Make it 116 consecutive games the Lobos have won when leading after the eighth inning.
New Mexico's starter Colton Thomson was cruising through five innings before the Patriots were able to finally get to UNM’s ace. Dallas Baptist exploded in the bottom of the sixth to bring them within shouting distance of the Lobos late in the ballgame.
However, close was all DBU would manage in the contest as New Mexico ran away with a 12-6 victory.
Head coach Ray Birmingham called righty Christian Tripp from the bullpen in a tight contest. The tall freshman showed no signs of inexperience in his first two innings of work.
The UNM reliever ran into some trouble in the bottom of the eighth inning, but senior Alex Estrella came aboard to save the day after Tripp allowed a leadoff single followed by a walk. Though the righty couldn’t quite finish the contest for his eighth save of the year, he got the Lobos out of trouble in a big spot.
The day started off well for the Lobos who scored two runs in the first off a hard hit triple from junior DH Chris DeVito off the top of the right field wall.
DeVito would add to his RBI total with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, plating the first three runs of the contest.
Luis Gonzalez, co-MVP of the Mountain West tournament, stepped up and continued swinging his hot bat. The sophomore laced one to right center field for a double and would advance to third on a throwing error.
DBU (41-18) would commit yet another error in the top of the fifth on a single by freshman Jared Mang who would not be credited with the RBI on his single to left.
The scoring parade wouldn’t cease for New Mexico as freshman Andrew Pratt picked up another homerun in the postseason, for his fifth of the year. His solo shot gave UNM a healthy 6-0 advantage heading into the bottom of the sixth.
Just when UNM (39-21) thought it had all of the momentum, a three run shot gave the Patriots life to make the game close again.
With the score 7-5 heading into the top of the ninth inning, the Lobo bats brought across five insurance runs to put the game back out of reach.
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Thomson picked up his eighth victory on the year, and his second straight win of the postseason, following his complete game gem to garner the other half of the co-MVP award.
Junior Carson Schneider didn’t pick up the save, despite getting the final three outs of the contest because of the Lobos big lead at the bottom of the ninth.
The Lobos will play Texas Tech (42-16) Saturday at 6 p.m. MT. New Mexico is 1-2 against the Red Raiders, 0-1 against the No. 5 team in the nation on their home field.
Dallas Baptist will play Fairfield in the elimination game Saturday at 2 p.m. MT.
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.
