The youth and inexperience on this year’s New Mexico men’s basketball team became a consistent thread throughout the season. Almost every time head coach Craig Neal met with the media, he made mention to it. Moving forward, Neal said, the Lobos won’t be able to rely on the youth theme next year. Simply put, he said they can’t.
The New Mexico men’s and women’s track and field will add many athletes to the roster as the team hosts its first and only tournament as the team begins its outdoor season Saturday at the Don Kirby Tailwind Invitational. The women’s team also adds a new ranking that is tied for the best in the program’s history. It cracked the top 25 in the preseason U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association ranking, coming in at No. 17.
New Mexico will return to league play this weekend against UNLV after taking to the road the past six games. Across those six games on the road, the Lobos only dropped a one-game series against Texas Tech, while the squad was able to sweep Sacramento State on Tuesday, and nearly completed a sweep over SDSU over the weekend.
Nearly three full months into the season, the New Mexico men’s and women’s tennis teams will get a chance to see each other play as both squads compete in Albuquerque on the same weekend for the first time in 2016. Women’s head coach Kelcy McKenna said the team is excited to return home after enduring a six-match road trip in which the team went 2-4. She said the team has continued to get better as the season has progressed.
New Mexico has appointed Mike Bradbury as the sixth head coach for the UNM women’s basketball program. Bradbury will join the Lobos after serving six years at Wright State University to replace former UNM head coach Yvonne Sanchez.
Like many Lobo players before him, shooting guard Elijah Brown will see if he has what it takes to jump to the NBA level. However, the junior-to-be could still maintain his eligibility with the Lobos if that route doesn’t pan out at this time. New Mexico head coach Craig Neal, at his end-of-season press conference Tuesday, announced Brown, who had a breakout first season with the Lobos, will put his name into the NBA draft scheduled for June 23.
New Mexico finished up its two game stint on the road against Sacramento State, completing the early week sweep over the hornets in a 12-3 rout. The Lobos (17-8, 7-2 MW) who have been on a tear as of late, have won 11 of their last 14 contests, dropping only a one-game series in the process.
The New Mexico softball team finished its conference-opening weekend series with the Utah State Aggies on Saturday by shutting them out 4-0. The Lobos claimed two games out of three and won their second consecutive game, improving to 17-12 on the season and 2-1 in Mountain West Conference play. UNM fell to the Aggies 7-4 in the first game Thursday, but then took the second game 13-6 on Friday. Starting pitcher Krissy Fortner was the story of the game on Saturday. She went all seven innings, allowing just three hits and no earned runs in her second start of the season.
After falling to the Utah State Aggies yesterday in their first game in Mountain Conference play, the New Mexico Lobos bounced back Friday Night to even the weekend series with a 13-6 victory. The Lobos came out of the gates swinging, jumping to an early 5-1 lead after two innings.
New Mexico’s Softball team opened up Mountain West play Thursday night, as the team hosted Utah State in a 7-4 loss. The Aggies opened up the scoreboard in the top of the 1st inning, scoring 2 runs off 4 hits and giving Lobos starting pitcher, Colette Robert trouble early on.
Riding a seven game winning-streak, the Lobos will take to the road in Arizona in hopes to continue their triumphant push in just the second season the program has been in place. After playing two matches in Tempe, and Phoenix Arizona, UNM will play three more games in the Grand Canyon State, this time in Tucson, Arizona. The squad is going to play against three opponents – CSUN and No. 7 Arizona on Friday followed by a Saturday matchup against California State University, Bakersfield.
The New Mexico football team may have some new faces and experience some change and adversity, but as the team gets ready for spring practice, the head coach said there will be one clear focus — consistency. In Monday’s press conference, head coach Bob Davie discussed the state of the football program. He said the team continued to show growth and improvement last season and is moving in a positive direction, but one of the biggest obstacles it faced was inconsistency.
New Mexico returns to league play following a high-scoring affair in Lubbock, Texas. Texas Tech jumped all over UNM starter James Harrington, who only lasted 2.1 innings in a 14-10 loss on the road. Harrington threw 61 pitches, allowing eight runs, five of which were earned.
New Mexico brought out the brooms on the back of left-handed pitcher Colton Thomson's gem of a game in an 11-1 rout over San Jose State on Sunday. The game was sailing along in what looked to be a pitchers’ duel between Thomson and Josh Nashed (0-4). However, a rocky 7th inning for Nashed ruined any shot of a Spartan comeback. While every pitcher would like to have the backing of the offense, Thomson received more than enough in this blowout victory in the final game of the series. The seven run bottom of the seventh proved to be plenty for Thomson (2-1), who shut down SJSU in his eight innings pitched, his longest career outing.
Staff Report Despite picking up its biggest wins of the season at the Cal State Fullerton tournament, the New Mexico softball team capped the weekend with only two wins in five games. Opening the tournament on Friday, the Lobos (15-11) lost its first two games in Fullerton, California with a 4-3 10-inning setback to Arkansas then a 6-1 decision to Alabama.
New Mexico’s bat wasn’t as flamboyant as in the first game of the series, but Tyler Stevens tossed a gem to take the series. Granted, UNM jumped on SJSU first on Saturday with two runs in the bottom of the first, but it was Steven who fueled the Lobos in the second conference series of the year.
New Mexico has its sand legs firmly planted in the program’s second season. Prior to the weekend tournament, head coach Jeff Nelson said that the squad expected to win all of the matches it had scheduled.
With one game left in UNM’s only home tournament of the season, the Lobos remain a perfect 3-0 in Albuquerque. UNM (9-3) was able to hand ASU a 4-1 loss, the only loss coming on court one, for New Mexico.
New Mexico’s bats sealed the deal for the squad again as a late eighth inning rally pushed UNM over San Jose State in the series opener. The Lobos and Spartans (6-11, 2-4 MW) headed into the eighth inning locked up at 6-6, when a single and a double at the bottom half of the inning gave UNM the final three runs of the contest and a victory.
Colorado Mesa State has one more shot at getting a point against New Mexico. On the first day of New Mexico’s only home tournament of the season, the Lobos cruised past the Mavericks in a 5-0 sweep on Friday afternoon. It is the second time UNM has swept CMU (0-8).
Solutions by The State News
