Wednesday, April 8, 2015

PORTALES, N.M. — The Greyhounds will renew their rivalry with the Buffaloes this weekend, looking to defend Greyhound Field and make headway towards earning a spot in the Lone Star Conference playoffs.
 
Earlier in the season the two teams met for a four game series in Canyon, Texas, where the Buffaloes managed to win 3-of-4 games, stealing two games right out from under ENMU.  Chris Sanders (Sr., Murrieta, Calif. / Palomar College) led the Greyhounds from the plate, recording a .385 average with five hits and three RBIs off three doubles.
 
Dylan Nault (R-Jr., Anaheim, Calif. / Cypress College) and Justin Paul (Jr., Papillion, Neb. / Highland Community College) also had good outings from the plate, with both hitters recording four hits and three RBIs.  Paul added a homerun to his resume during the series as well.
 
Cody Pope (Sr., Kingman, Ariz. / Williston State College)  was the pitcher of record for Greyhound's lone win of the series, recording a 2.57 ERA in a complete game, giving up only two runs and striking out two batters.
 
In recent history, the 2014 season, Matthew Burks (Sr., Vacaville, Calif. / Diablo Valley College) helped ENMU take 2-of-5 games from the Buffaloes, hitting .308 with eight hits, three homeruns and a team leading eight RBIs.

Recap vs Tarleton State University 4/3-4/15

ENMU split a four game series with Tarleton State University this weekend, with every game but one being decided by one run.  Dropping the first two games on Friday 3-2 and 4-3, the Greyhounds rallied on Saturday, putting TSU away 9-5 and 9-8.
 
The last game of the series went extra innings, with the duration extended even further with a several hour rain delay.  In a game that took a total of almost six hours to finish, the Texans tied the game at eight all after nine innings, but were held off by the Greyhounds who pulled out the victory in the top of the twelfth inning, scoring on a wild pitch.
 
Paul led the team from the plate with six hits and five RBIs, recording a .429 batting average and a .529 on base percentage.  James Gray (Sr., St. Petersburg, Fla. / East Carolina University) got another win on the season following his outstanding performance from the Angelo State series, throwing 11 strikeouts in the 9-5 win on Saturday.  Gray is now 2-3 overall on the season.
 
 
He Just Throws Strikes
 
Gray continues his dominating performance from the mound, moving into the top 10 in the national rankings for strikeouts per nine innings. 
 
With 11 strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched against Tarleton State over the weekend, Gray moved to No. 8 nationally in strikeouts per nine innings.  The unique fact about Gray sitting so high is that he has pitched so many fewer innings than the rest of the ranked players.
 
Gray etched his name in the ENMU baseball record books over the weekend, fanning a season-high 13 batters against the Angelo State Rams.  Of 21 possible outs, Gray K'd over half the outs and now sits at number two on the single game strikeout list behind Mark Jackson, who set the record of 14 strikeouts in 1993 in a 12 inning win against Wayland Baptist.
 
For his performance against the Rams, Gray was named the LSC Pitcher of the Week.  He is the first pitcher to receive the honor in over a year for the Greyhounds.
 
ENMU Batting Prowess
 
Paul leads the Greyhounds with a .337 batting average, followed by Charles Sandberg Jr. (Jr., Bradenton, Fla. / State College of Fla. Manatee-Sarasota) at .299 and Sanders at .294.  Paul leads the team in RBIs with 24 on the season and Cooper is second with 21.  Paul leads the teams with 34 hits as well.
 
Cooper and Daniel Ward (So., Cleveland, Ohio / Clovis Community College) lead the team with four home runs each.  Paul holds the longest current hitting streak with six consecutive games and Chris Sanders holds the longest streak on the season with nine games with a hit.
 
The Greyhound Rotation
 
Pope leads the Greyhounds from the mound with a 4-3 record and an ERA of 4.02.  Gray leads the team in strikeouts with 54, followed by Pope with 42 and Clyde Kendrick (Jr., Vicksburg, Miss. / Holmes Community College) with 37.
 
Shank has the lowest ERA on the team of pitchers who have pitched more then 10 innings, with a 1.46 ERA.  In 10 appearances Shank has thrown 24.2 innings with 17 strikeouts and only four earned runs.
 
Overall Record and Runs
 
Eastern has lost 14 games this season by three runs or less, with eight contests being decided by just one run.  In games the Greyhounds have won, they are beating opponents by an average score of 4.5 runs a game.
 
Greyhounds Defense
 
Eastern's defense is playing superbly well this season, with an average fielding percentage of .955 compared to their opponents .952.  The Greyhounds have 47 errors on the season compared to their opponents 54. 
 
Eastern has 13 players on the team with perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.  Cooper at first base leads the team with 240 catches and 226 put outs while Keenan Dodd (Fr., Albuquerque, N.M. / Hope Christian Academy) at shortstop leads the team in assists with 57, followed by Matthew Burks at second base with 42. 
 
Greyhounds in the Nation
 
In 250.2 innings pitched the Greyhounds have 251 strikeouts, or 9.0 strikeouts per nine innings.  This puts the Greyhounds at No. 16 in the country in strikeouts per nine innings.  Gray is ranked No. 8 in strikeouts per nine innings (13.5).
 
ENMU Standings in the LSC 
The Greyhounds are now one game back from fourth place, trailing Cameron and Tarleton State.  The conference takes the top four teams for the postseason tournament, with the winning team getting an automatic bid to the NCAA Div. II Regionals.