New Mexico’s offense plated five runs, but the pitching staff couldn’t hold No. 23 Fresno State in an 11-5 loss in the series opener on Saturday night.
The Bulldogs sent out its star pitcher Jill Compton (14-4, 2.66 ERA), but the Lobos found success early on at the plate against her. However, poor pitching of their own, as well as some defensive miscues, would lead to the loss for UNM.
With two runners on in the first inning, Fresno State’s Alyssa Villalpando hit a two run shot deep to right center field giving the Bulldogs the early 2-0 lead.
In the bottom half of the inning, freshman catcher Jade Gray had an RBI groundout bringing home Cheyenne Smith for the Lobos’ first run of the game.
In the second inning, Villalpando once again created trouble for the Lobos. With the bases loaded, she floated one into centerfield bringing the runners on second and third home for a stand-up double and a 4-1 Fresno Paige Gumz added another run off an RBI single giving Fresno State an early 5-1 lead to finish off the three-run second inning.
In the bottom half of the second, Michala Erickson with two runners on and two outs hit one past the left-field fence to cut the deficit 5-4.
That was as close as the Lobos would get, however, as Villalpando continued to excel at the plate by extending Fresno State’s lead in the fourth inning, with an RBI single. A defensive miscue by pitcher Tess McPherson when she overthrew the ball to third baseman Jasmine Casados, Villalpando scored off the error and after four innings the Lobos trailed 7-4.
Fresno State added four more runs in the top of the sixth inning, Gumz and Lindsey Willmon had RBI singles. Dominque Jackson had a groundout RBI and Victoria Trevor had an RBI double.
Mariah Rimmer had an RBI single in the seventh inning and add to the Lobos run count but that wouldn’t prove to be enough as they fell to 18-15 (3-4 MW) on the season.
New Mexico was out-hit by Fresno State 17 to 6. Starting pitcher Lauren Soles allowed five hits for five earned runs in 1.2 innings, and the relief corps of Tess McPherson and Krissy Fortner combined to give up six runs on 12 hits while managing only a pair of strikeouts in 5.1 innings of work/
“Our pitching needs to step up for us, we gave too many free bases, and gave up too many big hits but our pitching staff is capable of turning things around,” head coach Ericka Beach said after the game.
New Mexico will look to bounce back Saturday afternoon, as game two of the weekend series will begin at 1 p.m. at Lobo Softball Field.
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Wally Gallart is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @wallyagallart.
