PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico Baseball didn't catch St. Mary's, as the visiting team pulled a 7-5 win over the Greyhounds on Saturday afternoon at Greyhound Baseball Field. With the loss, Eastern shifts to 20-25 overall with an 18-25 LSC record. Meanwhile, St.MU advance to 19-26 on the season with a 17-26 conference standing.
After two scoreless frame, both teams scored runs in the 3
rd inning as St. Mary's took a 2-1 lead. A triple and a double combined to score the opening run, while a two out single brought in the Rattlers second run. ENMU grabbed their run with a ball leaving the infield.
Landon Pyles reached on an error to begin the inning, then moved to second on a groundout. After swiping third,
Beau Preston brought in Pyles with a groundout.
The scoring stopped until the 7
th frame, with each team adding two runs. ENMU brought both their runs with two outs, with
Tucker Gideon getting on base with a double.
Cooper Hamilton followed with a triple, then Pyles brought both runners home with a triple. The scoring continued with one run in the 8
th inning for each team. A sacrifice fly put the score 5-3 STMU, then
Willie Ponce singled home a run after a Preston triple led off the inning.
St. Mary's continued their scoring in the 9
th inning, plating a pair of runs. Eastern made one last attempt to comeback, with Hamilton hitting a single and Pyles reaching on a walk. A ground out moved the runners into scoring position, and Preston made the score 7-5. However, the Rattlers induced a flyout to end the game 7-5 victors.
NOTABLE STATS
- Both teams finished with 11 hits in the game, while St. Mary's committed the games only error during the 3rd inning. St. Mary's had four extra base hits, while Eastern provided three extra base hits.
- Five different Greyhounds recorded multiple hits, with Preston leading the way with three hits. Both Preston and Pyles each had two RBIs, while Hamilton led the way with two runs scored.
- Julian Lopez had a great outing on the mound, allowing just two runs over six innings with six hits allowed, taking the loss. Maddux Edmonson gave up a pair of runs facing four batters, while Luciano Terilli gave up four runs over 2.2 innings.
- Kaleb Gauna was effective for the Rattlers, giving up three runs over seven innings. Carlos Flores Jr earned the save, recording the final out of the game with the tying run on first. Karlo Kalifa (1.0 IP) and Cameron Hodges (0.2 IP) both allowed one run in relief.
FROM THE SOURCE
"(Julian) Lopez had a great start on the mound for us today and it's unfortunate we couldn't come out on top for him," said Head ENMU Baseball Coach Riley Price. "Offensively, we did not execute early on the made some costly mistakes. Defensively, we didn't make a few plays that we usually make, which hurt us after we gave them free passes by walks and an untimely balk out of the bullpen," said Price. "I was hoping we would get to their starter much earlier, but we played into what he was trying to get us to do. Opportunity to go win the series tomorrow, so I'm hoping we can show up a little more focused tomorrow," said Price.
BEYOND THE BOX SCORE
- Lopez tossed a season long 6.0 innings, while giving up just one walk (season low).
- Preston recorded their second triple of the season, their first since opening day against Angelo State (2/2). Pyles grabbed 3rd three-bagger of the campaign.
- The Greyhounds play their final home game of the season tomorrow, beginning at 1 p.m. ENMU will honor its seven senior athletes prior to the game.
