Kingsville posts sweep over Hounds

KINGSVILLE, Texas — Texas A&M pitching continued to dominate Eastern New Mexico University on Saturday, and as a result the Javelinas are on the verge of a four-game Lone Star Conference series sweep.

ENMU led 3-0 in the opener and scored first in the second contest, but got nothing else as the Javs posted 7-3 and 4-1 victories over the Greyhounds.

After getting only one hit — a double by Mitch Wolfe — off Kingsville's Jaden Dillon in Friday's 11-0 loss, the struggling Hounds (12-29, 2-20 LSC) managed 13 hits — all singles — in Saturday's twin bill in absorbing their 21st and 22nd losses in the last 25 games.

ENMU, though, mounted a bases-loaded, one-out threat in the top of the seventh in Game 2 against Kingsville closer Cameron Dullnig when Brandon Devries and Sam Hedrick singled and Jordan Vina drew a walk. But Dullnig struck out Luis Quinones and pinch-hitter Joe Huwer to nail down his LSC-leading ninth save of the season.

The teams finish the series with a noon (MDT) single game today.

Adam Aspaas (7-2) survived a rocky first two innings to toss a complete-game six-hitter in the opener. He allowed just one hit over the final five frames after the Hounds jumped in front on Wolfe's two-out RBI single in the first and a two-out, two-run single up the middle by Hedrick in the second.

Second baseman Ben Villafuerte went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs for the Javs (26-12, 15-8), including a three-run double to cap a four-run sixth.

Senior right-hander Brett Humphries (3-3) was nursing a 3-1 lead until the Javs (26-12, 15-8) tied it in the fifth on a leadoff double by James Wallace, a run-scoring single by Julian Duran and an RBI single by Villafuerte.

Humphries was pulled after hitting Dullnig to lead off the sixth. Dullnig took second on a sacrifice and scored the go-ahead run on James Black's single to left before Villafuerte's bases-loaded double with two out broke it open.

In Game 2, after wasting singles by Wolfe and catcher Peter Creamer to start the second, the Hounds scored in the third when Luis Quinones walked and came around on three of starter Dallas Ponder's four wild pitches.

Kingsville tied it in the bottom half on Trent Wagner's two-out RBI single, then scratched out two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth.

Ponder (3-1) made it through six innings, giving up five hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. Senior right-hander Andrew Martin (2-6) went the distance for ENMU, allowing nine hits with one walk and four strikeouts.

Catcher Cash Barker had three hits for Kingsville. Dullnig, who started the game at third base, had the only extra-base hit of the contest with a fifth-inning RBI double.