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NM United blanks San Antonio FC

Andrew Gunn/ @agunnwrites/ Daily Lobo | May 6

For the first time in their brief existence, New Mexico United stands alone at the top. The expansion club recorded an emphatic 3-0 win over visiting San Antonio FC (3-5-1) on a gorgeous Cinco de Mayo evening, playing in front of a record 15,023 at Isotopes Park. The result saw New Mexico (4-1-5) claim sole control of first place in the USL Championship's Western Conference with 17 points through 10 matches.

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Baseball: Lobos overcome multiple errors to take down Grand Canyon

Robert Maler | May 1

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.

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Women's Basketball: Lobos add two more to 2019 recruiting class

Cameron Goeldner | May 1

Mike Bradbury wasted no time filling his two newly vacated scholarships, replacing guards Madi Washington and Quincy Noble with graduate transfer Ciani Cryor and freshman Celine Dupont. Cryor will wear her third Division I jersey when she suits up for the Lobos in the fall, joining the program after a season at Georgia Tech and the last two at Rutgers. Last year for Rutgers she averaged 8.1 points, 5.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game. Cryor will provide the Lobos with extra insurance at point guard with Aisia Robertson expected to miss at least the first half of the season recovering from a torn ACL she suffered in the regular season final.

Sports

Nail-biting match ends in draw for United

Andrew Gunn | April 29

"If you're a fan, you can't ask for anything more... that's for sure." New Mexico United head coach Troy Lesesne summarized with admirable clarity his club's 3-3 draw with the Portland Timbers 2 at Isotopes Park on Friday night. A matchup between two teams atop the Western Conference, the fixture was a first-rate experience of the mercurial nature of competitive soccer. The 90 minutes were fraught with wild swings of emotion for the record 12,921 in attendance — confidence, frustration and despair gave way to euphoria as a last-gasp equalizer from United forward Kevaughn Frater rescued a point for the home side.

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Baseball: Lobos cover all the bases in Fresno

Robert Maler | April 28

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.

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Baseball: Texas Tech breaks through stalemate to best Lobos

Robert Maler | April 25

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.

Sports

New Mexico United lose 2-1 on the road to Reno

Andrew Gunn | April 20

"All things must pass — none of life's strings can last." So sang George Harrison on his seminal composition in 1970, and so ended New Mexico United's season-opening undefeated streak at Greater Nevada Field on Saturday night as Reno 1868 FC handed the visitors a 2-1 loss. United (3-1-4) seemed destined to pick up the road draw after effectively shutting down Reno (3-1-3) for most of the second half, but the fates had other designs. Duke Lacroix sealed the win and crushed the spirits of the New Mexico side with an 89th minute curler from the top of the penalty area, granting the hosts three points by the narrowest of margins.

Sports

Men's Basketball: Former top-100 recruit officially named a Lobo

Robert Maler | April 19

Former ESPN top-100 basketball recruit JJ Caldwell was officially announced as an addition to the University of New Mexico men's basketball team on Friday, according to a release. The release said Caldwell will join the team as a junior, transferring to UNM after previously playing with the Texas A&M Aggies. He is immediately eligible to play and will begin the final two years of his eligibility at the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

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Baseball: Lobos blow late lead, lose to Aggies in extras

Robert Maler | April 18

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.

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Men's Basketball: Anthony Mathis to return for another season

Cameron Goeldner | April 18

Anthony Mathis will return for one more season. The sharpshooter has been granted a season of competition waiver by the NCAA, which Geoff Grammer of the Albuquerque Journal reports is due to his usage by former head coach Craig Neal during the 2016-17 season. "I’m incredibly blessed and fortunate to be able to play another year of college basketball and continue my academic journey," Mathis said in a tweet. "I look forward to getting back on the court and starting graduate school."

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New Mexico United: Undefeated streak continues with 5-1 victory over Real Monarchs SLC

Andrew Gunn | April 15

The train from Spain stayed mainly on frame. New Mexico United's undefeated start to their inaugural season continued Saturday night at Isotopes Park as the club humiliated visiting Real Monarchs of Salt Lake City to the tune of 5-1. Spaniard Santi Moar, the reigning USL Championship player of the month, recorded his first professional career hat trick to lead the home side to a cruise control victory.

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Baseball: Lobos drop two of three against Nevada; fall to last place in MW standings

Robert Maler | April 14

This weekend, Nevada baseball accomplished what the Lobos could not — take the rubber match of the series and get back in the Mountain West race. After getting swept in a three-game series by conference leaders San Jose State, the University of New Mexico baseball team found itself facing an uphill climb. But playing host to the visiting Wolf Pack, who came to Albuquerque with a 6-9 conference record gave the Lobos hope that they could make an upward move.

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Baseball: Nevada shuts out Lobos in game two of series

Robert Maler | April 14

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.

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Baseball: Nevada strikes out in game one as Lobo starting pitcher sets new career-high

Robert Maler | April 14

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.

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Softball: Lobos narrowly avoid being no-hit in loss to UTEP

Cameron Goeldner | April 11

The University of New Mexico Softball team barely avoided being no-hit by the UTEP Miners on Tuesday in a midweek non-conference matchup, losing 7-1. UTEP got on the board immediately off of Lobos starter Kiana Spencer, as Kacey Duffield double to bring home leadoff hitter Ariel Blair to put the Miners up 1-0. They would add two more runs to their total to take a 3-0 lead before the Lobos ever came up to bat.

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Albuquerque Isotopes: Elliot Soto's first multi-homer game paces 'Topes in win

Cameron Goeldner | April 9

Elliot Soto has never hit more than two home runs in a season as a professional baseball player. In Monday's series finale against the Salt Lake Bees he equaled that total in one afternoon in the Isotopes 9-4 victory. "Definitely haven't done it in pro ball before," Soto said. "I can't remember ...

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Softball: Lobos welcome UTEP for Tuesday afternoon contest

Cameron Goeldner | April 9

The University of New Mexico Softball team will return to home turf Tuesday afternoon at 3 p.m., as they welcome the UTEP Miners (10-26) to town for a non-conference matchup prior to an off weekend. The two teams met earlier this year, with the Lobos claiming a 15-6 victory in the first game of ...

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Albuquerque Isotopes: 'Topes ride bats to first win of the season

Cameron Goeldner | April 8

After a 0-for-5 start on Opening Day, Sam Hilliard was able to shake off the jitters and put together a 1-for-2 day at the plate, but the real value in his performance doesn't show in the at-bats. He walked three times and added a double in addition to scoring three runs in a 7-4 victory over the Salt Lake Bees.

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Softball: Utah State takes two of three from UNM

Cameron Goeldner | April 7

In the series opener on Friday night, the Lobos were finally able to put some runs on the board, but they just couldn't quite find enough in a 7-6 loss to Utah State. They outhit Utah State nine to six, but four USU homers, which accounted for all seven of their runs, proved to be the difference. Kianna Spencer started in the circle for the Lobos, pitching three innings and giving up five runs on four hits, as well as a walk and three strikeouts. UNM struck first, as a Cameryn O'Grady double in the top of the first drove home Aleyah Wilbon to give the Lobos a 1-0 lead. The Aggies answered right back, however, with a solo shot in the bottom half of the inning tying the game at one. Utah State took the lead in the second with a two-run home run from Bailey Lewis and never looked back.

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Baseball: Lobos victim of three-game Spartan sweep

Robert Maler | April 7

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.