by Vanessa Strobbe
Daily Lobo
Zach Arnett might have had a few reasons to wait until Sunday to hit his first home run.
Maybe it took the true freshman a few months to transition from playing as a linebacker on the UNM football team to hitting a baseball.
Maybe he wanted to wait until the seventh inning of a close game against the University of Utah to propel the Lobos to an 8-6 lead.
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Maybe he wanted to set up a dramatic prequel to a breakout day before he hit a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to break a tied game and give his team a concluding 9-8 victory of a three-game series.
Or maybe he wanted to be responsible for his team surpassing the win total the Lobos produced last year.
"The whole thing felt good," Arnett said. "I didn't start off too hot today, and fortunately, I finished all right."
The Lobos finished the weekend series with three victories over the Utes to better their overall record to 27-13 and 9-4 in the Mountain West Conference. Sunday's game gave the Lobos one more win than they had all of last season.
"I'm real excited and real happy for the kids," said head coach Rich Alday. "It was a great success and a great series for us."
The Lobos started the first game of the series strong Friday, topping the Utes 8-5.
Before the second game began, the teams played an inning to finish a game that was postponed in San Diego during the Mountain West Conference Preseason Tournament on April 2. The Utes led that game 11-4 in the eighth inning before the game was postponed. Both teams went scoreless for the final inning played Saturday, leaving the Lobos with a loss.
But they made up for it in the next game. In front of a crowd of 4,685 fans for Pack the Park Saturday, a 10-run scoring outburst in the fifth inning broke a tied game, to give UNM a 17-8 victory over the Utes.
Sunday's game brought more of a scare. Utah led New Mexico 2-1 by the second inning until the Lobos started a 5-0 run in the fourth.
The Utes scored six runs in the next four innings, while the Lobos only racked up two more.
In an 8-8 tie at the top of the ninth, the Lobos' defense put a stop to the Utes' bats. The defense allowed only four batters and left one runner on base.
In the bottom of the ninth, Lobo bats turned red-hot to clinch the game. Daniel Stovall singled up the middle, Matt Foote reached first on a fielder's choice to throw out Stovall. Ian Hollick walked, and Arnett's double to right-center field that hit the wall scored Foote for a 9-8 finish.
The team left after the game to catch a plane to Norman, Okla., for a 3 p.m. game Monday.
"So far, we've had a lot of success pitching, offensively, defensively, and as a team," Alday said. "Hopefully, we'll make that continue."
