CNJ staff
PORTALES — Phil Clabaugh reached a coaching milestone Friday, courtesy of his son.
Junior Seth Clabaugh hit an RBI single up the middle with one out in
the bottom of the ninth, lifting Eastern New Mexico University to a 5-4
Lone Star Conference baseball victory over ninth-ranked Angelo State at
Greyhound Field.
The win was the 500th as a college head coach for Phil Clabaugh,
including 405 in his 17-plus seasons at ENMU. He won 95 games in four
years as the coach at Western New Mexico from 1988-91.
Seth Clabaugh’s single scored Clayton Young, who was hit by a pitch leading off and took second on Sean Cruce’s sacrifice bunt.
The Hounds (15-12, 11-10 LSC) led 2-0 after two innings, then erased a 4-2 deficit in their final three at-bats.
Seth Clabaugh started the game as the pitcher-designated hitter for
ENMU. He went 5 2/3 innings and left after issuing a bases-loaded walk
to Travis Lee with two out in the top of the sixth, putting the Rams
(21-9, 15-6) in front 3-2.
Designated hitter Keith Towne led off the seventh with his sixth
homer of the season off Tyler Doughty, extending ASU’s lead to two runs.
Cruce’s two-out RBI single to right field in the bottom of the
seventh scored Jeremy Johnson and made it 4-3. The Hounds then took
advantage of a one-out error by ASU second baseman Jason Morriss in the
eighth to get the tying run.
Ethan Wagner reached when Morriss dropped his pop fly in short right
field. Garrett Cook followed with a single to right and Chris Eaton
singled to center to bring home pinch-runner Stephen Lopez-Barela.
Seth Clabaugh hit a two-out double and scored on Freddy Carmona’s
single for ENMU in the first and Matt Chavez singled, stole second and
scored on Young’s single to center in the second off starter Joe Key,
who allowed 12 hits and struck out seven in 7 2/3 innings.
The Rams tied it with two runs in the third on an RBI bunt single by Towne and a throwing error by first baseman Ryan Pruitt.
The teams are scheduled for a 2 p.m. doubleheader today, then finish
the four-game series with a nine-inning single game at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
