Baseball: Offense fuels New Mexico to take series against UNLV

New Mexico continued its hot play in a 10-5 win against UNLV on Saturday afternoon.

Playing to the script of Friday night’s affair, the Rebels took an early lead, but only briefly. It was New Mexico’s scorching bats that came back to defend its starting pitching.

Chris DeVito continued his tear at the plate, getting things started with his solo shot to left field, scoring the first run of the game for New Mexico.

The Rebels would answer with two runs in the top of the third, one coming off an error from Jared Holley. Holley had a rough day in the field as he would commit another error later in the contest.

Holley’s defensive woes haven’t affected his time at the plate, however. Head coach Ray Birmingham said he is proud of the way Holley, Zoellner and DeVito have been seeing the ball as of late.

“Chris DeVito is on a great roll. Him and Jack (Zoellner) are doing really well,” Birmingham said on Saturday. “Holley has been clutchy, and Bowers had a clutch hit as well. Jared Holley has been off the charts the last few days.”

That 2-1 lead in the top of the inning would not stand for very long as the Lobos came roaring back with five runs in the bottom of the inning.

Both DeVito and Zoellner would collect two-RBI doubles to push New Mexico ahead 6-2 heading into the fourth.

UNLV starter Cody Roper picked up his first loss of the season (0-1) as he was not able to make it past the bottom of the fifth inning, much like game one starter D.J. Myers. Both pitchers only last 4.2 innings, and Roper was pulled in the bottom of the fifth after allowing seven runs on six hits and walking four.

On the opposing mound, UNM sophomore Tyler Stevens went six full innings, throwing 99 pitches and giving up one earned run. Although four total runs were collected during Stevens’ day, Holley’s two errors wouldn’t count towards the UNM starter's ERA.

New Mexico (19-8, 9-2) will look to complete the sweep and maintain a slim first place lead this afternoon 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.