Before hosting a clinic for some of Albuquerque's youth, the UNM baseball team put on a clinic for Utah, sweeping the Utes in the weekend's three-game series.
UNM opened the weekend Friday with a thrilling 12-inning 5-4 victory.
On Saturday, the Lobos allowed fans to catch their breath as they eased past the Utes 13-3.
And on Sunday, it was deja-vu for the Lobos, as they won in blowout fashion, 15-8.
With Sunday's win, the Lobos improved to 27-14 and 11-4 in the Mountain West Conference.
And Sunday's win was never in doubt. The Lobos came out strong and jumped out to an early 3-0 lead thanks to an RBI triple by Brian Cavazos-Galvez that scored two runs. From there, Kevin Atkinson singled to score Cavazos-Galvez.
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The Lobos added another one in the fourth to make it 4-0.
In the top of the fourth, the Utes finally got on the board as Utah's Jesse Shriner brought in Dustin Hennis, making it 4-1.
UNM responded in the fifth, adding five to extend its lead to 10-1.
With the bases loaded in the sixth, the Lobos lost some of their composure as right-hand-pitcher Stephen Smith got tossed for arguing a call.
Smith contested a called ball that forced in a Utah run.
Utah scored two more runs, making it 10-4.
After the game, Smith avoided ranting and raving about the umpire.
"I don't want to talk about it," he said.
The Lobos would avenge his ejection, increasing the margin to 14-4 after scoring another four runs in the bottom part of the inning.
The Lobos added one run in the seventh, but a big four-run inning in the eighth by the Utes made the game closer at 15-8.
After securing a win on Sunday, the Lobos will look to break into the USA Today/ESPN Top 25 conversation when they face No. 5 ranked University of California-Irvine late next week.
Smith said the Lobos will have to be on the top of their game.
"The focus is to come out and play like we have this weekend," he said "They are ranked, but we're better than what we showed against U-of-A. (Sunday's) win definitely will carry some momentum for us."
Baseball at Arizona
April 22, 2008, 7 p.m.
Tucson, Ariz.
