PORTALES, N.M. – With high winds blowing out to left field, Eastern New Mexico Baseball (26-16, 24-16 LSC) dropped the series finale against Lubbock Christian (25-17, 24-16), 18-8 (8 Inn.) on Sunday afternoon at Greyhound Baseball Field. Both teams take a 2-2 split of the series, with the Greyhounds winning games one and three by one run, while Lubbock Christian took games two and four by a wide margin.
Lubbock Christian out-hit the Greyhounds 13-9, with 10 of the Chaps hits going for extra bases, while ENMU had five extra base hits.
Daniel Pruitt,
Beau Preston, and
Adrien Martin all hit solo home runs, while
Luciano Terilli and
Demetrio Archuleta each finished with three walks.
Willie Ponce finished with a pair of hits, joining Preston in a multi-hit afternoon.
Roman Connolly got the start on the mound, taking the loss allowing 10 runs on eight hits and three walks over 3.2 innings.
Logan Kinter gave up four runs over 2.0 innings, while
Marc Rios allowed three runs on one hit and three walks over 1.1 inning.
Jadon Rendon and
Klevert Martina combined to pitch the final three outs.
Eastern took an early lead with two runs in the first inning. After two walks from Archuleta and Terilli,
Anthony Cortese doubled into center field to score two runs for the Hounds. The tide quickly turned to LCU's favor, scoring four runs in the top of the 2
nd. ENMU replied with a solo home run from Pruitt, but LCU hit a solo home run in the 3
rd, then scored five runs in the top of the 4
th to take a 10-3 lead.
An RBI single from Terilli cut the score to 10-4, then a solo home run from
Beau Preston in the 5
th moved the score to 10-5. However, Lubbock Christian homered three times in the 6
th inning to take a 14-5 lead. Eastern scratched across two runs on a pair of wild pitches in the bottom of the inning, but LCU added four more runs in the 8
th to take the score to 18-7. Martin homered with one out in the bottom for the frame, but the game ended via run-rule, 18-8 (8 Inn.) for LCU.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
- Eastern earned their first ever split against the Chaps in program history. The teams had played each other in conference series for the last four seasons.
- With three walks during the game, Terilli tied an ENMU single season record for walks with 40. Terilli is second in the LSC trailing Oklahoma Christian's Hunter Jones with 41 walks.
- Martin's home run in the 8th inning marked the 49th home run of the year for the Greyhounds, tying a team single-season home run.
- Eastern New Mexico hit the road for its next LSC series, traveling to Angelo State for a four-game series beginning on Thursday, April 17.
