assistantsports@dailylobo.com
@JROppenheim
Hours after the New Mexico men’s golf team won the Mountain West Conference title, the Lobos accomplished the same feat on the baseball diamond.
Senior catcher Mitch Garver had six RBIs and two home runs Saturday afternoon at Lobo Field, leading UNM to a 14-7 victory over Air Force. The Lobos’ 12th-straight conference victory completed a three-game sweep over the Falcons.
The win gave UNM at least a share of the MWC regular-season baseball title, and losses by San Diego State and UNLV clinched the title outright. The Lobos secured the crown with two weeks left in the regular season and in the final home game of the season.
“That is a sigh of relief,” said Garver, who finished the game going 4-for-6 at the plate. “(Air Force) is one of the toughest, most threatening teams in the Mountain West and they play hard all nine innings. That’s a big win for us and a big series win.”
Earlier Saturday in Tuscon, Ariz., UNM golf carded an 8-under par 844, winning the MWC men’s golf title by eight strokes over UNLV and San Diego, who tied for second place.
Back in Albuquerque, Garver’s first home run came in the second inning, a three-run blast over the left-field fence that also plated second baseman Sam Haggerty and first baseman D.J. Peterson. The homer followed Garver’s first-inning RBI and outfielder Chase Harris’ second-inning RBI.
Air Force scored three runs in consecutive at-bats in the top of the third, cutting the deficit to 5-4. After shortstop Jared Holley’s third-inning RBI single increased the Lobo lead to 6-4, Garver came in the fourth to nail his second home run over the same left-field fence area. This solo shot then gave UNM a 7-4 advantage.
The Lobos’ other big inning — the sixth — featured a total of four runs by Harris, left fielder Luke Campbell, third baseman Alex Allbritton and Holley. Two of those four runs came off a Harris homer. The runs stymied any momentum Air Force gained with its two runs in the top half of the inning.
Campbell capped UNM’s scoring in the seventh with a RBI triple that scored pinch hitter John Pustay, and a run scored off Allbritton’s RBI single. Air Force’s only other run came in the eighth.
UNM outhit Air Force by a 21-14 margin, and the Falcons committed three errors.
Along with Garver, Harris had a 4-for-6 performance with two runs scored and three RBIs. Allbritton and Peterson both went 3-for-5, Holley was 3-for-4 and Campbell was 2-for-4.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Both teams went deep into their bullpens, bringing in four relief pitchers apiece, and no pitcher threw for more than three innings. The five UNM pitchers combined for 10 strikeouts to Air Force’s four.
Josh Walker earned the pitching win for UNM, his eighth this season, in a relief effort. In three innings he gave up two runs, both earned, off seven hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
Walker replaced starter A.J. Carman, who in 2 2/3 innings gave up four runs, all earned, off five hits. Carman had three strikeouts.
UNM’s three other relievers, Alex Estrella, Jake McCasland and Gabe Aguilar, combined three strikeouts and committed just one walk over 3 1/3 innings. McCasland and Aguilar did not surrender a hit. Estrella gave up two hits, but only one was earned.
“Our bullpen? A lot better, a lot better. Even better than the starting pitching obviously,” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said.
“It’s about getting the ball down in the zone. Walker, when he was down in the zone? Goose eggs. Up in the zone? Crooked number. It’s that easy.”
Air Force starter Steven Trojan was the losing pitcher in 2 2/3 inning of work. He gave up six runs off 10 UNM’s hits. Second baseman Matthew Roberts led Air Force at the plate hitting 3-for-3 with three runs scored and an RBI.
