A late comeback, extra innings and a wild finish garnered a series win for New Mexico during Saturday afternoon’s 14-13 win over Fresno State.
Unlike the opening game of UNM’s three-game home stand, the game went to the offensive side as the Lobos homered six times and collected 11 extra-base hits during Saturday’s four-hour and one-minute contest.
The Bulldogs collected five extra-base hits on the day to put up their 13 runs.
Just by looking at the scoreboard, it was apparent that both teams were wielding the sticks on Saturday, as they combined for 27 total runs and 39 hits in 12 innings of play.
Half of UNM’s 22 hits were awarded to the three and four spots in UNM’s potent lineup as third baseman Carl Stajduhar and Chris DeVito had 11 hits between in them in 14 plate appearances. Nine of the 14 RBIs were also attributed to the two power hitters.
The game started off in an unorthodox fashion as New Mexico plated the first run of the ballgame when Stajduhar legged out a triple in the bottom of the first to plate Luis Gonzalez, who started the game off in center and eventually moved to the hill amidst the lengthy game.
The Lobos would build that lead in the bottom of the third as DeVito smashed one of his three home runs in the bottom of the third inning to take an early 4-0 lead over the Bulldogs.
Right fielder Austin Guibor would collect a sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth to put the Bulldogs (21-11, 9-5 MW) on the board, but Fresno State still trailed 4-1 heading into the bottom of the inning.
The sixth and seventh innings boded well for the visiting Bulldogs as they scored six runs to take a brief 7-4 lead.
New Mexico would tie the game up at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh inning off of a pair of homers from Dalton Bowers and DeVito’s second blast of the day.
Fresno wasn’t done putting up runs after scoring two more in the top of the eighth inning to put the pressure on UNM’s lineup to come through once more in the game.
Stajduhar answered the call on a one-out, full count blast plating himself and second baseman Jared Holley to send the game into extra innings.
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Fresno State would follow the Lobo tie by scoring four runs in the top of the tenth to take a commanding 13-9 lead, as New Mexico had a lot of work to do in the bottom of the tenth inning.
A pair of two-run homers from Luis Gonzalez and DeVito’s third bomb on Saturday would tie the game, yet again.
After a scoreless 11th, Andre Vigil picked up an RBI single to end the game and take the series in walk-off fashion.
UNM (22-9, 11-3 MW) will look to bust out the brooms Sunday in the final game against Fresno State, to take a commanding lead in the conference. Colton Thomson will get the nod for the Lobos at 1 p.m.
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
