WT takes series finale in slugfest

CANYON, Texas – Suffice it to say, the wind was blowing out at Wilder Park on Sunday for the finale of a four-game Lone Star Conference baseball series between Eastern New Mexico University and West Texas A&M.

Senior third baseman Adam Becker hit three of West Texas A&M’s six home runs and drove in nine as the Buffaloes outslugged ENMU 22-12 to take the series three games to one.

Half of the 36 hits in the contest went for extra bases, including 10 home runs. Three players posted multi-home run outings.

Freshman left fielder Jonatan Clough homered twice and went 3-for-5 with five RBIs for the Hounds. Senior center fielder Camden Matthews also drove in five runs and hit a two-run homer in the fifth, while sophomore shortstop Willie Ponce added a leadoff home run in the ninth.

WT (12-6, 10-6 LSC), which averages nearly 10 runs a game, sent 16 batters to the plate and belted three home runs in a 12-run sixth which broke open a 10-10 tie. The Greyhounds (7-12, 7-12) went through four pitchers in the inning.

Becker, who had a two-run double in the first and two-run homers in the second and fourth, added a three-run shot in the sixth. Junior catcher Evan Leibl and junior designated hitter Koy Schmidt homered back-to-back later in the frame, the former a two-run blast.

Becker, who finished 5-for-6, is now batting .487 with eight home runs and 31 RBIs for the season. His output was one short of WT’s single-game record for RBIs, set by Kyle Kaufman against Texas-Permian Basin in 2019.

The Hounds came back with a four-run seventh, then tacked on single runs in the eighth and ninth before reliever Tyler Cornett got the final out with two runners on base.

WT led 7-0 through two innings before the Hounds erupted for eight in the third, featuring a three-run home run by Clough, a solo shot by Ponce and a two-run single by Matthews.

Becker’s two-run homer put the Buffs back in front in the fourth before Matthews’ first home run of the season gave the Hounds a 10-9 advantage in the fifth. Leibl then tied it with a leadoff homer in the bottom half.

The teams combined to use nine pitchers, five by ENMU, and deliver 380 pitches. Junior right-hander Reese Miller (2-1) earned the win in relief of starter Mason Caperton despite allowing seven earned runs in four innings.

ENMU steps outside the conference this weekend for single games on Friday and Saturday at New Mexico Highlands.

West Texas A&M 5-1, ENMU 4-5 (Saturday) – After ENMU absorbed a second consecutive one-run loss in the first of two seven-inning tilts, junior left-hander Ruger Bravo (2-3) tossed a complete-game four-hitter in the nightcap and the Hounds pulled away with three two-out runs in the top of the seventh.

ENMU snapped a 19-game losing streak against WT dating to a 9-2 victory at Canyon in March 2015.

Neither team had a hit until the bottom of the third. The Buffs took a 1-0 lead an inning later, but ENMU retaliated in the fifth when Ponce broke up WT starter Douglas Rojas’ no-hit bid with a leadoff single and rode home on junior catcher Rutger Poiry’s first homer of the campaign, a two-out, two-run shot to left.

In the seventh, the Hounds tacked on insurance when senior Braeton Matthews scored on a wild pitch and sophomore designated hitter added a two-run single to center off Buffs reliever Tyler Cornett.

Each team had only four hits, and no one had more than one in a game played in an hour and 40 minutes. Rojas (0-2) worked 6 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and striking out eight.

ENMU was on track to win the opener, but the Buffs erased a 4-2 deficit with three runs off sophomore right-hander Adrian Rubio (1-3) in the bottom of the sixth, capped by a two-run single to center from shortstop Seth Ochoa. Cornett then worked a perfect seventh for his fourth save.

Ponce hit a two-run single to center in the second to give ENMU a 3-1 lead, then added an RBI single in the sixth. Becker had a run-scoring double and an RBI single for WT.