Thursday, March 19, 2015
PORTALES, N.M. — The Eastern New Mexico University baseball team will look to take on Cameron University this weekend with the greyhounds trying to overtake the Aggies in the conference rankings.
The Aggies (9-13, 3-8 LSC) are sitting in fifth place in the Lone Star Conference heading into the series, while the Greyhounds (5-14, 1-7 LSC) are several games back in sixth place.
Series History Cameron has a slight edge in the series history, with the Greyhounds going 37-39 against the Aggies over the years. The last time the two teams met was in April, 2014, where the Greyhounds took the series 2-1, outscoring Cameron 43-26 over the three games. The most lopsided victory was in the Greyhound's favor, beating the Aggies 21-3 to open the series.
Matthew Burks (Sr., Vacaville, Calif. / Diablo Valley College), Blake Cooper (R-Sr., Long Beach, Calif. / Long Beach Wilson High School, Golden West College),
Chris Sanders (Sr., Murrieta, Calif. / Palomar College) and
Chad Highberger (Sr., Concord, Calif. / Los Medanos College) all played major roles in the series last year and will be returning to face the Aggies this time around. Burks recorded a .667 average against Cameron, going 8-of-12 from the plate with five RBIs and two homeruns.
Cooper also had a standout performance min 2014, going 5-of-9 from the plate with five RBIs, two doubles and two triples. Sanders and Highberger added five and two RBIS along with four and two hits, respectively.
Sanders Batting Prowess Sanders is currently on a seven game hitting streak, the longest of the team this season, and is leading the team in batting with a .339 average. The Greyhounds will look to the senior to keep up the offense in this crucial conference matchup.
Sanders has recorded 20 hits in 59 at bats with 11 RBIs. He also leads the team in doubles with eight for a slugging percentage of .508 percent.
The Greyhound Rotation Cody Pope (Sr., Kingman, Ariz. / Williston State College) leads the Greyhounds from the mound with a 3-2 record and an ERA of 4.40. Pope also leads the team in strikeouts with 29, followed by
Clyde Kendrick (Jr., Vicksburg, Miss. / Holmes CC) with 27 and
James Gray (Sr., St. Petersburg, Fla. / East Carolina University) at 24.
Kendrick leads the team in ERA of pitchers who have thrown more than 15 innings, with a 3.05. The lefty is also the only pitcher besides Pope with a winning record at 1-0.
Zach Shank (R-Fr., Gallup, N.M. / Oklahoma Baptist University) has the lowest ERA on the team with a 2.51. In five appearances Shank has thrown 14.1 innings with 13 strikeouts and only four earned runs.
Eastern at the Plate The Greyhounds currently sit tied for second in the LSC in batting average, with a team .279 average. They are tied for first in the conference with 14 homeruns and are second in slugging percentage and total bases with a .438 percent and 273 bases.
Overall Record and Runs The run differential separating the Greyhounds and their opponents is almost none existent, with Eastern being outscored by a mere two runs on the season. The Greyhounds actually lead their opponents in hits (174-166), doubles (41-36), homeruns (14-8) and only trail in RBIs by four (104-109).
Eastern has lost 11 games this season by three runs or less, with five contests being decided by just one run. In games the Greyhounds have won, they are beating opponents by an average score of 6.8 runs a game.
Greyhounds Defense Eastern's defense is playing superbly well this season, with an average fielding percentage of .945 compared to their opponents .939. The Greyhounds have 34 errors on the season compared to their opponents 42.
Eastern has 12 players on the team with perfect 1.000 fielding percentage. Cooper at first base leads the team with 150 catches and 139 put outs while Burks at shortstop leads the team in assists with 37.
