PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico baseball team is preparing for its final non-conference doubleheader before the start of non-conference play as the Hounds will travel to Gruver, Texas to take on Oklahoma Panhandle State.
The first game of the doubleheader is scheduled for a 12 p.m. first pitch at Gruver High School baseball field.
LAST TIME OUT
The Hounds return to the field for the first time in 10 days as Eastern is coming off a four game series at Huston Tillotson on Feb. 15-16. After dropping the opening game of the series by a score of 7-6, Eastern dominated the final three games of the series by scores of 8-1, 9-2, and 5-1.
In the first game, the Rams overcame a 6-1 deficit in the sixth inning, scoring six unanswered runs, including five in the seventh inning as HTU won the game on a walk-off grand slam.
In Friday’s nightcap, the Hounds bounced back with a pair of big innings, scoring four in the third and four in the fourth inning to take a commanding eight run lead. The Rams scored an unearned run in the seventh, but it wasn’t enough to cut into the Eastern advantage.
On Saturday, the Hounds opened the doubleheader with a three-run second inning to hold the early advantage. Huston Tillotson tallied a run in the bottom of the fifth to close the gap to two, but Eastern responded with a pair of three-run innings in the sixth and seventh to pull away with a 9-2 win.
In the second game of the Saturday slate, the Hounds struggled to get the bats going through the first four innings as HTU jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth. Eastern retaliated with three runs in the fifth inning and added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh to pull away with the victory.
Freshman left fielder Alex Kuhn had a phenomenal weekend from the plate for the Hounds, going 6-for-8 (.750) with three runs scored and a pair of RBIs. Junior outfielder Blake Frye and senior shortstop Nicholas Ankerman also batted a solid .375 in the series, each going 3-for-8 and three RBIs. Ankerman scored three runs in the series while also going a perfect 6-for-6 in stolen base attempts. Senior catcher Eurick Perez batted .364 in the series, going 4-for-11 with a team-high five runs scored to go with three RBIs.
Eastern’s starting pitching was phenomenal in the series, as Enrique Perez, Joel Torres, Fernando Burgos, and Braden Delamare combined to throw 24 innings and gave up five runs, only two earned. Perez and Torres each picked up wins in complete seven inning games while Delamare went five innings for his first win of the season in the series finale.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
Oklahoma Panhandle State enters Tuesday’s doubleheader with an 8-7 overall record. The Aggies are coming off a rain-shortened four game series against Peru State last week, picking up 6-4 and 14-6 wins in the Friday doubleheader before the last two games of the series were cancelled due to inclement weather.
The Aggie lineup is headlined by sophomore catcher Luis Rodriguez, who currently leads the team in batting average (.362), home runs (3), runs batted in (18), slugging percentage (.574) and OPS (1.020). Senior outfielder Payton Rhodes leads the team with 13 runs scored and on-base percentage (.468) while possessing the second-best batting average (.359).
The Aggies pitching this season is giving up a 5.28 earned run average. Junior Yesiel Valdez has been OPSU’s most consistent starter this season, giving just a 1.93 ERA in four starts, throwing 23.1 innings while giving up 15 kits and eight walks while striking out a team-high 28. Joseph Getze has also been strong on the mound for Panhandle State, giving up just a 2.05 ERA in his four starts on 16 hits and three walks while striking out 19. The Hounds could also face Corey Ley or Nicholas Virdo, as each have made three starts this season while recording a 8.53 ERA and 10.12 ERA respectively.
HISTORY WITH THE AGGIES
Since the series began in 1998, the Hounds have dominated the all-time series with a 19-2 record over Oklahoma Panhandle State. The two teams split a pair of games last season, as the Aggies defeated ENMU 8-6 on Feb. 6, 2018 in Portales before the Hounds bounced back with a big 9-1 victory on Feb. 20. In the 9-1 win, Cesar Capellan pitched a complete game, giving up just one earned run on one hit, three walks and struck out six.
STRONG START
In his first two starts of the season, Enrique Perez has been dominant on the mound for the Hounds. The Albuquerque, N.M. native already has two wins while pitching a team-leading 13 innings and has given up just two unearned runs on eight hits, six walks, and 21 strikeouts. In his most recent outing against Huston Tillotson, his 11 strikeouts tied his own career-best as well as set the sixth-most strikeouts in a single game in program history. In his four year ENMU career, Perez has recorded 96 strikeouts and is just 29 strikeouts away from breaking into the top 10 in the ENMU record books.
BANDIT ON THE BASES
Through the first eight games of the season, Ankerman has been unstoppable while trying to take the extra base. The senior shortstop from Lethbridge, Alberta currently leads all of NCAA Division II with 13 stolen bases at 1.63 spg. Ankerman has been patient at the plate thus far this season, drawing a team-high 10 walks for the second-highest on-base percentage on the team at .533. It has been an area in Ankerman’s game that he has shown tremendous strides in this season after recording just two stolen bases and drew eight walks with a .369 on-base percentage a year ago.
As a team, the Hounds are the best base stealing team in the nation, averaging 6.13 stolen bases a game, more than two above the next closest teams in Post and Bloomsburg at 4.0 spg. The Hounds have stolen 49 bases on 51 attempts this season, which also leads all of Division II and are three ahead of Angelo State in second with 46.
FRESH PERSPECTIVE
After losing 16 seniors following the 2018 season, the Hounds are getting some big contributions to some of their newcomers. One player who has made a big impact in just five appearances is freshman outfielder and pitcher Alex Kuhn. In the opening weekend of the season in Dallas, Kuhn made an appearance on the mound in a 10-3 loss to Southwestern Christian, throwing 0.2 innings and wiping out both batters he faced. Kuhn was even more impressive from the plate in the following series against Huston Tillotson, as the Farmington, N.M. native went 6-for-8 from the plate while making starts in left field during the last two games of the series.
