PORTALES, New Mexico – West Texas A&M senior Dominic Yearego secured a Lone Star Conference series sweep on Sunday afternoon while making a little bit of history in the process as the Prosper native tied the WT career saves record in a 6-4 victory over the rival Greyhounds of Eastern New Mexico.
 
The Buffs return home next weekend as they host the Tarleton Texans in a four-game Lone Star Conference series starting on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. at Wilder Park.
 
THE BASICS:
- Score: #17 West Texas A&M 6, Eastern New Mexico 4
- Records: WT (28-8, 7-5 LSC) / ENMU (13-19, 1-7 LSC)
- Location: Portales, New Mexico
- Venue: Greyhound Field
- Series (Streak): Buffs lead 69-53 (W11)
 
RECAP:
The Buffs took advantage of a Hound error to get on the board in the top of the first inning as Justin Martinez reached on the ENMU misplayed ball as Kyle Kaufman came around to score for the 1-0 lead. Eastern looked to respond in the home half of the third as the first two batters reached to start the frame followed by a sac bunt to move both into scoring position, Zach Dixon ended the threat with a pair of big strikeouts to keep the score 1-0.
 
Nick Guaragna singled to left to start the fourth followed by Cade Engle getting hit by a pitch, another Hound error loaded the bases with no outs before Eastern forced a pair of ground balls including a double play ball back to the mound to end the threat. 
 
ENMU threatened again in the fourth as Eurick Perez doubled to left center to start the frame followed by a groundout and a Joel Paulino RBI single to tie the game at 1-1, the Buffs retook the lead in the top of the seventh inning as Justin Martinez singled up the middle with one out to score Kaufman at 2-1. 
 
The Hounds responded in the bottom of the seventh inning as Paul Tapia doubled home Ryan Anderson with two outs to tie the game at 2-2. The Buffs retook the lead again in the top of the eighth as another ENMU error scored Cade Engle followed later in the inning by another Hound error that allowed Justice Nakagawa to score at 4-2. 
 
WT added insurance runs in the top of the ninth as Martinez scored on a wild pitch with one out followed later in the frame by an Engle RBI single to center to run the lead to 6-2. Eastern wouldn't go down without a fight as Tapia singled thru the right side with one out to score Anderson followed by a Josh Dolan sac fly to left before a play at second that saw Jake Pederson gun down a runner to end the game and secured the sweep, 6-4.
 
Austin Gehle picked up his first career victory out of the bullpen, allowing one run on three hits with no walks and two strikeouts in his 3.0 innings of relief. Yearego tied former Buff All-American Paul Lujan (2014-15) with his 20^thsave on Sunday afternoon in Portales for the most in program history.