LUBBOCK, TEXAS – Despite the comeback effort, Eastern New Mexico baseball fell in a heartbreaker against #23 Lubbock Christian University on Sunday afternoon at Hays Field. LCU take the series 3-1 over the Hounds. Eastern shift to 15-21 on the season along with a 14-20 conference record. LCU move to 27-11 on the season, with a 25-11 conference record.
 
Both teams scored early in this game as the bats were flying. Eastern started with four hits in the first five batters to take a 3-0 lead. Camden Matthews doubled and Cooper Hamilton brought him home on an RBI single. Nick Schifftner followed and demolished a ball over the left field fence as the Hounds led after the first half inning. However, the Chaps posted four runs in the first inning to take the lead back from the Greyhounds, 4-3. LCU used a three-run homer and an RBI single to take the lead.
 
Eastern took back its lead in the fourth inning after one run in the third inning and fourth inning. The run in the third inning came about after a sacrifice fly from Sammy Williamson allowingSchifftner to score from third. Eastern took back the lead in the fifth after consecutive singles in from Braeton Matthews and C. Matthews put runners on base. Hamilton followed with a two-out single to score B. Matthews for a 5-4 advantage.
 
Each team picked up runs in the sixth inning to change the tide of the contest. ENMU grabbed two runs in the inning. First, Andres Quintana scored on an RBI single from C. Matthews, and Jorge Colon took off for home on a wild pitch for a 7-4 lead. Lubbock Christian roared back in the bottom frame, picking up eight runs in the bottom of the inning to regain its lead at 11-7. Additionally, LCU added a run in the seventh inning, as Eastern trailed 12-7 with just six out to work with.
 
The Hounds began the inning with three straight walks, and Roach took advantage with a 2 RBI single through the right side. After Williamson singled to reload the bases, Quintana punched a ball up the middle to score two runs and put the game at 12-11 LCU. Despite the tying run on second with one out, LCU turned an inning ending double-play to keep the score at 12-11.
 
After a scoreless bottom of the 8^th, Eastern needed one run in the ninth to stay alive. With C. Matthews on first after a fielder's choice, Dax Edmonds lined a double into the right center gap pushing C. Matthews home for a tie ball game at 12-12. Eastern had a chance to add more with runners on the corners, but a strikeout and fly out ended the game heading to the bottom of the ninth.
 
LCU ended the game in the ninth with a walk-off homerun to ended the game on top 13-12 over Eastern.

NOTABLE STATS

• The Hounds posted 16 hits, compared to the 17 hits from the Chaps. Each batter in the lineup reached base and eight of the nine Greyhounds had hits.
• C. Matthews and Roach each provided four hits in the game, with Hamilton and Schifftner posting two hits in the game.
• Seven different batters picked up RBIs in the game. Hamilton, Schifftner, Roach, and Quintana accounted for two RBIs each
• Dalton Thatcher gets the no decision in 5.1 innings of work, giving up six runs with two strikeouts. Tommy Perez and William McBride each threw 0.1 innings, with Perez allowing five runs (four earned). Javier Luna takes the loss in two innings of action with two runs conceded.
• Cannon Davis gets the win for LCU in relief going 2.0 innings with three runs allowed from four hits and two walks.

FROM THE SOURCE

"Really proud of how we fought all game and always tough to lose those kinds of games, especially late like that," said Head Baseball Coach Riley Price. "You never like to blame a loss on bad calls, but we got our fair share of those today. Missed out on a few big scoring/execution opportunities offensively and made a few errors on defense that ended up hurting us pretty big in the end," said Price. "They live off the long ball and big innings and just hope to minimize enough to keep yourself in it which we have to continue to get better at. Offensively, we made some huge strides this weekend up and down the lineup and I'm excited to carry that into our next series," said Price.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE

• Holds the all-time series against the Hounds 39-11, with the narrow loss being the closest defeat for the Greyhounds since 2015 against the Chaps.
• Roach registered a career best four hits in a game, while C. Matthews posted his second four hit game of the season.
• Schifftner launched is second homerun of the season, only trailing Roach among ENMU hitters.
• The Greyhound return to Portales for a four-game series with nationally ranked #7 Angelo State. The series begins on Thursday, Apr. 14 with a single game starting at 6 p.m.