PORTALES, N.M. – The wind was howling at Greyhound Softball Field Wednesday afternoon providing difficult conditions for both teams. Eastern New Mexico pulled off an impressive 15-2 victory in five innings over in-state foe Western New Mexico to win the series over the visitors.

"I feel like we did a lot of good things and we kept the energy high," said Alondra Vasquez after the run-rule victory. "We got to continue pushing forward and do our best every time that we can."

WNMU scored the first run of the game off of a fielding error, but the early advantage did not last long.

A three-run homer by Ashley Nickerson gave the Hounds the lead for the rest of the game.

Vasquez had a pair of RBI-singles to help the Greyhounds improve to 12-6 (4-2 LSC). Between the two hits in the third for the junior from the Dominican Republic, the Greyhounds had several key at-bats.

An eight-run third inning was set up by a Vasquez RBI-single, Jennifer Gress RBI-double, Katelyn Cifuentes walk with the bases loaded, Emma Southerland sacrifice fly, Kianna Galindo RBI-single, Azalea Martinez two-RBI double, and the second RBI-single from Vasquez in the half inning.

The Greyhounds kept the offensive flurry going with four runs in the fourth inning.

In the frame, Valeria Contreras had an RBI ground-rule double and Katelyn Cifuentes followed that with a two-RBI ground-rule double of her own. The inning's fourth run came from an RBI-single from Martinez. ENMU went into the top of the fifth leading, 15-2.

Needing just three outs before allowing six runs, Eastern New Mexico only gave up a single run on a fielder's choice. Emma Southerland finished the impressive outing with her seventh strikeout of the day.

Southerland went all five innings giving up just six hits and two runs on 89 pitches.

"I think we did really well. We hit really well," said Emma Southerland after the game. "We performed really well with the wind defensively and we really came out and did a good job. I am really proud of us."

Nine different Hounds combined for 13 hits for the Hounds. Three players had multiple hits – Azalea Martinez (3), Alondra Vasquez (2), and Ashley Nickerson (2).

Martinez finished a homerun shy of the cycle on the day.

Eastern New Mexico will head to Austin, Texas for a three-game series against St. Edward's. The two programs will play a doubleheader on Saturday and complete the week's action with game number three set for Sunday. Last year, the Hilltoppers and Greyhounds split the season series in Austin.