by Andre van der Merwe
Daily Lobo
The UNM baseball team exploded offensively against the Air Force Falcons on Friday at Lobo Field.
In the last of a three-game series against the Falcons (10-23 overall, 1-9 in the Mountain West Conference), the Lobos (23-12, 6-3) scored in all but one inning as they slugged their way to a 26-11 victory.
UNM came out firing, crossing home plate five times in the first inning. Designated hitter Chris Carlson was the first player for the Lobos to light up the scoreboard when he doubled to right-center field. Carlson's double brought in sophomore Jordan Pacheco for the first of his five runs in the game.
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UNM head coach Rich Alday was happy with the early lead, but he said the team needs more than that to secure a win.
"It's always nice to score early, but any time you score early sometimes it's not enough," Alday said. "We've scored early at times, and they've come back, and we've gotten beat."
Alday's suspicions were correct as Air Force had an impressive offensive showing in the top of the second when they scored five runs to tie the game 5-5. However, the Lobos' bats still hadn't cooled down from the first inning as they matched the Falcons' performance with five more runs of their own.
Carlson batted strong again as he belted out a two-run homer, bringing Pacheco home in the process.
The Lobos quickly ended any offensive hopes Air Force had in the third inning thanks to pitcher Danny Ray Herrera (7-0). It was more of the same in the fourth inning, as Herrera struck out two, forced a ground out and allowed only one hit. Herrera struck out seven Falcons and allowed nine hits while facing 29 hitters during the game.
After not scoring a single run in the third inning, it was up to sophomore Ian Hollick to start up the Lobo offense in the fourth. Hollick drilled a home run over center field for the Lobos' only run of the inning.
UNM used the next few innings to put the game away. In the fifth inning, the Lobos picked up three runs, followed by four runs in the sixth and six runs in the seventh.
Sophomore Drew McDonald led the Lobos with his 4-for-5 performance including four runs, three RBIs and a home run in the seventh inning.
McDonald said the Lobos don't have any weak spots, which is a big reason for the 26-run showing.
"Today was another good day, a lot of guys are hitting the ball well," McDonald said. "I'd say we're a pretty good team up and down."
Going into the top of the eighth inning, the Falcons were down 24-6 and were in dire need for some runs to close the gap. The Falcons found runs behind the bat of Billy Adams who brought in four RBIs when he hit a grand slam over the left field wall. With Adams' four RBIs and an RBI from Matt Ghigna, the Falcons shortened the Lobos lead to 24-11.
UNM scored two runs on two hits in the eighth inning before ending the game in the top of the ninth inning.
Alday said if he can get everyone on the same page, the rest of UNM's season is going to be smooth sailing.
"Ian has been really good, and so has Chris Carlson," Alday said. "They've really been carrying the club, so hopefully we can get the other guys going, and if we can do that we should be fine."
