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PORTALES, N.M. – Ryan Greer drove in three runs and Jake Albert allowed only two runs in six inning of work to help lead the Angelo State baseball team to a 9-3 Lone Star Conference win over Eastern New Mexico on Friday in the series opener at Greyhound Field.

The Rams (22-12, 7-6 LSC) didn't commit an error for the 13th time this season and outhit the Greyhounds 11-9 to take the series opener for the third straight series. ASU and ENMU (18-14, 5-8 LSC) resume their series at 3 p.m. (CST) on Saturday with a doubleheader before playing the series finale at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Greer, who led the Rams and conference in the RBI category as a junior last season, now has 14 RBI this season after hitting a two-run double in the second inning and driving in another run with single in the fourth. Tyler Coughenour and Reggie Rodriguez also had two hits in the game, while freshman David Goggin drove in two runs from the ninth spot in the lineup with a fifth-innings single before an RBI in the fourth on a groundout which scored Hunter Choate.

“It was huge for us to get ahead early,” Greer said. “Jake pitched a great game, but we knew we had to get some runs for him. We haven't been scoring early in games and we had to start doing that. They are a team that scores runs so it's important for us to keep getting at them early throughout the series.”

Albert (4-2) struck out four and worked through four hits against the conference's top hitting team in his first career start to earn the win. The junior, who has now pitched in 38 games for the Rams in his career, walked only two before Travis Stavinoha and Mason Leavitt came in to finish off the game. The three pitchers didn't allow ENMU to leadoff a single inning with a hit or base runner.

“He limited them from getting the big inning and did a great job for us,” said ASU head coach Kevin Brook of Albert who threw 100 pitches on the night. “He got in a couple of jams, but limited the damage by keeping the ball down and throwing strikes.”

Quaid McKinnon added a hit and RBI along with walking twice in the game to take his season's walk total to 31. The senior first baseman now has 72 career walks and is only five away from tying Trey Carter for second all-time in program history. Christian Summers, Andrew LaCombe and Hunter Choate also added singles to the Rams' hit total in the game.  

“We did a good job with runners at third and getting guys in and moving them over,” Brooks said. “I thought we took a good approach at the plate instead of trying to do too much.”

Brett Humphries (4-3) receives the loss after allowing nine runs on 11 hits in 4.1 innings. Colten Sims and Josh Cunningham lead the Greyhounds with two hits each. ENMU came into the series hitting .352 and was held to a .243 average in the series opener.

“We need to win the series and have momentum going into next week,” Greer said. “Eastern New Mexico is a good team and will come out ready tomorrow. This is a big series for us that we have to have and it's important for us to come out focused.”

The Rams improved to 12-3 on the road this season, while ENMU's home record falls to a still-impressive 14-2 mark.

Jake Feckley (5-3) is scheduled to make the start in Saturday's first game for the Rams with Mike Weatherly (3-2) to start the second game of the doubleheader. Ben Monticello (3-2) and Jasprett Shergill (2-3) are the probable starters for the Greyhounds on Saturday.