The baseball team’s schedule is as rigorous as ever this weekend.
After losing both games to Stephen F. Austin during the week, the Lobos (10-13) travel to California for a four-game series against Fresno State.
Fresno State won the national championship in 2008, and head coach Ray Birmingham said he expects the team to be tough, but not as good as it was when it won it all.
“(We have played) good teams and this is one of them,” he said. “Right now, I don’t know if they are where they were in the national championship team, in 2008.”
UNM has played five games in the past seven days, and the series against Fresno State includes a double header on Saturday. By Sunday, the Lobos will have played nine games in nine days.
Birmingham said he is going to eliminate midweek games in the future because of the strain it puts on the team.
“I hate midweek games,” Birmingham said. “We’re not going to schedule anymore double midweek games. It’s not smart, it affects your class and your play.”
Fresno State comes into the game with a 13-11 record. All but five of those games were played at home and the games include a 7-4 victory over then-ranked No. 1 Stanford.
The Lobos are 1-4 on the road this season.
Birmingham said it’s going to be difficult to go into their place and get an easy victory.
“This is just another good program with four games at their place, which nobody wants to do, but we’re going to do it because we want to get it all right before we get into conference,” he said.
The Bulldogs are led by Trent Garrison, who is batting .328 with 19 hits and six runs batted in. Kenneth Wise is the offensive threat with 13 runs batted in and two home runs.
Fresno State has hit just six home runs this season, compared to UNM’s 11.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Sophomore first baseman D.J. Peterson leads UNM with five home runs and is batting .462 on the season, with 25 runs batted in.
UNM has allowed 152 runs this season, 17 in its past two games.
Freshman Ryan Padilla is second on the team in hitting, with .424, and is third on the team in runs batted in (RBI), with 15.
He said the team has to step up to stop its two-game losing streak.
“Every game, we’re going out there to win,” Padilla said. “We need to go out there with the same intensity no matter who we’re playing or what day of the week it is.”
Baseball vs. Fresno State
3-30-12 7:30PM
Fresno Calif.
