Pitcher-Perfect Ending

The UNM baseball team’s pitching staff has given head coach Ray Birmingham fits all season.

The Lobos’ pitching was so bad last week, Birmingham is lucky the stress didn’t give him a nervous breakdown.
But thanks to right-handed pitcher Bobby Mares’ terrific performance on Sunday, Birmingham can relax.

The Lobos won 12-7 on Friday and 8-5 on Saturday against San Diego State. UNM, 17-9 overall and 4-2 Mountain West Conference, finished a three-game sweep with a 5-4 win on Sunday at Isotopes Park.

“The pitching — that’s the thing I have been bitching about — it was great today,” Birmingham said. “I think we have to be a little bit better on the back end. It’s still a little shaky. You know — a lead off walk in the ninth? You can’t have that. You can’t do that. We have got to get better. But Bobby pitched his ass off, and he was focused on hitting his spots. That kid’s a freshman. He is going to be a great Lobo.”

Perhaps it is the start of a great career for Mares.
Mares pitched 6.1 innings, gave up four hits and three walks.

But more impressive were his six strikeouts that racked up over the first four innings, which included seating the first two Aztec batters of the day.
“I just tried to pound the zone low, and they got some guys that hit,” Mares said. “Obviously, the middle of the order, they have got some big guys. But I tried to stay low in the zone, and I figured if I stayed low they weren’t going to hit any out.”
Mares was on point from the first pitch, but it took UNM a few innings to get the bats going.
After Mares struggled in the top half of the third, the Lobo offense got its act together.

In the bottom of the fourth, Justin Howard hit a solo home run off SDSU pitcher Ethan Miller over the left wall that cut SDSU’s lead to 3-1.
Howard said the game was moving too fast for him and he wanted to slow it down.
“I needed to see the ball for a long time,” Howard said. “(Miller) gave me a fast ball and I put a good swing on it. Anybody we play now is marking me down in their scouting report. They are definitely pitching to me tougher, and I just got to take what I can get and do what I can.”
The Lobos added two runs each in the fifth and sixth innings to gain a 5-3 lead.

“We are changing our mascot to ‘rally,’” Birmingham said. “We are the ‘Rally-bos,’ and we have got to get a rally monkey from somewhere.”
San Diego State made things a little bit scary for UNM in the eighth inning. Brandon Meredith hit a solo homer off Kenny Toves, who replaced Mares in the seventh inning, pulling Aztecs to within one.

But the UNM bullpen came through for Birmingham. Closer Gera Sanchez capped the ninth with a 4-6-3 double play.
“It was really huge for us as far as standings and as well as our team,” Howard said. “The sweep definitely brought the team closer together and has given us confidence. Maybe now we can roll through conference and come out in first place.”