Lobo Baseball: at Santa Ana Star Field, Albuquerque, N.M.
When: Friday- 6 p.m. (MT); Saturday – 2 p.m. (MT); Sunday – 1 p.m. (MT)
Who: San Jose State Spartans
Radio: 101.7 The Team / www.1017theteam.com
Live Stream: www.livestream.com/newmexico
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=unm
Mountain West Standings
| Place | School | MW record | Overall record |
| 1 | Air Force | 3-1 | 9-4 |
| 2 | New Mexico | 2-1 | 10-6 |
| UNLV | 2-1 | 7-8 | |
| Fresno State | 2-1 | 11-6 | |
| 5 | San José State | 2-3 | 6-10 |
| 6 | San Diego State | 1-2 | 4-12 |
| 7 | Nevada | 1-4 | 5-11 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Lobos got back on track against the Nevada Wolf Pack, going 2-1 in the opening weekend series of conference play for UNM after having the bye last weekend. The 2-1 record has the Lobos in a tie for second place (and most likely first but Nevada’s 12-5 lead over Air Force isn’t officially in the books yet as they will continue that suspended game later in the year).
UNM opened the weekend with wins of 8-3 and 3-2 before bowing 7-6 in the get-away game. Carson Schneider had his first career complete game in the win on Friday, allowing just six hits and three runs. Tyler Stevens then turned in 7.2 innings on Saturday, allowing just two runs before UNM’s bullpen closed the door.
UNM nearly pulled off a nice comeback on Sunday, but stranded the tying run at second in the ninth inning.
Against San José State: The Lobos swept the only series with the Spartans last year, winning 12-5, 21-7 and 19-8. The Lobos have had the better of things against San José State, leading the all-time series 11-4, including a spiffy 8-1 mark in Albuquerque. The Lobos have won seven straight in the series, and under Ray Birmingham, the Lobos are 8-1 against the SpartansSeries Record: 11-4
Home: 8-1; Away: 3-3; Neutral: 0-0
Up Next: The Lobos will travel to Texas Tech for a single game against the Red Raiders. That game will be broadcast on 101.7 The Team.
SCOUTING SAN JOSE STATE … The San José State Spartans are 6-10 on the season overall, and 2-3 in the Mountain West. In conference play, the Spartans opened by going 1-2 against UNLV at home, and then 1-1 at Air Force, with those games in a doubleheader. The final game of that series will be played on April 8 as part of a doubleheader.
SJSU is hitting .264 as a team with just four home runs. Shane Timmons is leading the way with a .397 average and a team-leading 14 RBIs. He also has two doubles, a triple and a pair of home runs. Four other regulars, Brett Bautista (.350), Ozzy Braff (.327), Aaron Pleschner (.302) and Joe Stefanki (.300) are all hitting .300 or better.
Matt Brown has been the best of a solid starting rotation, going 1-1 with a 2.66 ERA, allowing just 15 hits and striking out 15 in 20.1 innings. Logan Handzlik (1-0, 6.00 ERA) and Josh Nashed (0-3, 6.26) have been the other starters in SDSU’s weekend series.
The Spartans don’t have a designated closer per se, with three pitchers picking up a save on the season.
WHAT TWO ROAD WINS GET YOU … New Mexico went on the road and picked up two wins over Grand Canyon, winning 10-6 and 6-5. The two wins marked the first two games of the season in which UNM has faced a Top 100 RPI team, so it’s no surprise that the Lobos improved its RPI 60 spots from 189 to 129. That jump in 60 places is the third-biggest jump from Sunday night to Wednesday night, behind Princeton (+63) and Monmouth (+61). UNM’s RPI is third in the Mountain West behind Fresno State (29) and Air Force (109).
THIS EITHER MEANS YOU ARE REALLY GOOD< REALLY OLD, OR A COMBO OF BOTH … Ray Birmingham has been around for nine years at UNM and 29 years overall as a college head coach. The win on Wednesday night was win number 1,100 in his 29-year career … really it’s only been 28 1/2 years, but the get to 1,100 wins in 29 years, Birmingham has had to average an astounding 38 wins per season.
FOLLOW MY LEAD … The Lobos have had their leadoff man reach in 65 of 143 innings, good for an inning-starting OBP of .455.
ATTENDANCE UPDATE … Through six home games the Lobos are averaging 1,018 fans, which is 60th in the country.
DUREE-ABLE… College baseball doesn’t track holds for relievers, but Taylor Duree would have gotten one for certain on Wednesday night, coming into a jam with a runner in scoring position in the eighth inning and two outs and getting out of it, striking out the only batter he faced. That appearance was Duree’s 68th of his career, tying him for second place on the UNM career appearances list.
He is now tied with David Steinberg (not the Canadian comedian, but that would have been amazing) with 68 appearances (Steinberg played from 1979-82). He is now seven appearances away from tying Joe Coleman for first on the UNM career list. Here is the top 10:
APPEARANCES (Career)
75 Joe Coleman, 1985-88
68 Taylor Duree, 2013-present
68 David Steinberg, 1979-82
66 Gabe Aguilar, 2009-10, ’12-13
66 Kevin Letz, 2002-05
66 Joe Salas, 2001-04
65 Rudy Jaramillo, 2009-12
63 Kris Gross, 2000-03
62 Josh Walker, 2012-14
62 Gera Sanchez, 2010-12
SHOTGUN WEDDING … Victor “Shotgun” Sanchez (that’s his Twitter handle anyways) picked up his fourth save of the season on Wednesday when he entered in a 6-5 game, allowed a double and then rolled three straight ground outs to shortstop.
While the four saves is almost halfway to his single-season career high, that save was his 16th of his career, moving him ahead of former closer Gera Sanchez (2010-12) for the UNM career lead in saves.
Below is the top 10:
SAVES (Career)
16 Victor Sanchez, 2013-present
15 Gera Sanchez, 2010-12
13 Ed Bartholomew, 1983-85
11 Joe Salas, 2001-04
10 David Meng, 1994-95
9 Joe Abell, 1997-00
9 Clinton Cox, 2008-09
8 Josh Walker, 2012-14
8 David Waites, 1996-97
7 Jake Cole, 2014-15
7 Jeff Perez, 2000-01