The University of New Mexico baseball team couldn’t grab a win in Lubbock, Texas against No. 6 Texas Tech on Tuesday afternoon. Instead, the Red Raiders defended home turf and beat the Lobos decisively, 12-4.
New Mexico was able to produce a lead in the top of the fourth inning, going up 4-3, but Texas Tech quickly recovered and tacked on a multitude of insurance runs in the latter innings of play.
Texas Tech got on the score board first, tallying three runs in the bottom of the second inning, though its offensive production in that time was highlighted by a two RBI double from outfielder Cody Farhat to put the home team up 3-0.
But New Mexico didn’t leave any room for error and quickly tied the game up at three apiece in the top of the third inning. After outfielder Luis Gonzalez grounded out to lead off the inning, Danny Collier – who was the designated hitter against Texas Tech – singled up the middle. Collier eventually reached third base on two wild pitches and later drove in by third baseman Carl Stajduhar’s RBI single. From there, infielder Hayden Schilling and outfielder Andre Vigil both contributed RBI’s of their own, scoring Stajduhar and outfielder Jared Mang.
The fourth inning was tallied by one run each for Texas Tech and New Mexico. But Collier scored on an RBI double courtesy of first baseman Jack Zoellner.
As the Lobos’ offense fell into a decline, Texas Tech’s only got better in the later innings of play.
in the bottom of the fifth inning, Texas Tech, tallied three runs to put them up 7-4 against the Lobos. The inning, however, was highlighted by a two shot home run to right field by infielder Michael Davis.
After racking up two hits and no runs in the previous inning, the sixth would only see the Lobos tally one hit and, again, no runs. But for the Red Raiders, two more runs were added to its lead to make it 9-4 for the home team.
Neither team scored in the seventh inning, and reliever Drew Gillespie contributed to a 1-2-3 inning for the Lobos.
Texas Tech again came out swinging in the bottom of the eighth inning, adding three more runs.
New Mexico couldn’t score in the top of the ninth inning, and fell to Texas Tech 12-4. This marked the second time the Lobos have lost to the Red Raiders on Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park this season.
Despite the loss, the Lobos contributed 13 hits in the game. Vigil led the Lobos at the plate, going 3-for-4 with one RBI. Both Gonzalez and Collier had three hits, though Collier added on two runs as part of his efforts. The loss was tallied onto reliever Austin Isenhart’s record, as he gave up four runs on five hits in 1.1 innings on the mound.
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Texas Tech tallied less hits (11) than New Mexico, but the Lobos left 16 runners on base in the game, tying a season high. Head coach Ray Birmingham seemed to acknowledge his team can hit, but expects them to produce more when a runner is in position to score.
"We hit the ball today, now we just need to do it a bit better with guys in scoring position," Birmingham said in a press release. "We had our chances, but a few mistakes here and there cost us."
Up next for the Lobos is a three-game series at home against Missouri State, spanning from Thursday through Saturday. First pitch for the series opener is at 6:30 p.m. The game can be heard live at ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women's basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz
