Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff report
PORTALES — Texas A&M-Kingsville had six players with multiple hits and six with multiple RBIs on Friday night and the Javelinas rode two big innings to a 19-9 Lone Star Conference baseball victory over Eastern New Mexico University at Greyhound Field.
Shorstop Zach Smith led a 16-hit Javelinas attack against five ENMU hurlers, going 4-for-6 with two doubles and three RBIs. First baseman Jimmy Roach hit a go-ahead three-run homer in the Javs’ seven-run fifth, and four other Kingsville players finished with two RBIs apiece.
Kingsville starter Shane Veeder (4-1) struggled through five innings, but did enough to get the win. After the Greyhounds (8-15, 1-8 LSC) closed to 11-9 on first baseman Wesley Jordan’s sixth-inning grand slam, Hunter Lehman worked three scoreless innings for his first save, striking out eight.
Jordan finished 2-for-5 with five RBIs, including a run-scoirng double in the fifth. Right fielder Justin Paul went 3-for-5 with RBI singles in each of the first two innings, staking the Hounds to a 3-1 lead.
The teams will play a 1 p.m. doubleheader today, then close out the series with a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday.
Trailing 3-2 entering the fifth, the Javelinas (14-6, 6-3) got singles from Zach Smith and Ruben Almaguer around a strikeout. Roche hit his second home run of the season on a 2-0 pitch for a 5-3 lead, chasing ENMU starter Nick DeArmond (0-2). The Javelinas added four more unearned runs in the inning off reliever Alec Lemmon after an error by Jordan at first base kept the inning alive.
Right fielder Pablo Hernandez belted a two-run homer in the eighth, his third of the season, and the Javs added six more in the ninth, highlighted by left fielder Miles Holcomb’s two-run triple.
ENMU pitchers issued 12 walks and its defense committed five errors. Meantime, Kingsville pitchers combined to hit five Hounds batters, including leadoff man Chris Padilla twice.
