The Eastern New Mexico softball team is scheduled to square off with MSU Texas for it’s final conference series of the season this weekend in Wichita Falls, Texas.

The final three games of the 2019 campaign for the Greyhounds (12-27, 8-19 LSC) will take place on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. MST and then a single game on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. MST. Both teams have been eliminated from postseason contention, but will battle it out this weekend for seventh place in the final Lone Star Conference standings.

MSU Texas (19-19, 10-17 LSC) will enter the weekend with a two game advantage over the Greyhounds with a conference record of 10-17, requiring Eastern to win all three games to jump into outright seventh place in the standings. Eastern New Mexico won two out of three games in their most recent conference series on the road in Silver City, N.M. against Western New Mexico, and have won four straight meetings with MSU Texas including a 3-0 series sweep a season ago.

SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
MSU Texas enters the weekend fresh off of a 3-0 series defeat at the hands of #3 Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road in Kingsville, Texas. The Mustangs have won five out of their six games at home and have accumulated a record of 14-2 on the season at Mustangs Park.

Midwestern ranks fifth in the LSC with a team ERA of 4.02 and have been led in the circle by senior Abbie Lancaster, who leads the team with an ERA of 2.73. Junior Lauren Lindgren highlights a Mustangs lineup that will enter the series against Eastern with a team average of .263 for the season.

Lindgren is one of four Mustangs that have batted above .300 for the season while senior Carli Woolsey leads the team with 12 homeruns for the season.

HISTORY WITH THE MUSTANGS
The Hounds got the better of MSU Texas in all three games last season, winning the first two games by final scores of 7-6 and 5-4, and then left no doubt in the third and final game with an 11-7 win. Eastern has come away with the win in six out of the last eight meetings with the Mustangs after coming up short in the first 16 meetings between the two squads.
Eastern holds an all-time record of 2-5 in Wichita Falls, each of those wins coming in the last trip for the Greyhounds. Eastern New Mexico outscored MSU Texas in that 2-1 series victory back in 2017 by a final total of 23-13 over the course of three games on the Mustang’s home field.

CONFERENCE COMP
With this season drawing to a close it is hard to refrain from looking ahead to the 2020 campaign for the Hounds with a host of valuable contributors returning. Head coach Kira Zeiter has seen a lot of growth from the younger players on the Greyhound roster, including some quality hitting numbers throughout the 2019 Lone Star Conference schedule.

The LSC was arguably one of the top pitching leagues in all of Division II softball this season and the young members of the Greyhound roster fared well against some of the top arms in the country. Junior Elysa Rodriguez leads the way against conference competition for all underclassmen on the Greyhound roster with an average of .313 while junior Samantha Brockman leads the team with 15 RBI’s throughout the 27 conference games.

Rodriguez, Brockman and sophomore Jennifer McElroy all have multiple homers against LSC foes while freshman Iliana Mendoza has pieced together an average of .296 in her 24 games played in conference. The Greyhounds will have to replace both pitchers from this season moving into next year, but will have a solid core of batting options returning to the field in 2020.

WE LIKE IT A LOT
Senior Lauren Likes has finished up her Greyhound career in style over the past nine games, posting a batting average of .320 while tying for the team lead with eight hits. Likes has totaled 13 bases in the last three series against West Texas A&M, Western New Mexico and Tarleton State and will need to be a major factor if the Greyhounds expect to make it out of Wichita Falls with some wins to close out the 2019 season.

AN ENCORE FOR THE GARY’S
Twins Hanna and Emma Gary have been vital pieces to the 2019 puzzle for Eastern New Mexico and have finished off their Greyhound careers on a high note, combining to go 10-for-24 from the plate throughout the last nine games. The twins have totaled six RBI’s and 14 total bases to close out the season and will be looking to team up in the heart of the Greyhound order once again this weekend.