Following a successful stretch at home against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys, the Albuquerque Isotopes looked to build on that momentum going into their series with the Salt Lake Bees. Albuquerque had its moments, with room to improve as they split the series 3-3.
The Albuquerque Isotopes faced off against the Sugar Land Space Cowboys last week in a homestand following a tough road trip with stops in Salt Lake City and Tacoma. However, Albuquerque looked rejuvenated this time after those rough outings, taking the series from the Space Cowboys 4-2.
The Lobos returned to Santa Ana Star field after their weekend series win against the University of Nevada, Las Vegas for a rematch with the Texas Tech University Red Raiders who run-ruled them the last time these teams matched up and ultimately crushed the Lobos again, 10-5. The game began with Ethin Woltz, the first of 10 pitchers the Lobos threw in this bullpen game, spinning two scoreless innings while Lobos designated hitter Damian Garcia started scoring with a sacrifice fly in the first.
It was a bittersweet moment on Santa Ana Star Field on May 15-17, as the University of New Mexico Lobos played their final regular season series against the Fresno State University Bulldogs. When the series was all said and done the Lobos said goodbye to the regular season and set their eyes on the Mountain West Tournament. The Lobos started the series out with high energy and were ready to make their last home series count, for themselves and fans.
The Albuquerque Isotopes secured a 5-2 victory against the Salt Lake Bees for the fourth game of the series on Friday, May 2. The Bees were in the driver's seat at the start of the game, leading the series 2-1 after defeating the Isotopes 8-3 in the third game of the series the day before.
On April 25-27, the University of New Mexico Lobos baseball team went up against the San Jose State Spartans. The Lobos started the series opener on April 25 in the right rhythm, batting in six runs in the first inning. They then continued to put up a large number of runs on the board.
The University of New Mexico baseball may be in last place in the Mountain West, but still have a decent shot at catapulting up the standings with the bottom four teams being separated by just one game in the loss column. New Mexico suffered a loss, picked up a win and played to a tie against the conference's top team, Fresno State, on the road over the weekend and returned home to start an eight-game home stand. Although the first two games on the docket were scheduled against Grand Canyon University, a non-conference foe, UNM didn't appear to have an easy task on its hands. GCU entered Tuesday's matchup against the Lobos riding a seven-game winning streak — which included sweeps at home and away — sandwiched around a big win in Arizona.
Those are the options — although a tie is rare — when playing college baseball and the Lobo baseball team and Fresno State played three games over the weekend and got a different result each time. Fresno State entered the series as the Mountain West leaders, sitting atop the conference standings and occupying one of the top four spots that the Lobos are hoping to climb into before the regular season ends. The Lobos got on the scoreboard first, but the Bulldogs protected their home field at Bob Bennett Stadium on Friday — breaking through in the bottom of the first for five runs as the Lobos were forced to use three pitchers just to get out of the inning.
Texas Tech baseball left Albuquerque with a split against the University of New Mexico baseball team earlier in the month. And with Wednesday's meeting between the two squads getting cancelled, Tuesday night wound up being the final scheduled meeting — carrying the additional bragging rights of winning the head-to-head season series. No. 15 Texas Tech played host this time around, welcoming the Lobos into its home stadium at Rip Griffin Park by recording the first three outs of the game on just 10 pitches, despite UNM getting a base runner. Red Raider starting pitcher Mason Montgomery retired lead-off man Justin Watari to start the game before hitting Tyler Kelly to put him on. But induced a double-play ball to make it a 1-2-3 top first to get things going.
The Lobos and Aggies squared off on a baseball diamond for the second time this season, and history repeated itself as NMSU gave up a sizable lead — only to reclaim it later and pull out a victory. New Mexico gave up a grand slam in the opening inning before tying things up in the first meeting and allowed the Aggies to get on the scoreboard early again on Tuesday night at Santa Ana Star Field. The Lobos got an immediate response in the bottom of the first inning, starting things off with a Justin Watari single and a Tyler Kelly triple to even things up at 1-1. Sophomore first baseman Connor Mang began an outstanding individual game effort with his first hit of the day — a one-one double to left-center — to plate Kelly and put the Lobos on top 2-1 after one inning of play.
The University of New Mexico baseball team fell back into a last-place tie in the Mountain West standings, joining Nevada after getting shut out 3-0 by the Wolf Pack on Saturday afternoon. Runs were hard to come by as the teams combined to tally just 10 hits for the game and New Mexico (16-18, 7-10 MW) continued to strikeout plenty of Nevada batters, but a first-inning home run by the Wolf Pack was all the offense they needed as they earned a split through the first two games of a three-game set.
Nevada baseball got on the scoreboard first, but never really seemed to be able to catch up to the stuff Lobo starting pitcher Drew Gillespie's was dealing. The Wolf Pack broke through with two runs in the top of the first inning, benefitting from a lead-off double and a single to put runners on the corners. Nevada duplicated that effort in reverse to take the 2-0 lead, but Gillespie sat down the next two batters to end the threat.
With first place on the line, the University of New Mexico baseball team got swept on the road by league-leading San Jose State over the weekend. New Mexico (15-17, 6-9 MW) entered the series having gotten some quality starts from the pitching staff over the previous week, though it didn't always lead to victory.
It looked as though it was going to be Texas Tech baseball's day for the second game in a row over the Lobos, on UNM’s home field early Wednesday afternoon. But after going down 8-2 to the Red Raiders, who put together a six-run inning in the third, a mix of relief pitching and timely hitting helped the Lobos make the improbable comeback, as they went on to win 12-9 and split the series against the 11th best team in the nation. But UNM (15-14) didn’t shy away from Texas Tech’s (19-8) large lead and was able to put up a run each in the first and second innings. The Lobos big break came in the bottom of the fifth when they put together their first three-run inning.
The University of New Mexico baseball team eeked out a close one on Friday, but got shut out on Saturday before it was able to bounce back and take the rubber match on Sunday after in Las Vegas, Nevada. New Mexico ran its overall record to 14-13 overall and 6-6 in Mountain West play with a 7-4 victory over UNLV on Sunday afternoon to take two of three over the Runnin' Rebels and win the series.
It is not very often one sees a team steal three bases in a single inning and somehow manage to find a way not to score. But that's what happened to the University of New Mexico baseball team Tuesday night in the top of the first inning at Presley Askew Field down against its rival New Mexico State Aggies.
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.
The University of New Mexico baseball team saw its season-high losing streak extended to five as the San Diego State Aztecs imposed its will in a 19-3 blowout over the Lobos. New Mexico fell to 3-5 in Mountain West Conference play and 11-11 overall as the Aztecs raced out to an early advantage and never took their foot off the gas pedal.
The Lobos found themselves on the wrong side of a couple of overturned calls Friday night as the University of New Mexico baseball team fell 4-2 to the San Diego State Aztecs at Santa Ana Star Field. New Mexico (11-10, 3-4 MW) appeared to be cruising with Justin Slaten dealing on the mound. The right-hander got the start and sat down the first nine Aztec batters — striking out four along the way. But the Lobos were not able to capitalize offensively and stranded three base runners through three innings, keeping the game a scoreless tie.
The University of New Mexico baseball team trailed by a score of 8-0 before rallying for six runs late in the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Lobos were held scoreless in the bottom of the ninth and suffered defeat for the second straight day at the hands of No. 25 Oklahoma. UNM (11-9, 3-3 Mountain West) was defeated 8-1 on Tuesday evening, in a lopsided affair which saw the Sooners put on a pitching clinic. The Sooners were able to go up 3-1 before exploding in the sixth inning for four runs.
Solutions by The State News
