New Mexico head coach Ray Birmingham has yet another accolade to place on his mantle following UNM’s 10-5 win over San Diego State on Friday night.
Birmingham now has 300 wins while at the helm of New Mexico’s baseball program.
“It’s a neat thing,” Birmingham said in a UNM release following Friday’s victory. “Any time you reach any milestone as a coach it's rewarding.”
It was the Aztecs who jumped on the board first with a three-run second inning off Lobo lefty Carson Schneider. Though three runs were charged to Schneider’s tab, none of them were earned due to a throwing error by Friday’s starter.
Schneider threw 5.1 innings, allowing three base hits, four walks and striking out three on the evening.
New Mexico (28-12, 15-4 MW) was able to respond quickly to SDSU in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of a fielding error by Aztec third baseman Andrew Brown. Chris DeVito was also able to capitalize on the inning, picking up an RBI single en route to a three-hit performance.
As the Lobos have been doing all year long, the bats were able to explode for a big inning, this time in the bottom of the fourth.
Centerfielder Luis Gonzalez, second baseman Jared Holley and DeVito were all able to pick up an RBI before Carl Stajduhar continued swinging his hot stick at the plate with a two-RBI single, breaking the game open 7-2 heading into the fifth.
Schneider would pitch through the fifth and hand the ball over to tall-righty Christian Tripp. Tripp went through the rest of the sixth unscathed before allowing an earned run in the top of the seventh inning.
The Lobos would provide some more insurance for its relief pitcher, plating three more runs in the bottom of the eighth.
DeVito was able to pick up his third RBI on the day, followed by Stajduhar’s two run blast to propel UNM’s lead 10-4. The two hitters in the heart of the New Mexico lineup went 6-for-10, collecting seven RBIs and two runs.
Schneider (7-1) improved his ERA to a cool 3.47 as Tripp recorded his second save of the season in 3.2 innings of work to give the other hurlers in the Lobo bullpen some rest.
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UNM and San Diego State (11-24, 4-9 MW) will face off again on Saturday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field for game two at 2 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.
