Lobo Field will be the site for the New Mexico baseball team’s first road series of the season.
No, that’s not a typo.
Because of inclement weather in Colorado Springs, Air Force was unable to host UNM and will instead come to Albuquerque for a three-game Mountain West series that begins today. However, the Falcons will still be designated as the home team this weekend.
Head coach Ray Birmingham said he called Air Force head coach Mike Kazlausky on Wednesday, and they decided it was in the best interests of both teams to move the games to Lobo Field. Forecasts predict temperatures in the 20s and snow for both Saturday and Sunday in Colorado Springs.
At first Kazlausky wanted to add two games when UNM hosts AFA in April, making it a total of five games in three days. Birmingham declined that option because the Lobos would have been forced to play nine games in eight days between April 7 to April 15.
“I waited until (Wednesday) to make sure the weather was going to be true to form, because you know how it changes,” Birmingham said. “My pitch to him was that it wasn’t fair to the kids.”
Kazlausky agreed to move the three-game series to Albuquerque this weekend because Birmingham offered to pay for Air Force’s trip. The Lobos had $20,000 budgeted for their excursion to Colorado Springs and will give $8,000 of that sum to the Falcons so they can travel to Albuquerque, Birmingham said.
“I recommended that he come here and use my budget to pay for his trip,” Birmingham said.
In the preseason MW conference coaches poll, UNM was selected to win the league once again. In that same poll Air Force was picked to place sixth out of seven teams, finishing ahead of only San Jose State.
UNM (3-1) has dominated conference play the past two seasons, going 45-16. The Lobos have at least won a share of the MW regular season title for the past three years.
This weekend’s series versus Air Force (0-4) will be the first time UNM starts MW play in February. Birmingham said he would prefer not start the MW slate so early into the season.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
“Well, nobody likes it,” he said. “Our Mountain West conference league is so scattered and so far apart it’s just very expensive to play, and because we want to play a 30-game conference schedule, it’s hard.”
Air Force heads into Lobo Field riding a four-game losing streak. The latest loss was a 6-1 defeat at Savannah State on Monday.
Two Falcon pitchers have found success against UNM: starting pitchers Griffin Jax and Steven Trojan. Jax allowed one run in 14 innings against UNM last season, while Trojan has picked up two wins over the past two years versus the Lobos.
“(Jax) is really hard to beat, and we haven’t beaten him yet,” Birmingham said. “He’s 95 miles per hour with a good changeup.”
