Highlands takes series from Hounds

Staff report

LAS VEGAS, N.M. — After a good start to the series, things got pretty rough for Eastern New Mexico University’s baseball team over the weekend.

The Greyhounds beat New Mexico Highlands 13-4 in Friday’s opener, and scored 30 runs over the final three games of the series. But they lost them all, including a 10-8 decision in Sunday’s wrap-up game.

First baseman Matthew Chavez hit a two-out, two-run homer for the Cowboys (4-3) in the bottom of the eighth, giving NMHU a seemingly-comfortable 10-5 margin. It turned out to be a big blow, though, when the Hounds (3-4) mounted a comeback in the ninth.

Highlands starter Curtis Hynes (2-0) needed 102 pitches to get through six innings, but left with a 6-5 lead when the Cowboys scored twice in the bottom of the sixth. Right fielder Kenneth Fudge added a two-run double in the seventh off ENMU reliever Nick DeArmond (0-1).

Highlands reliever Zach Settles faced the minimum in the seventh and eighth innings, with a leadoff single by Blake Cooper in the eighth erased on a double play. But he quickly ran into trouble in the ninth when he walked Dylan Nault and Chris Sanders to open the frame.

After a strikeout, Keenan Dodd belted an RBI double to left-center. Settles got another strikeout, but gave up a two-run double to Charles Sandberg Jr. to bring the tying run to the plate.

He finally nailed down a three-inning save, though, when he got Cooper on a fly ball to right.

ENMU outhit Highlands 10-8 for the game, but the Cowboys benefited from eight walks and a hit batsman, with four of those runners scoring.

Sandberg led the ENMU attack with three doubles — giving him a Lone Star Conference-leading seven so far this season — in five at-bats, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Dodd finished 2-for-4 and scored twice.

Meantime, Chavez went 3-for-3 with two walks, three runs scored and three RBIs for the Cowboys. He was 10-for-13 for the weekend with two doubles, a triple, a home run, three walks, seven runs scored and eight RBIs.

ENMU is back in action at 5 p.m. Wednesday with a single nine-inning game against University of the Southwest at Greyhound Field.