UT Permian Basin baseball returns to Roden Field this weekend as the Falcons take on the Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico in a four-game Lone Star Conference series. 
 
Skyler Palermo continued to anchor the middle of the Falcon order last week batting .313 with a pair of home runs and 11 RBI.  Pemron Burrows led the team last week with a .385 batting average and swiped two bases.  He is now up to a team leading 15 steals on the season.  Peyton Koopman leads the Falcons with a .302 average in 14 games.  Last weekend Gabriel Melendez swung a hot bat clubbing two home runs in three games.
 
Last weekend the Falcons went to San Angelo to open their conference schedule with Angelo State.  The Falcons went 0-4 but not without some close games.  In the second game the Falcons led 3-0 early but the Rams chipped away at the Falcon lead, eventually taking the game 5-3.  In the series finale on Sunday, the Falcons battled back after trailing 5-0 early.  The Rams would head into the ninth with the lead but the Falcons would make things interesting.  A two-run home run by William Bierlein cut the deficit to four but it was as close as the team would get.
 
This will mark the first conference games on the season for Eastern New Mexico.  They come into the weekend at 12-12 and winners of three of four games last weekend against Dallas Christian.  The prior two weeks before against Tarleton State and Texas A&M – Kingsville the Greyhounds went 2-6.  Two of those losses came by just one run. 
 
Paul Tapia leads their offense and is tied for third in the conference with a .420 batting average.  Among qualified hitters, Nicolas Ankerman is next with a .358 batting average and a team-high 20 RBI.  As a team the Greyhounds are batting .311 with 107 steals.  On the mound the Greyhounds have three pitchers with an ERA under four including starters Joel Torres and Enrique Perez.  Perez leads the team with four wins in 34 innings and 40 strikeouts.
 
The teams start the series Friday at 2 p.m. with a double header scheduled for Saturday before wrapping-up the series on Sunday.