The Lobo baseball team had a unique three-game series against San Jose State with an even more unique ending with a tie on Sunday afternoon.
New Mexico (18-12-1, 11-2-1 MW) lost the first game of the series on Friday by a score of 2-1 after stranding 12 base runners. After Saturday’s game was postponed due to weather, UNM had a chance to salvage a split in the third scheduled game.
But San Jose State had other ideas and jumped out to a 2-0 lead by scoring a run in each of the first two innings.
UNM senior pitcher Jonathon Tripp got off to a shaky start but wasn’t solely to blame for the early scores given up by the Lobos.
Centerfielder Luis Gonzalez committed an error in the bottom of the first inning that put a man on second base. Tripp forced the next batter to fly out, which should have ended the inning. Instead, the Spartan made the Lobos pay for the mistake and hit a pair of two-out singles to plate the unearned run.
Tripp got himself into trouble in the second inning, hitting the first batter of the frame. The Spartans executed a bunt single to keep the pressure on, and although Tripp recorded a strikeout, he hit the next batter to load the bases with one out.
The UNM right-hander was able to limit the damage though, surrendering just one run by getting the next two batter to fly out as SJSU took a 2-0 advantage.
But the Lobos came roaring back with a huge fourth inning to take the lead and chase San Jose State’s starting pitcher out of the game.
Jared Mang led off the fourth with a double and was singled home by first baseman Jack Zoellner to cut the lead in half. Freshman Beau Capanna then ripped another double to left field to advance Zoellner to third.
Then the Lobos got a break and took advantage of an SJSU error. Hayden Shilling got an infield single to bring home Zoellner and tie the game, but a throwing error resulted in Capanna also scoring with Schilling ending up on third base.
Junior catcher Daniel Herrera pounded out another hit to bring Schilling in and put the Lobos up 4-2 with nobody out.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
That ended the day for San Jose State starting pitcher Jake Swiech as Joseph Balfour came on in relief. The move yielded immediate results as he induced a double-play to clear the bases. He gave up a hit to Gonzalez in the next at-bat, but it was the only one he allowed in four shut-out innings.
The Spartans got a run back in the bottom of the fourth after first baseman Shane Timmons doubled home a run to cut the UNM lead to 4-3.
Tripp settled in to pitch a pair of scoreless innings and exited the game after six innings pitched and the Lobos still holding a 4-3 advantage. The Lobos tacked on another run in the top of the ninth—one that ended up making a huge difference.
Lobo pitcher Justin Slaten made quick work of the Spartan hitters, mowing down four straight batters in the seventh and eighth innings. But the reliever lost the lead after giving up a two-run home run to Timmons in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game 5-5.
He was lifted for Christian Tripp, who came in and recorded the first out of the inning. But Christian Tripp then issued a full-count walk, followed by a wild pitch which put the potential winning run in scoring position.
With New Mexico seemingly on the ropes, the Lobos may have caught a lucky break. The game was called as part of a pre-determined time rule, resulted in a 5-5 tie.
Although the Lobos avoided being dealt a loss UNM head coach Ray Birmingham seemed disappointed that his team couldn’t hold onto the ninth-inning lead to get back in the win column.
"It's been a long road trip with a fatigued team, but it hurts bad not to get this one," Birmingham said in a release. "It doesn't get any easier with the hardest schedule in the country as we have Texas Tech on the road Tuesday then host a very good Missouri State team."
New Mexico will face Texas Tech next on Apr. 11 at 1 p.m. before returning home to host Missouri State in a three-game series that starts on Thursday, Apr. 13.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers football and men’s and women’s tennis. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @robert_maler.
