A combination of bullpen woes for New Mexico and the offense of Air Force thriving late dealt the University of New Mexico baseball team a loss in the first of a three-game series Friday night.
The Falcons tied and flew past the Lobos by collecting a total of 13 runs over the final four innings to take an 18-14 win at Santa Ana Star Field.
As a team, the Lobos tallied 18 hits. Second baseman Justin Watari paced the team, going 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and three runs. Jared Mang, Danny Collier and Hayden Schilling also had three each, with Mang contributing three RBI and one run.
Air Force pounded out 20 hits on the night, with 14 of those coming from the sixth inning until the end of the game. None of the 18 Falcon runs came off the deep ball, though the Lobos went yard twice — Carl Stajduhar hit a three run homer to left center in the bottom of the second, and Jack Zoellner followed suit with a solo shot to right field in the fourth inning.
Tyler Stevens — who started on the mound for UNM — allowed five Air Force runs in the first inning of play, but turned things around by holding the Falcons scoreless over the next four innings. He ran into trouble again in the sixth inning and exited the game.
Though Stevens was responsible for giving up nine runs on eight hits, he ended up with a no decision for his efforts. The Lobo offense was clicking, and the team was ahead 12-9 after Stevens was pulled and the top of the sixth ended. They even added another run in the bottom of the frame to stretch the lead to four runs.
But the UNM bullpen didn't fare well, blowing the lead and then some — essentially costing New Mexico the game. Between Chad Smith, Carson Schneider and Christian Tripp, the three relievers allowed nine runs on 12 hits down the stretch.
Tripp, who shouldered the loss, fell to 0-3 on the season after he gave up six runs and seven hits in the last two innings of the game.
Lobo coach Ray Birmingham seemed visibly upset and less than enthused with his team’s performance on the mound after the game.
“If you score 14 runs on a Friday night and lose, you're not going to Omaha,” Birmingham said. “So what I thought was a great pitching staff, (has) got a lot of problems right now.”
After Air Force jumped onto an early 5-0 lead in the first inning, UNM answered back with two runs in the bottom of the frame and score in each of the first six innings.
But Air Force added three runs in the top of the seventh and one in the eighth — while holding the Lobos scoreless in both innings — to eventually tie things up at 13-13.
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Air Force exploded for five runs in the ninth inning to jump ahead to an 18-13 lead, and New Mexico was only able to squeeze out one run in the do-or-die situation, which gave the Falcons the win in game of of the series and their first over the Lobos this season.
Game two is set for Saturday, May 6 at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcasted on 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.
