Fire up the grills was Ray Birmingham's message before Tuesday's game against Texas Tech.
"We're going to barbecue their horse," the Lobo baseball head coach said.
But it seems the Lobos forgot to throw on the propane tanks. UNM was handed its fifth loss of the season, 8-4.
You'd think it was Easter Sunday with all the goose eggs the UNM baseball team put up on the scoreboard at Isotopes Park. The Lobos compiled 14 hits. They just couldn't string runs together, instead turning in four one-run innings.
At best, the Lobos can even the series today when they square off against the Red Raiders for the second game of the two-game series. In Lubbock, Texas, Tech and UNM also split, with the Lobos winning the first game 13-10 and the Red Raiders snatching the second game 6-3.
Birmingham said bad luck was an element in the game, as well.
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"The guy gets a hit that gets over the pitcher's head and dies in the grass," Birmingham said. "And then a guy hits a pop up, and it falls in the only spot it can fall. And then the next inning, Kevin hits a ball out of the yard, but the wind is blowing from left to right. Sometimes, in sports, you say it was their day."
But UNM's pitching staff was easy pickings for the Red Raiders, too.
"I didn't see anyone with a No. 7 on their back and looked anywhere close to Mickey Mantle," Birmingham said. "They pitched like Mickey Mantle was batting every time I turned around."
Carl Edwin went 2 2/3 innings, allowing four hits and five runs.
The Lobos dug themselves a hole from the outset. However, there wasn't much starting pitcher Carl Edwin could do. Twice the Lobos were victimized by bloopers falling in the gaps, one dying just over Edwin's head.
A walk to Scott LeJeune loaded the bases for the Red Raiders before a two-run hit by Taylor Ashby brought in Michael Reed and Joey Kenworthy. With the count two strikes, one ball to Justin Berry, the Raiders unleashed some sound tactical baseball. Ashby, the runner, was picked off trying to steal second, but the Lobos fudged the play, allowing LeJeune to score before the tag was applied to Ashby.
To the contrary, a two-run third inning was squarely Edwin's fault. After getting the first guy to ground out, Edwin hit the next batter, allowed Reed a base hit and walked Chris Richburg to juice the bases. The nightmare wasn't over, though. Edwin walked the next batter, forcing in a run. But pitching coach Chad Tidwell chose to stay with him. Big mistake. Edwin bean-bagged the next batter, putting the Raiders up 5-1.
"I told coach Tidwell, 'You want me to talk to them or you? If I talk to them you might have nine guys cry and two consider suicide,'" Birmingham said.
UNM still had chances.
Down 6-2, Dane Hamilton led off the inning by singling. With two outs, Brian Cavazos-Galvez leaned into a pitch and sent it motoring toward the left-field fence, except the ball tailed off, hitting inches below the top of the fence and staying inside the ballpark. Instead of a two-run home run, Cavazos-Galvez only got a double. Justin Howard struck out on the Lobos' next at-bat to end the inning.
"I don't know if I've ever seen a ball hit that hard. He smoked it," said Hamilton, who was 3-of-5 from the plate and was only one of two Lobos that turned in a decent performance. "It's just one of those things. We came out flat."
But it probably should have never been that close. Texas Tech loaded the bases on four occasions but left eight men on base. The Lobos left 12.
Chad Bettis closed the game for the Red Raiders. He went 3 1/3 innings, striking out five.
"He's probably one of the top pitchers we've seen this year," Hamilton said.
