bcall@unm.edu
In a battle of pitching versus offense, pitching won out.
Unfortunately for the UNM softball team, it was the arms of San Diego State’s Rebecca Arbino and Bailey Micetich that kept the Lobos’ bats at bay as the Aztecs rolled to a three-game sweep this weekend at Lobo Field.
SDSU won Friday’s contest 8-3, before dropping UNM 12-6 and 7-0 on Saturday and Sunday.
Head coach Erica Beach said MWC-leading San Diego State showed why it’s the team who finishes in the top of conference standings each year.
“We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough series for us,” she said. “We feel that pain a little bit, but hats off to them. They hit the ball well and played amazing defense. They did the things needed to win ball games.”
With the wins, the Aztecs improve to 25-19 and 6-0 in Mountain West action to take over sole possession of first place.
Meanwhile, the Lobos have now lost six straight games to fall to 24-16 and 0-3 in conference.
Beach said it was the arms of Micetich and Arbino who dominated during the series.
“We had a difficult time hitting Micetich and Arbino, and we couldn’t get clutch hits to string things together and put runs on the board,” she said. “For the most part, we fought hard and we did some of the things that we want to see on a regular basis. We had a lot of energy, but we just weren’t able to close it out.”
Arbino — who boasts a MWC-leading 2.16 earned-run average — pitched seven innings of scoreless ball and allowed just six hits in Sunday’s contest to spur on an Aztec win. Micetich — whose own 2.39 ERA is good enough for second-best in the conference — used placement and precision to keep UNM’s hitters off balance and guessing. The Aztec pitching duo combined for 12 strike outs in 20 innings this weekend.
Beach said it was UNM’s own pitching that struggled on the weekend.
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“We’re throwing too many middle pitches,” she said. “That’s the biggest problem for us right now. They are a good enough lineup that if you throw it down the middle, they’re going to hit it.”
Moving forward, UNM faces off against Boise State in a three-game series this weekend. Boise State is currently in second place in MWC standings.
Beach said that after being swept by SDSU, wins against the Broncos this weekend will be all the more important.
“We’re playing like we’re afraid of losing right now,” she said. “We have to let go of it and play like we did at the beginning of the season. I challenged them for the rest of conference and hopefully they will respond positive and come out fired up and ready to go for the rest of the season.”
