The UNM baseball team missed a chance at sweeping a three-game series this weekend, losing the final game to the University of Nevada at Las Vegas 15-8 Sunday afternoon at the Albuquerque Sports Stadium.
The Lobos (18-23, 8-7 in the Mountain West Conference) scored in the first inning on an RBI double by hot-hitting Donny Sevieri, but could not hold on to the lead as they gave up six runs in the top half of the second inning. An early deficit is something that the Lobos have grown accustomed to this year.
“We can’t do that all the time, we have to do a much better job early in the ball game,” UNM head coach Rich Alday said. “It’s difficult to play catch-up baseball; we did it yesterday, but today we fell a little bit short. The key is, we just have to stay away from big innings.”
The Lobos made the game interesting with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning.
It was Sevieri that got the big hit once again, as he crushed the first offering from UNLV pitcher Courtney Hall high over the left-field fence for a three-run homer that cut the Rebels’ lead to 6-5.
Sevieri had been on fire the past couple of games as he connected for three home runs this weekend.
“The main thing is that I’m feeling really comfortable in the box,” Sevieri said. “Earlier in the season, I was trying to do too much, I was trying to hit a five-run homer with nobody on base.”
Starting pitcher Greg Atencio (0-5) took the loss and lasted only two innings for the Lobos. Relief pitcher Jeremy DeYapp pitched a scoreless third and fourth inning, but the Lobos could not prevent another big inning for the Rebels in the fifth.
UNLV’s David Trujillo led off with a single and Joe Jacobitz continued the rally with another single. With runners on first and second, right fielder Brent Johnson delivered an RBI single that scored Trujillo. DeYapp was about to get out of the inning after he struck out Brad Beasley. Rebel Ryan Ruiz, however, had different plans, and he connected for a two-out, three-run homer that extended UNLV’s lead to 10-5.
Despite the deficit, the Lobos refused to give up.
In the sixth inning, Troy Cairns reached base on an error. Freshman Joe Salas followed Cairns with a home run over the right field fence. The Lobos cut further into the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, when Dusty Young drove in Chris Alexander from second base with a run-scoring single.
UNM seemed poised to take the lead, but could not stop the Rebels from scoring in the eighth inning. After pitching a scoreless sixth and seventh innings, with five strikeouts, UNM pitcher Marvin Wong fell victim to the Rebels’ high-powered offense.
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UNLV’s Zach Strong led off the eighth with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After hitting John Cruz, Wong struck out Trujillo but could not get Trent Kitsch out. Instead, Kitsch slammed an inside-the-park home run off the top of the centerfield fence that was just out of the reach of UNM centerfielder Mark Okano. The ball bounced off the wall and Kitsch managed to round the bases before it could be retrieved.
The weekend was not a total disaster as UNM came back from a 9-1 deficit Saturday to beat the Rebels, largely in part to Sevieri’s two home runs and six RBIs.
Friday’s game featured an impressive pitching performance by Lobo pitcher Chris Cooper, who pitched a complete game, gave up only one run and struck out 13 batters.
The Lobos have been playing much better recently and have won six of their last nine games, all of which have been against Mountain West rivals. The Lobos got off to a poor start this year but have been playing solid baseball the past several weeks.
“Everyone has accepted their roles, and now we’re putting it all together,” Okano said. “We know were not the greatest ball club, but we’re giving it our all.”