PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico baseball team a week removed from picking up a 2-2 split in Dallas will look to build upon its start when the Hounds face Huston Tillotson for a four game series in Austin, Texas starting on Friday.
The Greyhounds will open the series on Friday with a doubleheader with the first game slated for a noon start. The Hounds will then play one game on Saturday at 5 p.m. before closing out the series on Sunday at noon.
LAST TIME OUT
The Greyhounds officially opened the season last week with a four game series being played at the Dallas Christian College Tournament, as the Hounds played two games against Dallas Christian and two games versus Southwestern Christian.
The Hounds opened the weekend with a 7-4 win over Dallas Christian, as the Hounds rallied from a 3-1 deficit after the first inning to pick up the win. Senior leftfielder Chris Padilla led the ENMU bats, going 2-for-5 from the plate with three RBIs coming off a double in the first, a sacrifice bunt in the fourth and a single in the ninth. Senior first baseman Malcolm Boehm and junior right fielder Joseph Zubia each recorded three hits in the game, as Boehm went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored while Zubia batted 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run. Junior pitcher Fernando Burgos picked up the win, going six innings and giving up just three runs, one earned on three hits, four walks and seven strikeouts. Redshirt freshman pitcher Ethan Coombes picked up a save in his first appearance as a Greyhound, going three innings and giving up just one earned run on two hits, a walk, and a strikeout.
In the later game against Southwestern Chrstian, the Greyhounds managed to jump out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a Paul Tapia sacrifice fly and a Miles Hilton RBI single. However, the Eagles responded with a pair of runs in the third and the fourth innings, eventually scoring seven unanswered runs to hand the Hounds a 10-3 defeat. Zubia led the ENMU bats with a 2-for-3 performance from the plate with a walk and a run scored, while junior pitcher Joel Torres took the loss after throwing five innings and giving up four runs, two earned on six hits, three walks and a pair of strikeouts.
The Greyhounds bounced back on Saturday with a dominating 10-0 victory over Dallas Christian in seven innings. Senior catcher Eurick Perez and Hilton led the Eastern bats, as each player slashed 1-for-3 from the plate with three RBIs apiece. Senior shortstop Nicholas Ankerman went 1-for-3 and drew three walks and scored a season-high three runs to go with three stolen bases. Senior pitcher Enrique Perez picked up his first win of the season, throwing six shutout innings on three hits and five walks while striking out 10, the second-most strikeouts he’s recorded in a single game in his ENMU career. Freshman pitcher Tyler Cobb had a strong showing in his first appearance as a Greyhound, pitching the seventh and striking out three of the four batters he faced.
The Hounds dropped the final game of the series on Saturday with a rain-shortened 6-0 loss in five innings to Southwestern Christian. Junior pitcher Braden Delamare took the loss for Eastern after giving up five earned runs on two hits, five walks and fanning two.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
Huston Tillotson enters the weekend series with a 2-3 record this season after opening the year with a four game split against Bethany College before dropping a 4-2 decision to Our Lady of the Lake last week. As a team, the Rams are batting .269 through the first five games, scoring just 22 runs on 32 hits, six of which are doubles with a pair of home runs. HSU’s pitching has been solid so far this season, giving up just a 3.60 earned run average through 35 innings.
HISTORY WITH THE RAMS
Eastern and Huston Tillotson will be playing each other for the first time in the programs’ histories.
STEALING WINS
A recipe for the Hounds success under Head Coach David Gomez is the team’s ability to steal bases. The Hounds are already off to a strong start on the base paths, robbing 32 bases on 33 attempts in just 30 innings of action so far this season. The Hounds stole a program-record 17 bases in their 7-4 win over Dallas Christian, eclipsing the previous best of 12 set against DCC on March 10, 2018. The Greyhounds were one of the best base stealing teams in the nation last season, finishing third in NCAA Division II with 3.19 steals per game and fourth overall with 153 steals. The current steals leader on the team is Ankerman with seven stolen bases while Zubia is right behind him with six.
PITCHING PEREZ
In his fourth season with Eastern New Mexico, senior pitcher Enrique Perez put together one of the best starts of his career last Saturday against Dallas Christian. It was the first start of Perez’s career that he didn’t give up a single run and the 10 strikeouts recorded in the win was the second-most since recording 11 in a 21-4 win over Lane on Feb. 3, 2017.
FIRST IMPRESSION
Entering his first season with the Greyhounds, junior Joseph Zubia is making a strong first impression through the first four games. The right fielder who came to ENMU from El Paso Community College is batting .417, the second-best average on the team only behind Malcolm Boehm’s .429 while also ranking second on the team with six steals.
FRESH PEN
While the Hounds have strong senior leadership in the starting rotation, the Hounds will be relying on some of the new faces in the bullpen to provide a spark this season. In his second season with the Hounds, redshirt freshman Ethan Coombes will look to provide strong support in the closer role for ENMU after picking up his first career save in three innings last week against Dallas Christian. In his first appearance, freshman Tyler Cobb made a strong impact by striking out three and walking one in his first inning of action last week against the Crusaders.
