PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico softball team is set to kick off Lone Star Conference this weekend at home with a three-game series against no. 6 Angelo State.

The Hounds will enter the series with a record of 4-4 and will be coming off of their home opener on Monday afternoon in which they took down New Mexico Highlands by a final score of 28-7. This weekend's series will also serve as J.P. Stone Community Bank Appreciation weekend as the Hounds honor David Stone for his generation contributions to all Greyhounds Athletics.

SCOUTING THE RAMBELLES

Angelo State has continued to win games at an elite level early on in the 2019 season and will enter this weekend's Lone Star Conference opener with a record of 10-1 and a no. 6 national ranking in the NCFA Coaches Poll. The

Rambelles have accumulated 60 and 53 wins the last two seasons, earning berths in the Division II World Series each season. Angelo State was selected as the preseason favorite in the 2019 LSC Preseason Poll, while junior Taegan Kirk was named the league's Preseason Player of the Year. Kirk was named a Third Team All-American by the NCFA last season and will enter this weekend's series with a batting average of .433 for the year. Kirk is one of six batters to sport a batting average of .300 or better this season, including sophomore Mykayla Stroud, who is hitting .500 through 30 at bats this season.

The Rambelles have three pitchers that have all seen action in multiple innings this season including sophomore Meagan Hill, who enters the weekend with an ERA of 2.01 and has struck out 21 batters in 24 innings of work. Angelo State began their season with a tournament in Melbourne, Fla., but returned back to the region last week to host the George and Ole McCorkle Challenge on their home field, where they dominated Adams State and Texas A&M-International throughout the weekend.

REWRITING THE HISTORY BOOKS

Eastern New Mexico returned home from a weather-plagued St. Mary's Softball Classic in San Antonio, Texas on Monday afternoon and put together one of the best offensive performances in the program's history against New Mexico Highlands. The gusty winds that blew upwards of 50 miles per hour at some points forced the scheduled double-header to be cancelled, but Eastern did more than enough damage in the one game, setting the program record for hits with 29 and tying the program record with 28 runs. The 28-7 final stands as the most runs scored in a single game in the LSC this season and saw seven Hounds record multi-hit games. Parker Smith, Jennifer McElroy, Emma Gary and Hanna Gary all reached base in every at bat while Hanna Gary matched the school record with five hits in the game. Eastern also hit their first four home runs of the year and now sports the highest team batting average in the conference at .357.

LET'S TALK STREAKS

Sporting the LSC's top batting average isn't an easy feat to maintain for the entire season, but if the Hounds continue to get runners on base at the rate they are doing so now, the sky is the limit for this offense. Five different Greyhounds have a reached-base streak of more than two games currently, including Samantha Brockman, who has reached base in every game so far this season. What has proven even more valuable for the Hounds is the fact that three of those batters have seen the majority of their time in the bottom half of the lineup, exhibiting that everyone that steps to the plate is a threat to advance for Eastern New Mexico.

MENDOZA IS MONEY

Freshman Iliana Mendoza burst onto the scene this past weekend, going 7-for-11 at the plate, tying for a team high in hits over the last four games. Mendoza also recorded a .692 on base percentage and worked her way into the number two hole in the lineup. The Tucson, Ariz. native currently has a four-game hit streak going into the weekend and will surely find her name near the top of the order at some point throughout the three games against Angelo State. 

THE TWINS ARE STILL ROCKIN AND ROLLIN

Emma and Hanna Gary have been the subject of many preseason and early season discussions amongst not just the Eastern New Mexico coaching staff, but all future foes of the Greyhounds. Each twin has succeeded in every role that they have been tasked with so far, and the word "Gary" can be found all over the statistics leaderboard for the Hounds. Hanna Gary, who saw time primarily in the circle throughout the first weekend of softball stepped into the batters box in two games this weekend and showed that productive hitting is a talent possessed by each of the Gary sisters. Emma Gary has moved into either the fourth or fifth spot in the lineup and is tied for the most RBI's on the team with eight.

Everybody in the conference knew that sophore Jennifer McElroy was going to produce in the heart of the lineup for the Hounds, but throw in both Gary twins, an on-base machine in Brockman and a host of quick contact hitters around them, and this Hound lineup looks to be shaping into a tough test for even the league's best pitchers.