Sports

Sports

Spirit Program: A glimpse into life as Lobo Louie

Robert Maler and Alanie Rael | April 10

The University of New Mexico's Spirit Program members log countless hours practicing cheers and routines to meet the physical demands of performing tumbles, flips and other feats on game day. Now imagine doing all of those things while having limited vision and mobility and being weighed down by a heavy, bulky suit. That is the case for those who transform into the Lobo Louie and Lobo Lucy mascots that fans see at so many sporting events.

---

Sports

Women’s Basketball: N’Dea Flye becomes second Lobo to transfer after the 2017-18 season

Matthew Narvaiz | April 10

It appears the University of New Mexico women’s basketball team will be losing another player following the conclusion of the 2017-18 season due to a transfer. N’Dea Flye, a freshman guard for the Lobos last season, announced on Twitter Tuesday afternoon her decision to leave the university. Flye would become the second player to transfer out of the program — Mykiel Burleson, a sophomore guard for the Lobos last season, decided to leave UNM too, likely hoping for more playing time elsewhere.

---

Sports

Softball: Rocky start too much to overcome, Lobos lose 12-4 to Rams

Cameron Goeldner | April 10

In the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, the Lobos were able to get the best of Colorado State ace Bridgette Hutton. In Sunday’s series finale, Hutton returned the favor in a 12-4, five inning run rule win. The Rams wasted no time getting scoring started, recording a four run, four hit first inning that was highlighted by a 2 run Haley Donaldson home run that opened the scoring. In the second, the Rams were able to add five more runs to their tally, driving in their fifth run after Jensen Main issued a bases loaded walk to Amber Nelson. The sixth run came across on a fielder's choice hit to shortstop Cameron O'Grady that she was unable to handle while attempting to get the lead runner, resulting in an error and a run scoring. A ground out from Danni Klein brought another run in before Hannah McCorkhill hit a single to center field that brought the other two runs in the inning across, giving Colorado State a 9-0 lead heading into the third inning.

---

Sports

Baseball: UNM swept by Fresno State at home

Matthew Narvaiz | April 8

It likely wasn’t the series the University of New Mexico baseball team had hoped for as the Lobos dropped their fifth straight game — and third in a row to Fresno State — falling by a score of 11-6 on Sunday at Santa Ana Star Field. Game three of series began much the same way as the opening game against the Bulldogs (20-11, 7-8 MW) as the Lobos (12-17-1, 6-9 MW) surrendered a multi-run inning in the top of the first, falling behind 3-0. Freshman Robert Gasser, UNM’s starting pitcher, was able to induce Fresno State center fielder Zach Ashford into a groundout to start the game, but subsequently walked two straight batters before giving up a three-run homer to sophomore Carter Bins to give the Bulldogs the early advantage.

---

Sports

Softball: UNM splits double header with Colorado state

Cameron Goeldner | April 8

After a Friday snowstorm postponed the University of New Mexico softball team’s series opener against Colorado State, the Lobos had to wait until Saturday’s doubleheader to get their first crack at that Rams. The Lobos were able to take the first game 5-3 in ten innings before the Rams answered back with an 8-0 victory in six innings. Game one Jensen Main got the start in the circle for the Lobos in game one, facing off against Colorado State ace Bridgette Hutton. 

---

Sports

Baseball: Lobos drop game one to Fresno State

Matthew Narvaiz | April 7

The University of New Mexico baseball team had a tough time controlling Fresno State’s bats Friday evening. The Bulldogs (18-11, 5-8 MW) managed to pick up 16 hits in the game on their way to a 15-5 victory at Santa Ana Star Field. FSU got off to a quick start at the top of the first inning. Its leadoff hitter was walked, before junior Jeremiah Burks doubled to center field, advancing the runner on first to third base. Then, after a quick out, sophomore Carter Bins doubled again to score both runners on base and make it a two-run game. The Bulldogs added one more run later in the frame, to take a quick 3-0 lead.

---

Sports

Softball: Lobos prep for three-game series in Colorado

Cameron Goeldner | April 5

The University of New Mexico softball team will look to build off of its first win over rival New Mexico State since 2014 as they hit the road to take on the Colorado State Rams in Fort Collins, Colorado in a three-game set scheduled to begin on Friday at 4 p.m. Due to weather concerns in Fort Collins, including an 80 percent chance of snow, the Friday game is in doubt. The Lobos’ head coach Paula Congleton said she is preparing her team for the possibility of playing a doubleheader on Saturday.

---

Sports

Softball: Fortner and Johnson relish in chance to beat rivals

Cameron Goeldner | April 5

In four years on the New Mexico softball team, seniors Krissy Fortner and Chelsea Johnson had never experienced a win over rival New Mexico State. That changed on Tuesday with a 13-4, mercy rule win over the Aggies in Las Cruces. The last time the Lobos beat the Aggies in March of 2014, Johnson was finishing her senior year at Riverside Poly High School in Riverside, California. Fortner, a Farmington native, was enrolled at UNM but not yet a member of the softball team.

---

Sports

Baseball: Lobos to host Fresno State in three-game series

Matthew Narvaiz | April 5

The University of New Mexico baseball team will look to get back on the winning track when they host the Fresno State Bulldogs in a weekend series at Santa Ana Star Field. This isn’t the first meeting between the two teams this season, as FSU hosted UNM (12-14-1, 6-6 MW) Mar. 9-11 and won two off its three home games at Bob Bennett Stadium in Fresno, California. Most recently, however, the Lobos are coming off of a 16-6 loss on Monday at home against the University of Arizona, in which the Lobos cycled through eight pitchers and gave up 18 hits in the process. The Wildcats dominated the Lobos from the get-go, scoring all 16 runs within the first five innings of the game, including a five run second inning and seven run fourth inning.

---

Sports

Softball: Lobos collect win over Aggies in Las Cruces

Cameron Goeldner | April 5

First, they recorded their first win over Fresno State in four years. Now, the Lobos (10-26) have done the same to in-state rival New Mexico State (18-15) with a 13-4 victory in six innings over the Aggies on Tuesday night in Las Cruces. The victory gave New Mexico its first win over the Aggies since a 4-3 win on March 19, 2014. None of the players currently on the roster for New Mexico were members of that team. The Lobos wasted no time getting the scoring started, as lead-off hitter Cameryn O’Grady started the game off with a blunt single before coming around to score on a double from D'Andra DeFlora. Andrea Howard followed DeFlora with a two-run home run to right field to give the Lobos the 3-0 heading to the bottom of the second.

---

Sports

Baseball: Albuquerque Isotopes season preview

Cameron Goeldner | April 4

Winter has given way to spring and April is here once again. Along with it, is the return of Isotopes Baseball. The Isotopes are entering their fourth season as the Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies and return a number of familiar faces from last year’s squad. Once again the Isotopes will be led by manager Glenallen Hill, who has been the Rockies Triple-A manager since the 2013 season. The Rockies made their return to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2009, in part because of a farm system that was ranked as highly as fourth in baseball by MLB.com prior to the 2016 season. While the system is not as highly ranked this year, many of the faces on the list will be spending time with the ‘Topes this season. Among that group are the No. 10 and 11 prospects in the system, starting pitcher Yency Almonte and catcher Tom Murphy. Both spent time with the team last season, Almonte recorded a 3-1 record and a 4.89 ERA in eight appearances (seven starts) with the Isotopes last season after being called up from Double-A Hartford. Murphy split his time between Albuquerque and Denver last season, slashing .255/.312/.426 with four home runs and 19 runs batted in in 38 games for the Isotopes.

---

Sports

Men's Soccer: Lobos held scoreless against Denver

Robert Maler and Alanie Rael | April 4

The UNM Men’s soccer team failed to register a goal against the Denver University Pioneer’s in Saturday's spring exhibition, dropping the match by a score of 3-0. The Lobos also lost their spring opener 4-1 against Phoenix Rising earlier this month and, though the team couldn't bounce back for a win against Denver, UNM head coach Jeremy Fishbein said he has been pleased by what he has seen especially in the first half of both matches. He said it has been "an interesting first two games" and they were similar to each other in some respects. Fishbein said the opener was a 1-1 tie at halftime before he and the coaching staff started substituting players so they could make assessments.

---

Sports

Baseball: UNM drops home game to Arizona

Matthew Narvaiz | April 3

Monday’s matchup with the Arizona Wildcats didn’t go as planned for the University of New Mexico baseball team. The Wildcats (17-10), who had won their last four games heading into Monday, pounced on the Lobos from the get-go on their way to a dominating 16-6 victory at Santa Ana Star Field. Senior pitcher James Harrington struggled on the mound in the starting role. In the first inning, he gave up two hits and a run, though Harrington was able to strike out the last batter he faced in the frame.

---

Sports

Softball: Lobos travel south to take on New Mexico State

Cameron Goeldner | April 2

The two teams squared off on March 21 in Albuquerque, with the Aggies taking the win by a score of 12-7. The Aggies are coming off of a three game series sweep of the University of Missouri Kansas City, and currently hold a record of 18-14 and have won six straight games, a streak that began with their win over the Lobos. The Lobos are coming off of a weekend series against Fresno State in which they lost two of the three games, including being no-hit on Saturday in the series finale. UNM is 9-26 on the season so far. For Lobos head coach Paula Congleton, this is a big opportunity to help bring some life back into a rivalry that she says has been lost.

---

Sports

Softball: Lobos get mercy ruled by Fresno State

Cameron Goeldner | April 1

The Lobos sent 17 batters to the plate on Saturday against Fresno State and Bulldogs starter Danielle East retired all of them without allowing a hit, as the Bulldogs won 10-0 over New Mexico to take the series victory. The Lobos faced East on Thursday and were able to get the better of her in the walk-off win, but she shut the Lobos’ offense down on Saturday.

---

Sports

Baseball: Lobos drop series finale, win first two against SDSU

Matthew Narvaiz | April 1

On Saturday, in the University of New Mexico baseball team’s series finale at Tony Gwynn Stadium against No. 23 San Diego State, the Lobos fell 3-2. It was a game of pitching, as both teams put together strong performances on the mound. UNM sophomore Cody Dye, who got the start on the mound, pitched 4.1 innings and allowed five hits and three runs over that time. The Lobos’ last two pitchers — junior Chad Smith and sophomore Drew Gillespie — each allowed just two hits and no runs to close out the game. For SDSU, junior Garrett Hill pitched 8.1 innings from the start. And in that time, he allowed just one run on three hits, while also striking out seven UNM batters. It moved him to 6-0 on the season.

---

Sports

Beach Volleyball: Lobos net three wins, one loss in home tournament

Aaron Cowan | April 1

The University of New Mexico’s beach volleyball team turned in a dominant performance in their first home tournament of the season, at the Lucky 66 Bowl outdoor courts, clinching wins against Colorado Mesa University and Abilene Christian University both days, before falling to Arizona State University. These much needed victories pushed UNM’s record to 5-10 in their third week of season play. Head coach Jeff Nelson seemed to express satisfaction with the game results and the venue. “In terms of training and on-court facilities, this is the best place for us to train”, Nelson said of the Lucky 66 Bowl venue. Nelson noted that UNM’s beach volleyball program is relatively new, having just started its fourth season, compared to its indoor counterpart.

---

Sports

Softball: Lobos get mercy ruled by Fresno State

Cameron Goeldner | March 30

A strong start by the New Mexico softball team wasn’t enough for the Lobos as they fell in five innings to Fresno State in game two of a three game set on Friday night at the Lobo Softball Field. Freshman Alexis Ruel got the start for the Lobos in the game, and cruised through the first two innings, cutting down six straight Bulldogs to start the game. Offensively, the Lobos were off to a quick start, as Sydney Townes walked to lead off the game and was eventually brought home from second via a single from Chelsea Johnson to give the Lobos a 1-0 lead.

---

Sports

Softball: Lobos win in dramatic fashion over Fresno State

Cameron Goeldner | March 30

Behind a strong first six innings from Jensen Main and a walk off double from Monica Salas, the University of New Mexico Softball team was able to secure its first win over the Fresno State Bulldogs since 2014, 4-3. “Main kind of kept them off balance, she was working hard,” head coach Paula Congleton said. “She gave up some walks which we will work on, she knows that. The big hitters, she stifled them tonight. They’ve got some great hitters, they’re doing quite well in the Mountain West. She did do a very nice job today for us.” The Lobos struck first in the second inning, as walks from Kasey Halleen and Aleyah Wilbon set the Lobos up with runners on the corners for Cameryn O’Grady, who doubled to drive in both runs. O’Grady advanced to third on a wild pitch, but Sydney Townes was unable to bring her in to score, as Townes struck out to end the inning.

---

Sports

Baseball: Lobos beat No. 23 SDSU in game one of three game series

Matthew Narvaiz | March 30

The ranking didn’t matter much to the University of New Mexico baseball team as a go-ahead RBI single in the eighth inning and a steady stream of pitching from the bullpen helped elevate the Lobos to a 5-4 victory over No. 23 San Diego State at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Sophomore Justin Slaten got the start on the mound for UNM on Thursday afternoon and was dealing early in the game, retiring the first six batters he faced. But in the third inning SDSU was able to get its first run of the game, scoring on a wild pitch to take a 1-0 lead.