The Lobo baseball team took two coveted Mountain West accolades after sweeping San Jose State over the weekend.
Senior first baseman Jack Zoellner took home Mountain West Player of the Week – his second this season—and junior Tyler Stevens joined his teammate earning Mountain West Pitcher of the Week honors.
Zoellner played a big part in the Lobo offense during a game in El Paso, Texas against New Mexico State as well as their three-game series sweep at home against San Jose State over the weekend.
The Lobo first baseman hit a healthy .529 during the
Two performances that really stood out for Zoellner came in his game against New Mexico State and the first San Jose State meeting.
He torched Aggie pitchers by going 3-for-4 with one home run, two
Zoellner has hit .444 from the plate this season and has already belted seven home runs – one shy of his career-high – and 23 RBI.
Stevens, on the other hand, tossed a complete game on Friday in the Lobos’ opening game against SJSU. The right-hander allowed just four hits, struck out eight batters, and surrendered one run in nine innings of work on the mound.
According to a Mountain West release, it was Stevens’ first complete game since his freshman campaign. On the season, Stevens has posted a 2-1 record with a 5.06 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 26.2 innings.
While the MW Pitcher of the Week distinction was the first for the Lobos this season, UNM is making a habit of receiving recognition. New Mexico has had at least one player earn Player of the Week honors in all four weeks of the season so far.
It was the second occurrence for Zoellner, who also took home the honor in week one. Teammates Luis Gonzalez and Carl Stajduhar also received Player of the Week nods in weeks two and three, respectively.
RPI rankings:
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The Lobos moved from no. 2 to no. 1 in the latest NCAA RPI rankings that were released on Monday. The ranking is based on a team’s strength of schedule as well as its wins and losses.
Oklahoma State:
The Lobos will travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a two-game series that begins Tuesday, Mar. 14 and concludes Wednesday, Mar. 15.
The Cowboys (9-6) are coming off of a series win over South Dakota State at home, in which they won two out of the three games.
Leading the way for OSU on offense is junior Garrett McCain, who has hit .383 from the plate this season, scoring 19 runs with 12 RBI.
As a team, though, the Cowboys have gone just .280 from the plate compared to a team average of .358 for the Lobos.
New Mexico (11-3, 6-0 MW) poses multiple threats on offense, with four players batting .400 or above. Gonzalez leads the way with a .491 average, followed by Zoellner (.444), redshirt sophomore Hayden Schilling (.421) and freshman Beau Capanna (.413).
Both games are set to start at 3 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
