ODESSA, Texas (March 7, 2025) – Opening its home series against Eastern New Mexico University with a doubleheader on Friday, The University of Texas Permian Basin baseball team came up short in a back-and-forth game one, 7-5, before falling 11-6 in game two. In both games, the two teams were tied at 5-5 within the first four innings of the game, but the story of the day was late runs for the Greyhounds as ENMU scored the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and added an insurance run in the seventh inning in the first game and scored four runs in the seventh inning to pull away in the second game.
 
Game 1 (UTPB 5, ENMU 7):

• The first hit of the game was a two-out, three-run standup triple in the top of the first inning for the Greyhounds.
• A pickoff a first base eliminated a leadoff single up the middle by Kaleb Scull in the bottom of the first.
• The top of the second inning saw a nice catch by Jack Haggerty diving to his right in left field. Then in the bottom of the second, Haggerty led off with a hit by pitch, stole second base, moved to third on a flyout to right field and scored on a sacrifice fly to center field by Wiki DeLeon.
• In the top of the third, a pickoff by catcher Brent Rigtrup to Taylor McDaniel at first base was followed by a called strike three, the first of back-to-back strikeouts by pitcher Trevor Barth (0-6) to end the inning.
• UTPB took that momentum into the bottom of the third and got a two-run single up the middle by Carson Johnson to tie the game at 3-3.
• In the top of the fourth, a fastball on an 0-2 count came back to bite Barth as it was sent well over the wall in left field for a two-run home run, giving ENMU back a two-run lead (5-3).
• The Falcons got the two runs back in the bottom half of the inning with a two-run home run to left field themselves on a two-out blast by Makai DeSoto, tying the game at 5-5.
• Then in the top of the fifth, a line drive to DeSoto at second base left the bases loaded for the Greyhounds.
• After it was the eight-hole hitter that hit a two-run home run for the Greyhounds earlier in the game, it was the number-nine hitter that came up with a go-ahead RBI-double to left center field in the top of the sixth.
• UTPB tried to put together a two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases with two outs while trailing by one run, but a swinging strikeout ended the inning with three runners on base.
• Then in the seventh inning, the wheels came off for the UTPB pitchers as they walked the bases loaded and then gave up a run on an overthrow on a pickoff attempt at second base.
• The Falcons got the tying run on base in the bottom half of the seventh after a two-out walk by Haggerty, but a groundout to the second baseman ended the game.
• UTPB outhit ENMU 10-4 in game one, but the Greyhounds benefitted from 10 walks and a hit by pitch by the Falcons' pitching staff.
• Scull was 3-for-4 with a double from the top spot in the Falcons' lineup. Johnson was 2-for-4 and provided a two-run single. DeSoto was 2-for-2 with a two-run home run, two runs scored and a walk.

 
Game 2 (UTPB 6, ENMU 11):

• The third pickoff of the game and a swinging strikeout for out number three helped limit the Greyhounds to one run in the top of the first inning. In all, there were four pickoffs on the day, including two from each team and two in each game.
• In the top of the second, however, ENMU scored four runs on two hits, including an RBI-triple and a two-run double.
• Coming off his first-career win of the season last time out, Timmy LaChappa exited after giving up four walks and five runs in his 1.2 innings pitched.
• UTPB answered ENMU's four-run second inning with a five-spot in the bottom half. The Falcons sent 11 batters to the plate in the inning, highlighted by a two-out, two-run triple to right field by Johnson and an RBI-single to left field by Haggerty to tie it at 5-5.
• Conner Clark (0-2) pitched a 1-2-3 top of the fourth inning, but gave up a walk and an RBI-double to start a two-run top of the fifth inning.
• Down 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth, Jarren Lewis led off with a standup double off the wall in left field, was bunted over by Dayton Osborn, and was brought home on a sacrifice fly to deep center field by Scull.
• Unfortunately, the UTPB pitching staff again had a rough final inning and could not hold it to a one-run deficit, this time letting up four runs on two hits, including a leadoff single followed by the Greyhounds' second two-run home run to left field of the day. Then with one out, a hit by pitch and back-to-back walks loaded the bases before a pair of RBI-walks to round out the scoring.
• Both teams finished with eight hits in game two, but this time ENMU took advantage of 13 walks and two hit by pitches by the Falcons' pitching staff. Three different Greyhounds recorded three walks.
• Lewis got the start at catcher and was 2-for-3 with two runs scored while Haggerty was 2-for-4 and Johnson got his second two-RBI hit of the day with a two-run triple.
• The Falcons left six runners on base in both games of the doubleheader.

 
Team Records:

• UTPB drops to 3-19 both overall and in the Lone Star Conference while ENMU improves to 12-8 overall and 10-8 in the LSC.
• The Greyhounds are receiving one vote in the NCBWA South Central Region poll.

Next Up: Game three of the series between UTPB and Eastern New Mexico will be at 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 8, from Roden Field.