by Riley Bauling
Daily Lobo
Gone are the days when the Arizona Wildcats beat the UNM baseball team up and down the block.
With the Lobos' 13-3 win at Isotopes Park on Tuesday, UNM (24-12 overall, 6-3 in the Mountain West Conference) swept the season series with the Wildcats (15-19, 3-6) for the first time since 1994. The Lobos won three of four against the Wildcats this season.
This year's Arizona team isn't ranked in the polls, but that doesn't mean the Wildcats are slackers, said Lobo second baseman Jordan Pacheco.
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"I mean, Arizona's a good team," he said. "They've always been a top-25 program. For us, it's a good confidence boost getting all those hits."
Those hits came in bunches and right away. UNM sent all of its hitters to the plate in the first inning on its way to putting up three runs. The Lobos cycled through their lineup again in the bottom of the seventh, putting up five runs in the process.
In total, UNM had 18 hits, tying for the most Arizona has given up this season. The 10-run margin of victory was the most runs the Wildcats have lost by all year.
Pacheco led UNM with his 4-for-6 performance at the plate. It's days like these that make a hitter swoon, but Pacheco was quick to give credit to the rest of the team showing up to play.
"It was good for our team today," he said. "We pitched well. We hit well. We got some key hits. Yeah, it was an all-around good showing."
Quentin Andes took the mound for the Lobos with not exactly the most experience under his belt. He pitched eight innings and gave up only two runs for his second win of the season.
Including last weekend's games against Air Force, the Lobos haven't been showing their opponents much clemency at the plate. UNM is averaging almost 22 runs per game over the past four outings.
It's that offensive output that has head coach Rich Alday giddy about his team's newfound firepower.
"We've had good production from everybody throughout the lineup," he said. "Chris (Carlson) and of course Jordan have done extremely well for us. Hopefully it will just continue, and the other guys will hopefully pick it up, too."
That's not too tall of a task if you look at some of the other Lobos' stats against the Wildcats. Third baseman Ian Hollick went 2-for-3 including three walks and three RBIs. Left fielder Jay Russell complemented that with his 2-for-2 day at the plate to go along with his three walks. Carlson didn't have a bad day either. He went 2-for-5 with a home run and three RBIs to keep his five-game home run streak alive.
The Utah Utes visit the Lobos for a three-game series starting Friday at noon, and shellacking Arizona was just the warm-up UNM needed.
"This weekend is going to be big for us," Alday said. "It helps us if we win games like today."
