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Lobo catcher Daniel Herrera hangs his head after a two run pick up in the 5th inning by the Fresno State Bulldogs. Fresno State's 11-5 victory over the Lobos advanced them to the finals to meet No. 2 San Diego State Aztecs. The Lobos finished their season with a 30-27-1 record on Saturday, May 27th.

Lobo catcher Daniel Herrera hangs his head after a two run pick up in the 5th inning by the Fresno State Bulldogs. Fresno State's 11-5 victory over the Lobos advanced them to the finals to meet No. 2 San Diego State Aztecs. The Lobos finished their season with a 30-27-1 record on Saturday, May 27th.

Baseball: After second championship loss, Lobos finish season with 30-27-1 record

The New Mexico baseball team’s Mountain West Championship is all but done. After losing Saturday afternoon’s elimination game to third-seeded Fresno State, 11-5, ultimately booted them from seeking a chance at the Mountain West Championship title.

Despite the Lobos’ struggles and their post season hopes all but faded away, Hayden Schilling had an uplifting testimony for his team’s performance over the weekend.

“We had a lot of adversity, but everyone in that dugout kept grinding and stayed the course,” Schilling said in a press release. “Not a single person gave up. That’s all you can ask for. I’m proud of how everyone attacked this weekend.”

Not once in the Lobos’ game against the Bulldogs did they find themselves tied or in the lead. Fresno State scored in two or more runs apiece in five separate innings, while UNM’s lone multiple inning came in the bottom of the fourth when they tacked on three runs.

During the game, the Lobos cycled through four separate pitchers, starting with Carson Schneider — who tacked the loss onto his record after he allowed seven runs on 11 hits in four innings on the mound. The game saw relief pitching from Jacob Nelson, Drew Gillespie and Christian Tripp, who all pitched across the latter five innings of the game. The best of those relief performances came from Gillespie who allowed no hits and no runs with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings on the mound before being relieved by Tripp.

As for the Lobos’ offensive production, they tacked on five runs on nine hits — Schilling had the lone multiple hit game, as he went 2-for-4 with three RBI. Those other seven hits came from seven different UNM batters, though Danny Collier tacked on two runs and an RBI in his performance.

Both teams opened up the game with a scoreless first inning, which saw Schneider allow only one hit in the frame. But Fresno State tacked on five runs between innings two and three, before the Lobos managed to shorten the lead in the bottom of the fourth when they scored three runs. Those three runs for the Lobos came on an RBI single from Collier and a two-run single from Schilling to shorten the Bulldogs’ lead to 5-3.

Fresno State opened up both the fifth and sixth with two-run innings, while the Lobos added one run each in those same innings, putting the Bulldogs up 9-5. The Lobos’ lone run in the fifth was started off by a Collier triple, in which he ended up scoring on a balk by Fresno State. And the Lobos’ lone run in the sixth came by way of a Schilling RBI double.

From there, UNM struggled to make way on offense, going scoreless to end the game’s closing three innings, while Fresno State added on two more runs in the eighth to grab an 11-5 victory over the first-seeded Lobos.

Head coach Ray Birmingham had some words of encouragement for his team at the end of the game in the locker room, in the midst of losing the trophy that the Lobos hoped they would've captured this weekend.

“These things aren’t easy to get — and they continue to get harder as time goes on,” Birmingham told his team pointing to the trophy, according to a release. “For you seniors and guys that get drafted and won’t be back — you’ll always be a part of this and make sure you hold these guys accountable. This is a tradition…You young guys coming back, continue to work hard because (everybody else) in the conference is coming for you. And these guys that are moving on in this room and the other Lobos that helped build this — they are going to call you out and make you accountable if you don’t hold up your end of the bargain.”

The Lobos finished the season with a 30-27-1 record, and will lose five seniors in the process, including: Schneider, Andre Vigil, Matt Villalobos, Johnathon Tripp and Jack Zoellner.

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

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