ENMU run-rules Panthers in Atlanta

Staff report

ATLANTA — Junior left-hander Jerrott Gray worked six shutout innings and Eastern New Mexico University got solo homers from Justin Paul and Jacob Cluff on Friday night to blank Clark Atlanta 11-0.

Gray, who threw a seven-inning shutout last Saturday at Oklahoma Panhandle State in the Greyhounds’ season opener, scattered five singles over six innings with two walks and six strikeouts. Kiegan Basso worked the final inning in a game called after seven because of the 10-run rule.

The Hounds (3-1) will stay in Atlanta to face Lane (Tenn.) at 1:30 p.m. (MST) today before taking on Selma (Ala.) on Sunday.

ENMU used a pair of four-run innings to break the game open against the Panthers (1-7), who lost their sixth in a row.

Mike McNicholl’s groundout scored Charles Sandberg Jr. with the game’s first run in the top of the first, and ENMU made it 5-0 with four runs on only two hits in the third.

Paul’s two-out homer, his first, made it 6-0 in the fifth and Cluff led off the sixth with his first home run. ENMU finished it off with another four-spot in the seventh, on only one hit — a three-run double by senior Dylan Nault off reliever Jezreel Moore.

ENMU collected eight hits, with Sandberg and Ward each going 2-for-4.

Freshman right-hander Jordan Johnson (1-1) pitched five innings for the Panthers, allowing six runs — four earned on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts. First baseman Jason Howell went 2-for-3 for Clark Atlanta.