PORTALES, N.M. – Long ball and strong relief pitching secured a 6-4 victory for Eastern New Mexico Baseball against Oklahoma Christian on Sunday afternoon at Greyhound Baseball Field. The Greyhounds pick up a sweep over the Eagles, beating the Eagles in four straight games for the first time in program history. With the win, ENMU moves to 21-20 on the season while holding a 19-20 Lone Star Conference record. Oklahoma Christian fall to 12-30 overall, posting a 12-28 LSC record.
After the Hounds worked around a pair of walks in the first inning, the offense started early to put the Greyhounds ahead.
Camden Matthews started the game reaching on an error, then
Cooper Hamilton put runners on the corners after a single to right field.
Demetrio Archuleta bunted to push a run home, with the ball rolling down the first base line and staying fair while reaching first base, 1-0 ENMU. Next up,
Jonatan Clough came to the plate and crushed the first pitch he saw over the fence, increasing the Hounds lead to 4-0.
The Eagles were able to fight their way back after showing patience at the plate. Four walks and a hit by pitch in the second inning forced two runs to the plate, cutting the ENMU lead in half, 4-2. Oklahoma Christian went on to tie the game in the fifth inning. A pair of walks and an error loaded the bases with one out, with a single to center field tying the ball game, 4-4. OC hoped for more runs, but a double play ended the inning for the Hounds defense.
Entering the bottom of the fifth inning, ENMU looked to regain the lead from the Eagles, which is exactly what happened. Archuleta singled with two outs, to get a base runner on board. Then, Clough worked a full count on the Eagles pitcher and took the payoff pitch over the left field fence to restore the Hounds lead, 6-4.
From there, both teams played superb defense with the Greyhounds pitching staff working around a handful of walks and allowing just two hits. The Eagles did get the tying run on base with one out, but relief pitcher
Anthony Gonzalez recorded a huge strikeout and a flyout to end the game with the Greyhounds winning by a final score of 6-4.
NOTABLE STATS
- The Hounds put 10 hits on the board during the game, with Oklahoma Christian adding three hits.
- Six Greyhounds recorded a base hit, while three ENMU hitters had multiple hits.
- Archuleta scattered three singles, Clough hit a pair of home runs, and Duren finished with a double and a single.
- Clough was responsible for five RBIs in the game, while Archuleta had the other RBI. Both Archuleta and Clough led the team with two runs scored.
- Gonzalez tossed his best outing of the season, throwing 4.2 shutout relief innings, surrendering two hits, and finishing with a pair of strikeouts. Damian Acosta started the contest and allowed just one hit over 4.1 innings but was responsible for four runs (three earned).
- For the Eagles, Naut Kragt threw 6.2 innings allowing six runs with seven strikeouts. Andrew Alonzo gave up one hit in 1.1 innings of work.
FROM THE SOURCE
"It was an eventful weekend to say the least and I'm proud of our guys for fighting hard for the sweep today in game four," said Head Baseball Coach Riley Price. "We allowed a lot of free bases but made some solid defensive plays to keep them from cashing in on runs. We have to limit the strikeouts at the plate, but we had some clutch hitting that gave us the lead and we kept the lead," said Price. "Both Acosta and Gonzalez had good stuff on the mound today when it was over the plate, and both worked out of self-inflicted jams enough to win us the game. If we can limit the free bases on defense and continue to have clutch hitting, we are set up to win some more games next weekend," said Price. "We showed a lot of fight and toughness this weekend and need to take this winning trend on the road to San Antonio. It was a solid weekend for Greyhound Baseball and a huge thanks to all who came out and supported us!", said Price.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Greyhound captured a series win against the Eagles for the first time in program series and is the first sweep against the Eagles.
- This is the Greyhound's first LSC sweep in the Riley Price era, and the first since 2017 when the Hounds took four straight games from UT Permian Basin (3/17-3/19/17).
- After hitting his first homerun of the day, Clough broke the ENMU single season home run record, breaking the mark set by Steve Marquez (12) in 1995 and 1996.
- This is the second game of the season where Clough has hit multiple home runs, the first coming against West Texas A&M (3/5).
- With five RBIs in today's game, Clough has now produced four or more RBIs in six games this season.
- Archuleta continued to impress at the dish, recording his sixth game with three hits. The Hounds second basemen now has 18 multi-hit games this season, 2nd most on the team.
- On the hill, Gonzalez had his best outing as a Greyhound with a season long 4.2 IP, while matching a season high two strikeouts.
- ENMU will now turn their attention to next weekend, when they head to San Antonio, Texas for a four-game slate with St. Mary's University.
