PORTALES, N.M. (March 6, 2026) – After being swept for the first time this season last weekend, The University of Texas Permian Basin baseball team lost its sixth straight game with a 13-5 game-one loss at Eastern New Mexico University in a battle between 12th-place teams in the Lone Star Conference on Friday evening.

Three straight two-out hits for UTPB (4-15 overall, 4-15 LSC) in the top of the first, including a double to left center field by Carlos Chavez followed by an RBI-single to right field by Gael Bernal, got the Falcons onto the scoreboard first.

Making his first start of the season, freshman pitcher Christian Duran (0-1) faced the minimum in the bottom of the first after a successful pickoff at first base to erase a leadoff single.

The early difference in the game came in the bottom of the second as with the bases loaded and two outs, an error at first base led to a big inning for the home team. After the error scored the first two runs for ENMU (5-14, 5-14), the Greyhounds exploded for five straight singles and put together what was in all a six-run inning on seven hits.

UTPB again put together a two-out rally in the top of the third as Cruz Garcia walked and Daylon Jefcoats singled to third base, and then Braeden Dyck tried to make up for his error in the last half inning with a two-run double to left center field to make it a 6-3 Falcons' deficit.

After leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the second, the new Falcons' pitcher, Timmy LaChappa, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the third and kept the Greyhounds to without a hit in the fourth inning. LaChappa attempted to right the ship for UTPB, limiting the Greyhounds to just one run on two hits between the third and sixth innings.

Down 7-3 in the top of the seventh, UTPB got a leadoff single to left center field by Chavez, followed by Bernal's second RBI-hit of the game, this time an RBI-triple to right center field. Two batters later, a sacrifice fly to right field by Jefcoats scored Bernal to make it a two-run deficit (7-5).

However, the Greyhounds got to LaChappa for a big inning in the bottom half of the seventh, starting off the inning with a double to left field and scoring five runs on four hits in the inning. With one out and two on, three straight RBI-hits (two RBI-singles followed by a two-run double) chased LaChappa out of the game and were followed by a sacrifice fly to center field to round out the scoring in the inning.

Both teams finished the game with double-digit hits, but it was ENMU that made the most of its opportunities, hitting 9-for-22 (.402) with runners in scoring position compared to just 2-for-11 (.182) for UTPB. The Greyhounds were also an impressive 6-for-7 (.857) with runners on third base and less than two outs.

Chavez, Bernal and Dyck all finished with two hits and one extra-base hit for UTPB while Chavez scored twice and Bernal and Dyck both had two RBI's.

For ENMU, leadoff man Cole Curtis was 4-for-5 with four RBI's, two extra-base hits (double, triple) and two two-RBI hits (single, triple).

Games two and three of the series between UTPB and Eastern New Mexico will start at 3 p.m. Central Time / 2 p.m. Mountain Time on Saturday, March 7, from the Greyhound Baseball Field.