PORTALES, N.M. – Both teams had several crooked innings in the series opener between the St. Mary's and Eastern New Mexico baseball teams on Friday evening as they combined for 21 runs on 20 hits with 20 walks and six errors, with the Greyhounds edging the Rattlers, 12-9 on the scoreboard.
The Rattlers (11-20, 9-20 Lone Star Conference) kicked things off with three runs in the top of the first, but the Greyhounds (12-17, 11-16 Lone Star) answered with five in their half, as well as five in the second to stretch the lead to 10-3. ENMU tacked on one in the fourth. StMU scored six runs on four hits with an error and five walks in the eighth to close within two, 11-9. The Greyhounds pushed across an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth for the three-run cushion, 12-9.
Junior
Brandon Broughton (Corpus Christi, Texas) and sophomore
Jacob Elizondo (San Antonio) were both 3-for-4 at the plate. Broughton tallied three RBIs as all nine spots in the order reached base at least once during the evening.
Senior
Connor Schmidt (Devine, Texas) fell to 0-4 on the season after walking seven and giving up eight runs in 1.1 innings of work. Junior
Caden Floyd (Corpus Christi) had one of the best outings of his career, working 5.2 frames where he allowed only one earned run on five hits with four walks and four strikeouts. Sophomore
Brett Brown (Sinton, Texas) threw the final inning and allowed an unearned run on two walks and a strikeout.
The Rattlers are now 9-4 on the season when recording more hits than the opponent after tallying 12 hits compared with nine for the Greyhounds.
The two teams return to the diamond on Saturday for a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. Central/2 p.m. Mountain.
