PORTALES, NEW MEXICO – UT Tyler baseball took the series 3-1 over Eastern New Mexico after splitting the doubleheader on Sunday.
 
GAME ONE
 
The Patriots jumped out to an early lead in game three of the series as they too advantage in the top of the first. Jordan Gochenour led off with a triple, and Kaston Mason walked right behind him. Ethan Bedgood drove in the first run with an RBI single, and Austin Ochoa followed with a three run big fly to left center field and the Patriots were quickly ahead 4-0.
 
That lead was turned over to Brayden Freeman, who started his outing with a groundout and a strikeout before allowing a single. He quickly got the fielder's choice to end the inning and ended any threat. He allowed another single in the second, but kept the Greyhounds bats quiet with a groundout, a lineout, and a strikeout.
 
The Patriots went scoreless over the second, third, and fourth innings, but Freeman kept dealing. In the third, the Greyhounds would advance their first runner to second and later third after a stolen base and a flyout, but the Freeman answered the call with two straight strikeouts to end the inning. In the fourth, he again held the Greyhounds scoreless with two groundouts and another strikeout.
 
All of that hard work from Freeman paid off as the Patriots offense caught fire in the fifth. Ochoa belted his second home run of the game as he brought home Bedgood with him. Three straight singles followed, and a sacrifice fly from Blake LaBuda plated the next run. An RBI groundout would follow, and another run came home from a single. Bedgood in his second plate appearance of the inning would produce again, this time with an RBI single and the Patriots held a 10-0 lead.
 
Freeman continued his dominance with a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half, and the Patriots kept on rolling with five more runs in the sixth. A walk, single, and a hit by pitch would load the bases, and Riley Lambert drew an RBI walk on four pitches for the first run. In stepped Mason, and he slugged his second grand slam of the season over the right field wall to make it 15-0 in the Patriots favor.
 
A walk to lead off the bottom of the sixth would finally spell the end of the night for Freeman, and he would turn it over to Cade Maclin. Maclin would strike out his first hitter, but posted a walk and a wild pitch to move the runners into scoring position. A sacrifice fly followed, and a wild pitch would plate another run. Three straight singles would plate two more runs, and the Greyhounds made it 15-4.
 
A big answer came in the top of the seventh for the Patriots, as they posted seven more runs in response to the Greyhounds. An RBI single, back to back doubles, a sacrifice fly, and a home run would extend the lead all the way out to 22-4 with just a half inning left in the game.
 
The Greyhounds would attempt to rally, as they loaded the bases after a groundout on Nick Oslovar. A strikeout would follow, but the Greyhounds barreled a grand slam of their own to plate their eighth run. Oslovar regrouped and struck out the final batter of the game to secure a big win.
 
Seven different Patriots recorded a multi-hit game as they totaled 19 hits and 22 runs as a team. They were led by Ethan Bedgood and Austin Ochoa who each totaled three hits. Bedgood finished at 3-for-5 with four RBI and three runs scored. Ochoa finished 3-for-3 with five RBI and two runs scored.
 
GAME TWO
 
The second game of Sunday's doubleheader would see just as much offense as game one. That offense kicked off in the bottom of the first As the Greyhounds got to starter Nolan Cox for three runs thanks to a three run home run. Cox would bounce back quickly with a popout, groundout, and a fielder's choice to end the inning.
 
Down early, the Patriots offense responded quickly just as they have the entire series by plating six runs of their own to retake the lead. Nathan Carriere walked, and came around to score on a Hayden Clearman triple. Two batters later, Jordan Gochenour slugged a home run to tie the game. After a single and a double, Austin Ochoa would drive in two more with an RBI double to left field before scoring on his own off of an error.
 
That 6-3 lead would only last half an inning, as the Greyhounds battled back with three runs of their own to quickly tie the game. A single and a walk was followed by a two RBI triple and an RBI double to pull the Greyhounds even.
 
In the bottom of the third, the Greyhounds kept on rolling, as they plated three more runs thanks to RBI singles that gave them the lead. They would keep that offense going in the fourth as they scored three runs yet again for the fourth consecutive inning.
 
That inning would give Eastern New Mexico a big 12-6 lead, but the Patriots offense continued to battle back. They would plate four runs of their own in the top of the fifth, as two straight singles led to a Clearman three run home run to center field. Edward Ortiz would follow with his own solo home run to cut the lead down to just two.
 
In the bottom half of the fifth inning, Eastern New Mexico would again answer the call, as they plated four runs to expand their lead back out to six. A solo home run came with one out, and two more RBI singles plated the next three runs.
 
One more run would follow in the bottom of the sixth for the Greyhounds, but the Patriots refused to go away. In the seventh inning, the Patriots loaded the bases with no outs, and Mason drilled his second grand slam of the day over the center field wall to cut the lead down to just three and keep them within shouting distance.
 
Justin Schrader and Logan Henderson combined to work a scoreless seventh, and that would continue into the eighth as the Greyhounds were held scoreless. The Patriots would move a runner to third in the eighth but were unable to score the run as they would move to the ninth inning down three runs. In that ninth inning, the Patriots would go down in order to allow Eastern New Mexico to take their first game of the series.
 
Nolan Cox took just his second loss of the season after allowing eight runs through two innings of work. He walked one hitter and struck out one.
 
Four more Patriots enjoyed multi-hit games in game two, led by Kaston Mason and Hayden Clearman. Mason finished 2-for-4 with two runs and four RBI, and Clearman finished 2-for-2 with three runs and four RBI.
 
UT Tyler now sits at 24-12 on the year and in LSC play. They will return home to Irwin Field for a four game series against Cameron that will begin on Thursday, April 6 at 7 p.m.