Game Notes vs. San Diego State
Lobo Baseball: at Tony Gwynn Stadium, San Diego, California
When: Thursday – 7 p.m. (MT); Friday – 7 p.m. (MT); Saturday – 2 p.m. (MT)
Who: San Diego State Aztecs
Live Stream: www.goaztecs.com/video
Live Stats: http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?t=1&gid=unm
Mountain West Standings
| Place | School | MW record | Overall record |
| 1 | New Mexico | 5-1 | 13-7 |
| 2 | Air Force | 4-1 | 10-4 |
| 3 | Fresno State | 4-2 | 14-7 |
| 4 | UNLV | 3-3 | 8-11 |
| 5 | San José State | 2-6 | 6-13 |
| 6 | San Diego State | 1-3 | 4-14 |
| 7 | Nevada | 1-4 | 7-12 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Lobos head into a Thursday-Saturday Mountain West Conference slate against the San Diego State Aztecs in first place in the league standings. The Lobos are 5-1, with a road series win over Nevada and a home sweep of San Jose State.
The Lobos’ most recent outing came against the Big 12’s Texas Tech, in the first game of a three-game nonconference series this season. The Lobos dropped the road game in a slugfest, 14-10. In what was a competitive scrap, the Lobos nearly rallied in the ninth inning, but could only plate one runner.
However, the Lobos are still hot and are winners of seven of their last nine games.
Against San Diego State: The Lobos and Aztecs had three sets of games last year, one at each school in the regular season and a pair of Mountain West Conference Tournament games. Each school won its home series, 2-1, while the Aztecs took the two postseason games.
Series Record: 71-108
Home: 38-35; Away: 29-63; Neutral: 4-10
Up Next: The Lobos will stay on the road and travel to Sacramento State for two games on Monday and Tuesday.
SCOUTING SAN DIEGO STATE … The San Diego State Aztecs are off to a 4-14 start. At home, the Aztecs have amassed three victories, coming once against Fresno State and twice against Northwestern. The Aztecs are 1-4 in conference, despite averaging 8.5 runs per game against MW teams.
The Aztecs are led by Alan Trejo, who is batting a team-best .385 with 13 runs scored, also a team-best. Justin Wylie is leading the squad with 15 RBI.
The Aztecs are expected to throw Alex Purpora to open the series on Thursday. Purpora has a 5.91 ERA over 10.2 innings pitched.
Stajduhar on Fire … New Mexico infielder Carl Stajduhar has been on a tear recently, hitting an even .500 in his last nine games. He is slugging .972 during that span as well. His multiple home run game at Texas Tech was a first for the Lobos since Luis Gonzalez at Wichita State on April, 25, 2015.
WHAT FIVE STRAIGHT ROAD WINS GET YOU … New Mexico went 5-0 last week, including two wins over Grand Canyon, who are in the RPI Top 100. Those two wins helped jump the Lobos’ RPI 93 spots from 189 to 96. That jump of 85 places was easily the largest jump by any team in the NCAA.
Fresno State has the league’s best RPI at 69, followed by Air Force at 88, UNM at 96, UNM 168, Nevada 200, San Jose State 208, and San Diego State 229.
FOLLOW MY LEAD … The Lobos have had their leadoff man reach in 83 of 176 innings, good for an inning-starting OBP of .426.
ATTENDANCE UPDATE … Through six home games the Lobos are averaging 960 fans, which is 73rd in the country.
DUREE-ABLE… Taylor Duree pitched 1.1 innings against Texas Tech on Tuesday, and that was his 70th career appearance. He is the second pitcher to reach 70 appearances at New Mexico and is now in second place all alone on the UNM career appearances list.
He is now two spots ahead of David Steinberg (not the Canadian comedian, but that would have been amazing) with 69 appearances (Steinberg played from 1979-82). He is now five 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
70 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
60 Victor Sanchez, 2013-present
SHOTGUN WEDDING … Victor “Shotgun” Sanchez (that’s his Twitter handle anyways) picked up his fifth save of the season on Saturday when he entered in a 3-2 game and retired the only two men he faced.
His five saves are halfway to his single-season career high, that save was his 17th of his career, meaning he is now just extending his UNM career lead in saves.
Below is the top 10:
SAVES (Career)
17 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
SAVES (Season)
11 Ed Bartholomew, 1985
10 Victor Sanchez, 2014
9 David Meng, 1994
7 Josh Walker, 2013
7 Gera Sanchez, 2011
7 Jeff Perez, 2001
6 Joe Abell, 2000
6 J.C. Ortiz, 1999
5 Victor Sanchez, 2016
5 Bobby Mares, 2012
5 Gera Sanchez, 2010
5 Clinton Cox, 2009
5 Joe Salas, 2004
5 David Waites, 1996
BULLPEN DOMINANCE … The UNM bullpen has been outstanding at protecting leads during the last several seasons. If UNM is leading after eight innings? Forget it. The Lobos haven’t lost when leading after eight in 93 straight games, a streak that dates back to March 24, 2013.
PLEASE, COME BACK SOON … UNM’s sweep of San Jose State was the first home conference sweep of an opponent since last May, when UNM swept…San Jose State.