PORTALES, N.M. — Four errors proved costly for the No. 18 St. Mary's University Baseball team in a 9-5 opening loss at Eastern New Mexico on Thursday evening.
Dillon Lopez (San Antonio), the reigning Lone Star Conference and NCBWA South Central Region Hitter of the Week, wasted no time in extending his on-base streak to 33 games, clearing the left field fence in the top of the first inning for the early lead.
The Rattlers (25-10) tacked on two more runs in the second inning for a 3-0 advantage. Senior
Jacob King (San Antonio) walked to lead off, he stole second and went to third on a single to centerfield by
Jacob Tanguma (Houston). Junior
Ethan Hughes reached on a fielding error, and two runs scored on the play.
The Greyhounds (14-21) got one run back in the bottom of the second, and exploded for seven runs in the fourth frame, getting four hits and the help of one error and five walks.
StMU answered with one in the fifth, and then each school added a run in their final half inning for the 9-5 final. Freshman
Blake Allen (Bulverde, Texas) and Hughes started each inning with a triple, and scored on the next batter, as Allen scored on a wild pitch and Hughes came home on an infield groundout by
Ryan Alaniz (San Antonio).
Allen led the team with two hits, hitting both a double and a triple, while Hughes drove in two runs, as StMU scored its five runs on seven hits.
Junior
Brandon Vasquez (Round Rock, Texas) dropped to 2-2 on the season after pitching three innings. He had his roughest outing of the season, allowing six earned runs (eight total) on eight hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Senior
Joel Burgess (Atascocita, Texas) walked all three batters he faced, while junior
Braeden Brown (Sinton, Texas) gave up only one hit and struck out three in two innings of work and junior
Matthew Janecek (Houston) allowed one run on one hit with three strikeouts in the final three innings.
The two teams will play a doubleheader on Friday, beginning at 3 p.m. (Central)/2 p.m. (Mountain) as the Rattlers look to bounce back and win their fifth consecutive series and ninth overall.
