Staff Report
The UNM baseball team won two of three games at San Diego State behind an offensive explosion Sunday.
Pitcher Jesse Perez (1-0) earned his first victory of the season Sunday, giving up three runs over five innings while striking out three batters and walking two. The story of the day was the UNM offense, which slugged its way to a 15-7 victory.
With the win, the Lobos improve to 20-11 overall, 3-3 in the Mountain West Conference.
Perez got all the support he needed from leadoff hitter Jordan Pacheco, who finished 4-for-6 with three runs and one RBI. Pacheco also contributed four assists on defense.
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Lobo third baseman Ian Hollick also had a strong day, going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and one run. Center fielder Matt Foote finished 2-for-4 with three runs and one RBI.
Mike Koons (3-5) took the loss for SDSU after giving up four runs in five innings. Koons faced 24 batters and managed to get five strikeouts. UNM's Damon Miller was credited with the save after pitching 1 1/3 scoreless innings, surrendering two hits.
The Lobos did most of their damage in the ninth inning when they roughed up Aztecs pitcher Brett Douglas for five runs. The Lobos entered that inning with a 10-7 lead, but managed to run away with the game before Miller shutout SDSU in the ninth.
It was UNM's second consecutive victory against the Aztecs after they won 8-2 on Saturday. In that game, left-handed pitcher Danny Ray Herrera (6-0) threw a complete game, surrendering just two runs on five hits while striking out a career-high nine. Pacheco provided a chunk of the offense in Saturday's victory as well, launching a three-run home run in the second inning.
UNM lost the first game of the series on Friday, falling 10-4. Brock Ungricht led SDSU in the victory, going 3-for-3 with three runs and an RBI.
The Lobos play Texas Tech on Tuesday in Lubbock, Texas, at 3 p.m.
