PORTALES, N.M. – Eastern New Mexico baseball dropped to 2-8 on the season with a 9-5 loss to West Texas A&M on Sunday afternoon.

"It's always tough to win games when you outhit a good opponent," said head coach Riley Price after the loss. "We have to strike earlier and take advantage of scoring opportunities. When everything starts clicking, we're going to see it start to turn around."

Charlie Pierson got the nod on the mound for Eastern. Prior to today, the junior right hander had not posted an outing longer than five innings. The Australia native went six innings and gave up six hits and four runs. Only two of those runs were earned.

The only inning where Pierson struggled against the Buffs was the fifth frame. He began the sequence with seven-straight balls thrown. After a few strikes in the second at-bat, he ended up walking the batter and WT had two runners on with nobody out. Then, he allowed a runner on-base after a throwing error and WT got their first run of the game on the play. He allowed three more singles throughout the remainder of the inning and West Texas A&M closed out the fifth ahead 4-2 in the contest.

The aforementioned ENMU runs were scored in the second and fourth innings of action. The first run came on a RBI single from Grant Gilooly as he helped Jake Willerup touch home plate. The fourth inning saw Jackson Meng ground out, but not before Gabriel Watson was able to earn the Hounds second run.

WT kept the pedal to the metal by scoring four more runs in the seventh inning. The Buffs earned two walks, double, and home run while facing Eastern's Nick Mooney.

The Buffs added another insurance run in the eighth off Demitrius DiMatteo who allowed an RBI-single with two outs. DiMatteo appeared in a game for just the second time this season. The Las Cruces, N.M. native allowed three hits and a walk over two innings of action.

ENMU tried to make a late push as they scored one run in the eighth and added two in the ninth. The comeback effort was unsuccessful and the visitors came away with the 3-1 overall series win.

Eastern outhit the Buffs, 12-11. Eiji Sawamura went 4-for-5. The Hounds also had two hits each from Gabriel Watson, Grant Gilooly, and Isaiah Figueroa.

The Greyhounds struggled with moving runners around bases as they left 11 total on-base compared to just seven for WT. The Buffs stayed strong with Shea Lake pitching the final five innings of the game. He only allowed three runs despite giving up nine total hits.