Hounds win series opener from ASU

Staff report

First baseman Blake Cooper capped a two-run rally in the eighth inning with an RBI single, lifting Eastern New Mexico University past 21st-ranked Angelo State 5-4 on Friday night in the opener of a four-game Lone Star Conference baseball series at Greyhound Field.

The teams have a pair of seven-inning games on tap today, starting at 1 p.m., before closing out the series with a noon nine-inning single tilt on Sunday.

ENMU (7-17, 3-10 LSC) got a solid outing from right-hander Mike Peters, who pitched into the eighth inning but was lifted after giving up a pair of runs which put the Rams (19-8, 9-7) in front 4-3.

Left-hander Steve Naemark went seven innings for ASU, but three relievers were unable to hold the lead in the bottom of the eighth.

Dylan Nault led off with a single to center against Matt Shannon, took second on a wild pitch by Dillon Becker and stayed there as Becker (2-1) walked Matthew Burks.

The runners moved up on a wild pitch by Graylon Brown, and Nault scored the tying run on a groundout by Chris Sanders before Cooper hit a 2-1 pitch into right field to drive in Burks.

Dylan Montano (1-1) went the final 1 1/3 innings for the Hounds, working around a two-out error in the ninth to get pinch-hitter Derek Steffek on a fly ball to left field.

Peters threw 118 pitches over 7 2/3 innings, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) with one walk and two strikeouts.

Naemark threw 115 pitches in seven innings, striking out 11, walking two and giving up five hits and three runs. He fell behind 3-2 when ENMU catcher Steven Moore hit a two-out, two-run single to left field in the bottom of the seventh.

Peters escaped a bases-loaded, none-out jam in the first, allowing only one run on a sacrifice fly by Rams first baseman Brett David before inducing catcher Cameron Massingill to hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

ASU added an unearned run in the third, scoring on a single by shortstop Paxton DeLaGarza. ENMU cut the margin in half in the bottom of the inning when Moore walked, took second on Keenan Dodd’s sacrifice and score on Nault’s single to left field.