Peterson leads Lobos, MWC

tromeros@unm.edu

Sophomore third baseman DJ Peterson is crushing baseball for the Lobos.

Peterson is near the top in the Mountain West Conference categories of batting average (.437), slugging percentage (.765), on-base percentage (.490), hits (80), RBIs (57), home runs (13) and total bases (140). Thanks to Peterson’s production, the Lobos rank near the top of the MWC in most offensive categories.

This kind of production is nothing new for Peterson. Last year, he led UNM in several offensive categories and was named to the 2011 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Freshman All-American Team and to the 2011 Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team. Peterson also set an NCAA record for the most doubles hit by a freshman, with 32.

Senior infielder Kyle Stiner said Peterson is a key cog in the offense because of the way he hits the ball.

“When you have a guy hitting like that, our offense is going to be there whether it’s everyone or him,” Stiner said. “It helps tremendously having a guy like him in our lineup.”

Head coach Ray Birmingham said he doesn’t fret about scoring runs because of hitters like Peterson.

“I don’t worry about hitting so much,” he said. “I only worry about pitching and bunting.”

In the offseason, Peterson made the move from first to third base. He said the adjustment has gone smoothly, but thinks there is room to improve.

“The more repetition you get, the more comfortable you get at something,” Peterson said.

This past series against UNLV, Peterson went 6-14 at the plate with 10 RBIs and three home runs. In the series finale, he had his fourth multidinger game and pushed his hit streak to a career-high of 20 games.

Birmingham said Peterson will be fine, but knows the team needs other players to be on point in order for the Lobos to have a chance at claiming the regular-season championship.

“DJ is DJ, but he’s just one part of the lineup,” he said.