scored after a single from Cooper Hamilton. Back-to-back singles from Spencer Roach and Nick Schifftner scored Hamilton for a 3-2 ball game STMU.

Two walks locked the game at 3-3, with Sammy Williamson taking a base and Jack Thompsonpicking up an RBI on bases on balls. The following at bat, a wild pitch sent two runners to the plate as the Hounds jumped to a 5-3 advantage over St. Mary’s. In total, the Hounds scored five runs from three hits and five walks.

Eastern dumped more runs on the board in the second inning, with another five runs scoring for a 10-3 advantage. After two walks and a reach on error loaded the bases, a wild pitch scored a run for 6-3. Braeton Matthews came to the plate with the bases loaded and singled into left field for three runs to come home. B. Matthews plated two runs on the hit and another scored on a error. The Eastern scoring concluded with B. Matthews scoring on a wild pitch for a 10-3 lead.

The scoring halted until the fourth inning, when Jorge Colon ripped an RBI single up the middle to score Thompson for 11-3. However, St. Mary’s left things late to add drama to the contest. The Rattlers scored six runs in the eight frame to make the score 11-9 ENMU and had the bases loaded with two outs. However, the Greyhounds escaped the inning with Tommy Perez picking off the runner at 1st base to get out of a bases loaded jam.

ENMU added a final insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, as Williamson scored on a wild pitch. Eastern New Mexico took the game by a final score of 12-9 over St. Mary’s.

NOTABLE STATS

  • Although being out hit by the Rattlers, ENMU posted eight hits on the game with six RBIs.
  • Roach and Schifftner led the way going 2-4 in the game, while B. Matthews posted two RBIs.
  • Noah De La Riva collects the win after a solid seven inning performance giving up three runs on seven hits in the contest. John Martinezand Robert Nidy combined for 0.2 innings pitched with four runs between the two of them (one earned run). Perez ended the game with 1.1 innings of action allowing two unearned runs on four hits.
  • Connor Schimdt takes the loss in the game for the Rattlers, lasting 1.1 innings and surrendering eight runs.

FROM THE SOURCE

“Not the prettiest of wins but a win is a win, and we’ll take it,” said Head Baseball Coach Riley Price. (Noah) De La Riva relay settled in after the first and got right back to what he does best and threw a great game. Offensively, we ran well and took the extra bag when they gave us the opportunity,” said Price. “We took advantage of quite a few free bases and found a few hits here and there. Overall, I thought we could have swung it better and need to keep the ball out of the air,” said Price. “Relief pitching and an error late gave them life to come back and close the distance, but (Tommy) Perez came in to hold them for us to get the win”.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

  • The was the Hounds first win against the Rattlers at home since 2004, and the first home win in conference play against StMU. The Rattlers still hold the series advantage 10-7 over the Hounds.
  • Roach and Schifftner each recorded multi-hit games on the night. Roach leads the squad with 12 mutl-hit games and Schifftner has seven games with multiple hits.
  • The Greyhounds return to the diamond tomorrow for a pair of games against St. Mary’s. Game one is set for 2 pm, and the game two is set for 5 pm.