Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
PLAINVIEW, Texas — Catcher B.J. Myers launched a go-ahead, three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth on Monday and Wayland Baptist rallied past Eastern New Mexico University 11-8 in a non-conference baseball game.
The Pioneers (21-25) hit four home runs and pounded out 15 hits in sweeping the two-game season series from ENMU (19-31), which has now lost seven in a row. WBU beat the Greyhounds 10-5 in Portales on March 20.
Senior designated hitter Kelton Hayes belted his fourth home run of the season for the Hounds, who finished with 10 hits off four Pioneers pitchers.
Right-hander Jeff Roemer worked the first five innings for ENMU, allowing three runs on seven hits.
Wayland got a one-out homer from Armando Garza in the first and added a run in the second for a 2-0 lead. Pioneers senior right-hander Darren Davis, a 2003 Clovis High grad, set down the first six ENMU hitters before running into trouble in the third.
Davis hit Seth Clabaugh leading off before catcher Gerald Juarez reached on an error, sending Clabaugh to third. One out later, Tim Crafton and Clayton Young punched consecutive RBI singles to center, then worked a double steal with Crafton scoring on Myers’ overthrow of third for a 3-2 lead.
Davis struck out six in his three innings, but Hayes greeted Gary Gates with an opposite-field leadoff homer to right in the fourth.
The Pioneers got one back in the bottom half, but ENMU scored twice in the fifth and made it 7-3 on an RBI single by Matt Chavez in the sixth. Johnathan Torres then hit a solo homer in Wayland’s two-run sixth and Brett Cook pulled the Pioneers to 7-6 with a two-out homer in the seventh.
The Hounds regained a two-run lead in the eighth on another RBI single by Crafton off Mario Canales Jr. (2-5).
ENMU’s Troy Vaughan (3-3) gave up a triple to Matt Knobe and a walk to Bobby Curtis to start the bottom of the eighth, before Myers whacked his second homer of the season, a shot to left field make it 9-8.
Jonathan Reynoso added a two-run double later in the inning off Keith Balderaz for the final margin.
Canales allowed five hits but only one run over the final two innings. He got Clabaugh on a pop-up to short to end it with runners at second and third.
