Baseball: Lobos continued hot-hitting in an 11-1 victory over San Jose State

A first inning that yielded six runs and eight hits and some stellar pitching from starter Tyler Stevens is all the Lobo baseball team needed to propel itself to a win over San Jose State on Friday evening at Santa Ana Star Field.

Stevens (2-1) went the distance in the game, striking out eight and scattering four hits over nine innings. New Mexico (9-3, 4-0 MW) went on to post a decisive 11-1 victory thanks in large part to his arm.

But Lobo pitching wasn't the only dominating factor in the win, as the team tallied 11 total runs on 19 hits, with all of its starters producing one hit or more.

Perhaps the most impressive hitting for the Lobos came from the duo of senior Jack Zoellner and junior Luis Gonzalez. The two combined for six hits, three home runs, four runs and five RBI.

Another Lobo racked up multiple hits as well, as junior third baseman Carl Stajduhar went 3-for-5 with one home run and an RBI to help the effort.

The first inning started out quick for UNM, with Gonzalez homering in the lead-off spot to give the Lobos an early 1-0 lead. Stajduhar – who batted third in the lineup – hit a home run of his own and the Lobos put up four more runs to amass a huge 6-0 lead in the opening inning.

San Jose State (6-6, 2-2 MW) scored one run in the top of the second on an RBI double, but that's all the team would get as Stevens struck out two in the inning and began to heat up.

Stevens continued to show his dominance on the mound in the top of the third, sitting the Spartans down in order.

UNM’s bats went to work again in the bottom of the fourth, as Gonzalez and Zoellner both homered in the frame to grow the Lobo lead to 8-1.

SJSU couldn't answer as Stevens again silenced the lineup in the top of the fifth inning, pitching another one-two-three inning to protect the comfortable margin.

The Lobos continued their scoring barrage in the bottom half of the fifth after junior Daniel Herrera singled to knock in a run. Danny Collier singled later to bring home freshman Beau Capanna to put UNM up 10-1.

The Spartans were unable to mount any offense, as Stevens continued to be brilliant in his outing. He retired 13 consecutive batters at one point in the game, and didn’t allow a single base runner in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Stevens eventually gave up a hit in the eighth inning to SJSU’s Justin Beck, who singled through the right side. But the pitcher ended the ending after fielding a grounder that was hit back to him for the third out and the Lobos still led 10-1 going into the bottom of the eighth.

UNM was not done putting up numbers on the offensive end. In the bottom of the frame, Collier and Stajduhar both reached base on a pair of singles and Zoellner ultimately drove in Collier with an RBI double. Stajduhar was tagged out trying to reach home, but increased the margin to ten runs.

The Lobos opted to keep Stevens on the mound in the ninth to get the complete game, and he retired the side again as UNM cruised to an 11-1 victory.

The teams will get together again for game number two in the series. Play resumes on Saturday between UNM and SJSU with a start time of 2 p.m.

Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women's basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz