It was a weekend of firsts for the baseball team.
UNM scored eight runs in the first two innings as it beat No. 19 Texas Christian University in a three game series.
This was the first time in Lobo baseball history UNM beat TCU at home.
It won on Friday 9-8, then lost on Saturday 5-4 before winning the series in the third game, 12-7, on Sunday.
Junior third baseman Kyle Stiner led the team with four hits on Sunday.
“Outside of the conference tournament, they’ve been an enemy of ours and we haven’t done great against them, so it’s nice for them to come here so we can show them what Lobo baseball is all about,” Stiner said.
Prior to this weekend, the teams last met at the MWC championship. The Lobos won that game 4-2 to get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Sunday also marked the first time freshman outfielder Chris Nunez got a collegiate hit. He went 2-1 at the plate and had three runs batted in.
Nunez took some time adjusting to the college game, but he said he has been working on his hitting lately.
“I’ve been working hard in batting practice before the games and in practice, and I finally got my chance to go out there and do it,” Nunez said.
The Lobos scored eight runs in the first two innings, and TCU responded with two in the fifth inning.
With the score 12-4 in the eighth inning, the Horned Frogs rallied with three runs but didn’t have enough for the comeback.
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Nine Lobos were able to get on base. Eight of those hits were off TCU pitcher Brandon Finnegan, who was pulled from the game in the middle of the second inning.
Nunez said that once they start getting hits, the team members started to feed off one another.
“It was a team effort,” he said. “Once we string a couple hits together, it just goes on and on.”
Junior pitcher Alexis Garza got the win on Sunday, to bring his record to 2-1. He struck out three batters and allowed three hits.
UNM had 17 hits. TCU finished with nine hits. Josh Elander led the Horned Frogs, going 2-3 with one run batted in.
The Lobos are now 10-11, after starting the season 2-9. Head coach Ray Birmingham said the team deserved to win after all the hard work it put in the past few weeks.
“There are a lot of great kids on this team and they’re pushing the rock in the same direction,” he said. “What a great win for them. They did a great job.”
