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Greyhounds pull Saturday sweep

PORTALES — The Eastern New Mexico University baseball team swept Tarleton State in Saturday's doubleheader at Greyhound Field after dropping Friday's single game, 9-2.

ENMU won the first game Saturday, 6-1, and held on to claim a 7-6 win in the third game of the series. With the victories, the Greyhounds improved to 26-11 on the season and 4-5 in Lone Star Conference play.

In Friday's game, Eastern fell behind 4-0 early and could never manage to get back in the contest. In total, the ENMU pitching staff gave up nine walks, something that made a comeback a near impossibility.

Early in the game, starting pitcher Scott Klein, who picked up the loss, struggled with his command, leading to four Texans runs over the first two innings. The right-hander finished with five hits and four runs while walking six and striking out five over four innings of work.

"Their guy was tough last night and pitched well," said Eastern coach David Gomez. "Klein struggled early and it kind of put us in a hole which changed our at-bats moving forward."

In the bottom of the fourth, ENMU cut the Tarleton lead in half to move the score to 4-2. Zach Shank rifled a single into the right-center field with the bases loaded to score a pair, but a strikeout of the next batter would end the inning and Eastern's scoring for the rest of the match up.

In the first game Saturday, Garlind Webster and Mike McNicholl provided the offensive spark for the Greyhounds with the hitters going a combined 3-for-6 with two home runs and four RBIs. Starting pitcher Austin Paisar tossed a complete game, allowing only four hits and giving up five walks for just one run while striking out seven.

"Austin did a great job," said Gomez. "He had a good time beating West Texas a few weeks ago, but with a full week of rest this week he looked really solid."

After the Texans cut into the early Greyhound 2-0 lead on a solo homer from Jake Hasbrouck in the top of the fourth, the Greyhounds got the run back on McNicholl's leadoff blast to left, moving the score to 3-1.

In the fifth, ENMU extended the lead with a two-out rally. Webster hit a three-run dagger to left to increase the lead to 6-2.

In game two's action, DeLaCruz, Villalobos and McNicholl all logged multi-hit performances with Webster and McNicholl combining for four RBIs. Keenan Dodd, the LSC's reigning pitcher of the week, earned his sixth win of the season to improve to 6-1 while Dwight Velarde turned in a a strong performance, earning his team-leading third save of the year.

After Tarleton took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, Eastern scored four straight on the Texans to claim a commanding lead. ENMU would further extend the lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run single from Webster before both pitching staffs settled in for the time being.

In the fifth and sixth, the Texans would string together five runs, capped by Francisco Rodriguez's three-run home run in the sixth after Webster blasted a high one to left in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Greyhounds lead to one, 7-6.

With the game hanging in the balance, Velarde came up clutch in the top of the seventh. With one out, Velarde plunked Jose Reyes to put the tying run aboard. After a stolen base and a groundout to the right-side, Austin Call stepped into the box with the game-tying run 90-feet from the dish. Ahead in the count, 1-2, Velarde blew a fastball by Call to ice the game and secure the win for the Greyhounds.

"Anytime you get a win in the Lone Star Conference you take it — it's like breathing fresh air," Gomez said. "If we can split with these guys, (it's great because) they are a really good team. If we win the series, even better,"

The Greyhounds return to the diamond Sunday for the series finale against Tarleton State. First pitch is tabbed for 1 p.m.

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