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Eastern baseball team pulls off Saturday sweep

DALLAS — Down by a bunch heading into the middle innings, Eastern New Mexico’s baseball team rallied for a 10-7 victory over Mid-America Christian on Saturday in the Dallas Christian College Tournament at Crusader Field.

The Greyhounds trailed 6-2 heading into the fourth inning, and 6-3 at the start of the fifth before battling back to tie in that inning.

Eastern’s Reynaldo Guillen led off the top of the fifth by getting hit by a pitch, and he moved to second on a wild pitch by MAC’s Bernardo Moreno. Guillen took third on an Alex DeLaCruz single and scored on Endy Villalona’s suicide squeeze.

After a Garlind Webster popout, DeLaCruz — who had took second on Villalona’s bunt — scored on a single by Julian Heredia, brining Eastern within a run, 6-5. And Heredia himself came around to score the tying run on an outfield error by MAC.

ENMU took its first lead in the next inning. Andrew Stubbs drew a leadoff walk and an out later, Paul Tapia laced a first-pitch, pinch-hit double to deep left-center, driving Stubbs in with the go-ahead run. Tapia took third on an infield throwing error and scored on a wild pitch by MAC’s Seth Keith, giving Eastern an 8-6 advantage.

The Hounds tacked on two more runs in the top of the seventh, with Jared Butler scoring on a wild pitch and Andew Stubbs tripling home Chris Padilla.

Jonathan Joy (1-0) picked up the win, after relieving starter Eliezer Estrella in the second inning. Joy pitched five solid innings, allowing just three hits and whiffing four in that span.

Enrique Perez was perfect working the bottom of the seventh and picked up his first save of the new season.

Earlier in the day, ENMU beat Dallas Christian 13-4.

The Hounds (3-1) make their home debut on Tuesday against Oklahoma Panhandle State, with the first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.