PORTALES, N.M. – A shutout and a walk-off secured both games of the doubleheader for Eastern New Mexico Baseball on Friday afternoon against St. Mary's at Greyhound Baseball Field. ENMU took the opening game with a 7-0 shutout, then won the second game on a walk-off single in the 7
th inning. Eastern now stands at 20-24 overall with an 18-24 LSC record. St. Mary's drops to 18-26 on the season, holding a 16-26 conference record.
GAME ONE: ENMU 7, STMU 0
After a scoreless first two innings, ENMU manufactured a run during the 3
rd inning to take the lead.
Cooper Hamilton led off with a single, then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Luciano Terilli punched a ball back up the middle to score Hamilton and give ENMU the lead.
The Greyhounds kept up the scoring in the 4
th inning, bringing home five runs with two outs. With a runner on first,
Tucker Gideon reached on an infield single, then Hamilton loaded the base with a hit-by-pitch.
Landon Pyles followed with a single to right field to push the score to 2-0 ENMU. Terilli scored two more runs with a single to left field, while
Beau Preston brought every runner home with a double to left field, turning the score to 6-0 ENMU.
Eastern navigated two walks in the 5
th inning, then turned a double play in the 6
th inning to get out of the inning.
Daniel Pruitt added an insurance run with a solo home run on the first pitch in the bottom of the 6
th. The Greyhounds defense turned one final double play to ended the game, 7-0, to take the series opener.
NOTABLE STATS
- Eastern tallied nine hits, compared to the three hits for St. Mary's.
- All but two hitters recorded a base hit, with the team providing two extra base hits.
- Terilli finished 3-3 at the dish with three RBIs, while Hamilton scored twice, and Preston supplied two RBIs.
- Gavin Perry fired 5.1 scoreless frame, allowing just three hits with eight strikeouts in the game. Zach Raichel completed the shutout to record the final five outs, inducing a pair of double plays.
- Javier De Alejandro went five frames for the Rattlers, allowing six runs from eight hits in the loss. Cameron Hodges was charged with one run in one inning of work.
GAME TWO: ENMU 9, STMU 8
ENMU opened the game with four runs in the first inning.
Jonathan Baileys tripled to deep center field with the bases loaded to start the scoring, then Pruitt drove Baileys' home with a reach on error. St. Mary's was quick to respond, plating four runs in the second inning to tie the game. However, the Greyhound restored the lead with a run in the bottom of the inning. After
Demetrio Archuleta singled down the left field line and moved to second with two outs,
Willie Ponce second to second base as Archuleta hustled from second to give ENMU a 5-4 lead.
The Greyhounds added to the lead in the third frame, with three hits scoring leading to a pair of runs. With runners on first and second, Hamilton singled up the middle to make the score 6-4. Two batters later, Terilli blooped a single into left to send another runner to the plate. St. Mary's turned the game on its head in the 4
th inning, scoring four runs to take an 8-7 lead. Four consecutive hits tied the game at 7-7, then a groundout pushed the leading run across.
Eastern quickly re-tied the game with a run in the bottom of the 5
th inning. Gideon led-off with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Pyles singled to put runners on the corners, then Terilli scored the tying run with a high ground out to third base. St. Mary's threatened in the 7
th frame, with a leadoff hit-by-pitch advancing to third base with one out. However, a groundout to shortstop and a fielder's choice ended left the runner stranded at 3
rd base. In the bottom of the 7
th, Gideon doubled down the right field line to get the winning run aboard After a walk from Hamilton, Gideon advanced to third base on a wild pitch. Then, Pyles bounced a high chopper to second, which allowed Gideon to cross home plate as the Greyhounds won 9-8 over St. Mary's.
NOTABLE STATS
- ENMU supplied 14 hits in the game, with the Rattlers not far behind with nine. Both teams scored runs in bunches, with two or more runs being scored in four different innings.
- Gideon paced the Greyhounds with four hits and three runs scored, including the game winning run. Archuleta, Ponce, Pyles, and Terilli all finished with two hits, while Baileys led ENMU with three RBIs.
- Ruger Bravo earned the win in four relief innings, allowing three hits, one walk, and one run. Josaiah Estrella started the game, surrendering seven earned runs with three walks and six hits allowed.
- Reliver Andrew Giroud is given the loss, giving up two runs over 2.1 innings with four hits allowed and three strikeouts. Brett Brown began the game, giving up five runs over 1.1 innings. Gabe Cook tossed 2.2 innings with five hits and two unearned runs given up.
FROM THE SOURCE
"A nice way to start the weekend with two wins," said Head ENMU Baseball Coach Riley Price. "(Gavin) Perry gave us another great start and (Zach) Raichel was solid coming in to close the door out of the pen. Proud of our defense all around in game one," said Price. "Offensively, we did our job moving runners and came up big in scoring situations more than once,".
"During game two, we competed well at the plate, but tried giving it away on defense a few times. Really proud of how we kept scrapping and found a way to walk it off in the end with great execution from (Landon) Pyles and (Cooper) Hamilton," said Price. "(Jonathan) Baileys with another clutch hit (Luciano) Terilli setting the tone per usual. (Tucker) Gideon had a solid day at the plate as well," said Price. "Nice team wins today and need to come ready to go to get us number three tomorrow,".
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- The Greyhounds pitching staff combined for a shutout for the first time since 2019, and the first shutout overall since 2021. The scoreless game marks the first shutout against the Rattlers in series history.
- Perry fired a season best eight strikeouts during the game, while Raichel recorded their fourth hitless relief outing of the season. Pruitt supplied their fourth home run of the year.
- During game one, Terilli had their fourth game of the season with three or mor hits in a single game.
- Gideon provided four or more hits for the 5th time this season, while scoring three or more runs for the third time this campaign. Baileys registered his fifth game of the season with an RBI, recording three or more RBIs in four of the five games.
- Pyles walk-off hit is the third victory of the season in walk-off fashion, winning 4-3 against Angleo State on a walk-off wild pitch (2/2), and a walk-off home run in a 13-2 victory over New Mexico Highlands (3/9).
- Eastern continue the series tomorrow at Greyhound Baseball Field, facing the Rattlers at 3 p.m. in a nine-inning game.
