The University of New Mexico baseball team had rattled off six straight wins, including a couple of improbable come-from-behind ones against Arizona and San Jose State, but it came to an end on Sunday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field.
New Mexico ( 8-4, 2-1 MW) took the first two games in its conference home series, dispatching of San Jose State by a 14-2 count on Friday and stunning the Spartans thanks to a two-run throwing error in the bottom of the ninth to escape with a 7-6 victory on Saturday.
But San Jose State flipped its fortune, despite UNM building an early 3-0 lead, as SJSU beat New Mexico 22-18 in a wild game that set a new record as the longest 9-inning game in school history at four hours and 52 minutes.
The Lobos put the first run on the board in the bottom of the first when Justin Watari and Hayden Schilliing executed a double-steal and Watari grabbed home.
UNM starting pitcher Brian Coffey found his way out of some trouble in the top of the second when the Spartans had runners on second and third with one out, getting a strike out and eventually inducing a fly out to end the threat.
But then the San Jose bats awoke.
The Spartans scored at least one run in six of the following seven innings, including an eight-run fourth that busted the game wide open. By that time, Coffey had already been yanked and the Lobos had run through four pitchers before finally stopping the offensive onslaught.
Things settled down a bit, but San Jose State State was able to pick up a couple of insurance run at go ahead 15-4 after picking up a run in both the sixth and seventh inning.
And the Spartans would need those runs and more to get the win.
New Mexico exploded for an eight-run inning of its own to slash into the SJSU lead, cutting it to 15-12 through seven innings played.
In that inning, Spartan pitchers were called for four balks — not walks — balks...with a 'b'. Sometimes a pitcher might have something off with his delivery that subjects him to being called for the infraction, but there umpires made the call on three different pitchers.
Those gifts, coupled with some heads up base runners allowed the Lobos to keep inching closer. And designated hitter Jeff Deimling cleared the bags with a 3-run shot to make it 15-11 before a final balk resulted in the eighth run of the inning.
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Unfortunately for UNM, the Spartans never stopped adding runs. SJSU got the first two runners on base without the ball even making it into the outfield. An sharply hit infield single and a throwing error that brought the first baseman off the bag was just the start of trouble in the eighth inning.
San Jose State scored three runs in that inning to make the score 18-12 and the Lobos faced a new challenge as the clock ticked near 4:30 p.m. A curfew on the game prevented a new inning from starting after 4:30, meaning UNM needed to get a couple of quick runs and get out of the inning or be faced with the reality that the eighth would be the last inning played.
New Mexico was able to get two runs across and get the ninth underway with just a few minutes to spare, though it still trailed 18-14.
San Jose State was able to make a comeback even more improbable, getting four more runs on the board in the top of the ninth.
One critical play came when the Spartans had runners on the corners with just one out.
San Jose State baited New Mexico catcher Ediberto Reyes into trying to throw out Kellen Strahm, who was attempting to steal second, sending Richard Kabasinskas from third to steal home as soon as he did.
So instead of letting Strahm have the bag and potentially walking the bases loaded to try to force a double-play ball, both men were safe and the double play was not in effect. After a strikeout, the Lobos still had a chance to get out of the inning in pretty good shape. But UNM gave up another run before Troy Viola redeemed himself from Saturday's game-ending error with a 2-run blast to right-center.
San Jose State had not hit a home run all season long, but put three over the wall against the Lobos on Sunday — the final one giving the Spartans a 22-14 cushion.
Down to its final three outs, New Mexico rallied again, earning a lead off walk and getting a double before laying down a sacrifice grounder to plate one run.
Tyler Kelly singled home another run before the Lobos hit into a fielder's choice for a second out and head coach Ray Birmingham sent true freshman Zack Doak into the game for his first collegiate at bat.
And the young pinch hitter wasted no time taking his bat off his shoulder, launching the first pitch he'd seen in his college career high into the air and well over the wall in left field to cut the lead to 22-18.
"We told him it was coming," Birmingham said about the conversation prior to Doak's first plate appearance. "Trust me, you're getting a fastball down the (middle), hit it out."
Doak did just that.
But ultimately, it wasn't enough as San Jose State was able to track down a fly out to finally put an end to the game and deny the Lobos a series sweep at home.
Birmingham said he San Jose State is a really good team and expects them to be competing with New Mexico for the league title later in the season, and he was pleased that his squad didn't pack it in when they were down by 11 and kept fighting to the end.
"That's the good thing about this team," the head coach said. "They are not overly talented, but they will fight."
The two teams combined to throw 434 pitches in the game over 114 plate appearances from a total of 39 players — including 15 different pitchers — who saw action and got into the box score.
Despite the loss, Lobo centerfielder Jared Mang extended his hitting streak to eight games with his single in the seventh. Deimling wound up with two home runs and a game-high six RBI in the game.
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.
