UNM baseball's toughest game this season may come halfway through the team's schedule, when the Lobos take on the Albuquerque Isotopes in an exhibition game at Isotopes Park.
"This is a game (Isotopes President) Ken Young and I talked about two or three years ago," said UNM Athletic Director Rudy Davalos during a press conference on Tuesday. "We couldn't do it last year because of scheduling."
The two teams will meet on April 5, midway through the Lobos' season. Tickets go on sale in mid-March, with proceeds going to UNM athletics. The Isotopes will also donate an amount equal to 10 percent of ticket sales to Red Cross relief funds for the tsunami disaster.
The game will be played with wooden bats and last nine innings. If the score is tied after nine, a draw will be declared.
The game will match the Lobos and the Isotopes for the first time. When the Dukes were Albuquerque's minor league club, the Lobos played them 22 times. The Lobos won just three of those games.
"I'm very excited," Lobo catcher Jeff Grady said. "I've grown up here and have always watched the Dukes. I'm real excited to ball it up against the Isotopes."
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Davalos was enthusiastic about the revenue opportunities for UNM. He mentioned a game played last year between the San Diego Padres and the San Diego State Aztecs, a Mountain West Conference foe of the Lobos.
"They played last year and filled their stadium," he said. "We hope to do the same. This is a win-win situation for the whole area and the whole state."
Davalos also said the program plans to make the exhibition an annual event.
"It's great for the community to see a partnership between Albuquerque baseball teams," he said.
