Eastern New Mexico Baseball | 04.16.2016 | David Norton | Photo By Claude Vigil
PORTALES, N.M. — For the second straight day, the Eastern New Mexico baseball team missed a near comeback win over Tarleton State, dropping both games of the Saturday doubleheader 12-3 and 8-7.
With the weekend sweep of the series the Texans moved to 18-21 and 12-14 in the Lone Star Conference. Unfortunately for the Greyhounds, who are now 10-30 and 3-23 in conference, they have statistically been eliminated from making the LSC postseason.
Greyhound head coach David Gomez said of the weekend effort, "We're very proud of our guys, had a bunch of people playing different positions out there that they are not so used to. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be."
ENMU did indeed have many players seeing some serious action on the field for the first time. Jared Gay, Marcus Martinez, Andrew Stubbs, Chris Padilla and Hunter Sundre all saw a lot of action on the weekend.
The first contest of the day saw the Texans jump out to a commanding lead early, scoring seven runs in the second inning followed by four more in the top of the third. While Enrique Perez would come in and throw four shutout innings in relief, allowing only two batters to reach base at all, the 12 runs scored by Tarleton would be enough as the Hounds would lose 12-3.
Tregra Williams went 1-for-2 from the plate, leading the team with two RBIs off a two run homer. Only three other Greyhounds recorded hits.
"I've been watching Tre [Williams] since he was a junior in High school and we finally got a break and a chance to get him," said Gomez. "He's drawn some interest of some pro scouts, but right now he is also a little banged up, so we weren't sure how it was going to go. He still goes out there and competed despite that, ended up doing really well for us."
In game two, the Hounds managed to keep the score close throughout the affair, never falling behind by more than two scores. There would only be two lead changes, but the Hounds would tie the game twice as well.
Taking an early 2-0 lead, the Texans would give up a run in the bottom of the third inning, followed by one run of their own in the fifth, until ENMU finally took the lead in the bottom of the inning, scoring three more runs. Heading into the ninth tied, both teams would score on run and force extra innings.
After a scoreless tenth, the next inning saw Tarleton score two runs and take an 8-6 lead. Much in the same fashion as Friday's closing inning, the Greyhounds would have the go ahead run on base. Jacob Cluff then hit a ball that had all of the ENMU fans holding their breath as it flew towards the left field fence. But alas, the ball just barely stayed in play, allowing the Tarleton center field to make a great catch at the top of the fence to end the game.
Williams, who also had two RBIs and a game-high three hits in the second contest helped Eastern in their comeback attempt in a major way, not only driving in run but scoring himself despite dealing with an injury.
In game two, five Greyhound players had two or more hits. Led by Williams, Padilla, Martinez, Cluff and Mike McNicholl all recorded two hits. Stubbs led the team with three RBIs on a late extra-base hit. McNicholl is now second on the team with nine multiple hit games on the season, while Williams follows with eight.
"To have a lot of freshman and a bunch of sophomores on the field, they really battled. Even the other team said to me that they've never seen such hard workers. We have a young group and they are really starting to come along," said Gomez about the second contest.
Along with the offense, the pitching staff kept up their end of things, despite eight runs by the Texans. Keenan Dodd was named the game two starter and threw five full innings, allowing only three earned runs. In relief, J'Daylin Jackson came in to pitch 5.2 innings, leading the Hounds deep into extra innings. He finished allowing only four earned runs and fanning four batters.
"Jackson has been a little bit banged up, but today he said he felt well so we said, 'okay, let's do this," said Gomez. "I think he pitched well enough to win the game, but we really need to clean things up behind him and I think we will be ok."
ENMU baseball will hit the road for the next two weeks, taking on Lubbock Christian, Texas A&M-Kingsville and West Texas A&M before returning home for the season finale against Cameron University. The first game is scheduled for Friday, May 6, at 6 p.m. The following day will also be senior day, so make sure to come out to Greyhound Field and support the Hounds.
