Eastern New Mexico Baseball | 03.06.16 | David Norton | Photo By Claude Vigil
PORTALES, N.M. — Despite a solid outing from starting pitcher Daniel Ward, the Eastern New Mexico baseball team couldn't hold off Angelo State Sunday, dropping their final game of a four game series 11-0.
Ward fanned nine batters in his start, striking out almost half the batters he faced. The only runs the big righty gave up for the Greyhounds (7-11, 0-4 LSC) were two runs to start the game, where he found himself in some trouble after walking several batters.
Assistant coach Brett Merritt said, "Daniel really went out there and gave us a quality start, struggled a little bit early but made an adjustment and started throwing a lot of strike and gave us six innings, all of which we were right there in the ball game. So he did a real nice job."
The Rams (11-6, 4-0 LSC) finished the game with only five hits, but were productive from the plate with runners in scoring position. With Eastern looking at a 4-0 deficit heading into the seventh inning, the game was put out of reach when the Rams hit an in the park home run with the bases loaded, doubling up their run total.
ENMU managed only two hits offensively, with Jacob Cluff and Chris Padillia each reaching base. The Greyhounds only recorded four runners on base throughout the contest, compared to the Rams 16 base runners.
"Once again we keep learning a lot about our team," said Merritt on looking ahead to their next series. "I think there is something to build on there with Ward's start — he could be one of our guys moving forward. Amos threw well out of the bullpen and some of our other young guys did well too. So we just have to work on our fundamentals this week, keep getting better, and go out and compete next weekend."
The team will now head to Stephenville, Texas, where they will take on Tarleton in a four game series. The first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. (MT) Friday, March 11.
