Sunday afternoon seemed to be going the same way the first two games of the series did between the University of New Mexico baseball team and San Diego State.
The Lobos (12-11, 4-5 MW) seemed to have momentum going against them and the Aztecs took advantage for the most part and enjoyed an early lead again.
Drew Gillespie got the start on the hill for UNM and sat down seven of the first nine men he faced. But San Diego State pounded out four hits including back-to-back for extra bases and opened up a 3-0 lead over New Mexico heading into the home half of the fourth.
UNM had an answer on Sunday though, refusing to let overturned calls or anything use derail its quest to put together a rally.
Jared Man got a lead-off single to start the frame and Tanner Baker reached on a fielder's choice after Mang ws able to avoid getting tagged to keep runners on the corners. Jeff Deimling singled home Mang in the next at-bat and things seemed to be clicking for UNM to put Lobos on the corners again with only one away.
Ediberto Reyes appeared to belt out a game-tying extra base hit and score two more, but the umpires deliberated and ruled the ball hit the foul pole and was a ground-rule double, taking a run off the board.
In the past, calls like that had seemed to come back to bite the Lobos, but Reese O'Farrell crushed the very next pitch for a double to left-center and brought the run home anyway, batting in Deimling to boot and seizing a 4-3 lead through four.
New Mexico never relented from that point forward, scoring in every subsequent inning except the home eigth.
The Lobos got an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth, when Deimling drew a bases-load walk to bring in the fifth Lobo run of the day — although UNM left some potential runs on the field after hitting into a double play to end the inning.
But New Mexico still had plenty of offense left to spare, breaking out with four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings to pull away with a 13-3 advantage.
San Diego State was able to generate a run in the top of the eighth, but never regained its offensive swagger and failed to rally for anything significant.
New Mexico closed things out in the ninth to take the third and final game of the series, salvaging things and breaking a five game losing streak in the process.
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Gillespie didn't pitch the required amount of innings to qualify for the win, which went to Brian Coffey, who improved to 2-2 on the season. Emond Malachi picked up the save in the lop-sided win as it was a save situation when he initially entered the game.
The trio of pitchers combined for six strikeouts on the day and allowed seven hits over the final five innings. The hit totals for the teams couldn't have been much closer as the Aztecs collected 13 hits on the day, while the Lobos combined to hit 14.
But, New Mexico reversed Saturday's misfortune and made the most of those hits, converting nearly all of them into scores. Jared Mang went 4-for-5 from the plate and drove in a pair of runs, one of four Lobo players to register multiple RBI in the game.
New Mexico will travel down I-25 to face New Mexico State in Las Cruces, on Tuesday, March 26 at 6 p.m.
Robert Maler is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers basketball and baseball and contributes content for various other sports as well. He can be contacted at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Robert_Maler.
