Hounds Sweep Double-Header Against Southwestern Okla.
by ENMU Athletics
Portales, N.M. – Senior Derrick Kennedy (3B, San Antonio, Texas/Brackenridge HS) slammed a walk-off home run in the ninth inning of the seven-inning nightcap to give the Eastern New Mexico University baseball team a come-from-behind win and a Lone Star Conference double-header sweep, 13-5 and 9-8, over Southwestern Oklahoma State University on April 5, at Greyhound Field. The victories put the Greyhounds back over .500 with a 19-18 overall record and 12-15 in conference play. The Bulldogs dropped their overall record to 9-26, with a 7-23 LSC record.
ENMU started off game two by giving up five runs in the first and a run in each of the next two innings for a 7-0 deficit. The Hounds quickly got back into the game in the bottom of the third with six runs on five hits. Sean Cruce (So., SS, Clovis, N.M./Clovis HS) delivered Eastern’s first run of the game by driving-in Jereme Johnson (So., RF, Roswell, N.M./NMMI/Roswell HS) with a single through the left side. With the bases-loaded, Tyler Hayes (Sr., 2B, Houston, Texas/Hastings HS) recorded an RBI the painful way, forcing-in a run by getting hit-by-a-pitch. Kennedy got the Hounds to within two runs by blasting an opposite field, bases-clearing, stand-up triple to right for a 7-5 score. Freddy Carmona (Jr., C, San Antonio, Texas/Ranger College/Taft HS) got Eastern to within one run, 7-6, by getting Kennedy across the plate with a single.
Southwestern got one run back in the fifth to go up 8-6 and ENMU scored a run in each of the sixth and seventh innings to catch the Bulldogs at eight and force extra innings. The run in the sixth was Cruce’s second RBI of the game and the tying run in the seventh was a single by Hayes that drove-in Clayton Young (Jr., LF, Canyon, Texas/Canyon HS) who led-off the inning with a triple to left field. Before Kennedy’s heroics in the ninth, Paden Vendrely (So., DH, Deming, N.M./Deming HS) came with-in a couple of feet of a walk-off homer with a blast to the center field wall. Keith Balderaz (Sr., RHP, Monahans, Texas/Monahans HS) came in relief in seventh inning, providing a solid pitching performance for the remainder of the game, giving up only one hit in three innings to record his second win of the season (2-2). Kennedy’s winning hit came with one out as he finished the game with four RBIs, going 2-3 at the plate.
Eastern took command of the opener with a five run first inning and two runs in the second, to give starter Thomas Green (Jr., RHP, El Paso, Texas/Andress HS) a seven run cushion. Young got the Hounds on the board first with a RBI triple to left center to get Jonathon Marbury (Sr., CF, El Paso, Texas/Ranger College/Montwood HS), who led-off the inning with a walk, to score his first of three runs he recorded in the double-header. After Hayes singled-in Young, Seth Clabaugh (Jr., 1B, Portales, N.M./Portales HS) hit a two-RBI single to score Hayes and Carmona. Clabaugh scored a run off a sacrifice bunt by Chris Eaton (Fr., 1B, Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola HS) for a 5-0 lead. The two runs in the second inning came off RBI-singles by Young and Carmona as the Hounds went up 7-0.
The Bulldogs’ Kenny Hare hit a lead-off homerun in the third for a 7-1 score and ENMU got the run back in the fourth on an RBI-single by Kennedy (8-1). Southwestern made it 8-2 with a run in the fifth, but Eastern scored two runs in the bottom of the inning off Marbury’s single to go up 10-2. A solo homer by Chris Morrison in the sixth got the Bulldogs to within seven runs, 10-3. Eastern answered with a three run sixth, beginning with an RBI-single by Carmona, followed by a two-RBI double by Vendrely to close out the scoring for the Hounds with 13 runs.
Southwestern scored twice in the eighth for the final 13-5 score. Green recorded his third victory of the season to even up his record at 3-3, giving up eight hits and three runs in seven innings pitched. Johnson provided relief pitching in the eighth and ninth innings. The win ended a 10-game losing streak ENMU had against SWOSU, dating back to March 20, 2005.
The four-game series, which Eastern now leads 2-1, will conclude on Sunday, April 6 at Greyhound Field. The nine-inning contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. MST.
