ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico baseball team is hitting the road for two midweek nonconference games against Santa Clara on Tuesday at 7 p.m. MST and San Francisco Wednesday at 4 p.m. MST.
Against Santa Clara: This is the first meeting between the two schools.
Against San Franciso: This will be the seventh meeting between San Francisco and New Mexico. The Lobos are 3-3 against the Dons, with all six games being played in Albuquerque. Despite a pair of losses to start the all time series in 2006, the Lobos have won three of the last four games in the series.
Series Record: 3-3
Home: 3-3; Away: 0-0; Neutral: 0-0
Up Next: The Lobos will stay in Northern California to face San Jose State for a three game series that will run from Friday, April 15 through Sunday, April 17.
SCOUTING SANTA CLARA … Santa Clara enters the game on the back side of a nine-game home stand. During the home stand, the Broncos are an even 4-4, with a win over the Mountain West’s San Jose State.
TC Florentine is 7-for-15 (.467) in his last four games, including three RBIs and three runs scored. He is currently on a five-game hitting streak, with multiple hits in the last four games. As a team, the Broncos have scored 5+ runs in a single inning five times in the last seven games, according to SantaClaraBroncos.com
Travis Howard is the probable starter for the Broncos on Tuesday. Howard enters the game with 2-1 record with a 4.28 ERA.
SCOUTING SAN FRANCISCO … San Francisco enters Wednesday’s matchup with a 10-24 record. They will come into the game riding a high, as the team will be playing its first game at the brand new Benedetti Diamond.
Offensively, Matt Sinatro leads the team with a .319 batting average and 18 runs scored. The team leader in RBI is Blake Valley with 16, while also tallying seven doubles.
James Kannenburg has been solid on the mound for the Dons. He holds a team-best three wins with a team-best 3.97 ERA. Three Dons have multiple saves on the season.
LAST TIME OUT FOR UNM ... The road to the postseason has always run through Albuquerque and Santa Ana Star Field as the host of the Mountain West Tournament. However, after finishing off a three-game sweep of Fresno State with a 7-4 win on Sunday, the road to the Mountain West title certainly goes through The University of New Mexico baseball team.
The Lobos, who are now 23-9 and 12-3 in the Mountain West, swept Fresno State, who dropped to 21-12 and 9-6 in the conference. The Lobos now head to a pair of mid-week road games at Santa Clara (Tuesday) and at San Francisco (Wednesday).
The Lobos, after a harrowing, heart-stopping and taxing 14-13 win in 12 innings on Saturday, needed a solid outing from starter Colton Thomson, and that’s exactly what they got. Thomson went eight innings, throwing a career-high 113 pitches. He allowed 10 hits and four runs, but he struck out nine and helped strand eight runners on base.
ROUGH ROAD … The Lobos have traditionally scheduled tough challenges for the Lobos. Currently, the Lobos have the third toughest schedule of any team in the Mountain West. Over the last eight seasons, head coach Ray Birmingham has put together consistent tough schedules for the Lobos. In fact, in 2011, the Lobos had the toughest schedule in the country. Despite being one of the youngest in the country, the Lobos became road tested and went on to win the Mountain West Conference Tournament and compete in the NCAA Tournament.
TWO PLAYERS OF THE WEEK … After a sweep of Fresno State over the weekend, why not one more? Catcher/DH Chris DeVito and left-handed starter Carson Schneider were named the Mountain West’s Player and Pitcher of the Week, giving UNM a sweep of the awards for the first time this season.
It’s the second time DeVito has earned the honor in his career, as he got it back on February 28, and it’s the first honor for Schneider.
For DeVito, the week encapsulates what he has done on the season to this point as he is ranks among the NCAA top 10 in eight different categories, and among the NCAA top 20 in nine. DeVito, who is batting .438 with 11 home runs and 48 RBIs is the national leader in total bases with 103. His slugging percentage of .805 is good for fourth in the country. Hit 48 RBIs and his 56 hits are third nationally, and he ranks fifth in RBIs per game.
He also ranks eight in home runs with 11, and 18th in home runs per game, and his .438 average is good for seventh. DeVito, who has bounced between catcher and designated hitter, is currently on an 11-game hitting streak, and he has hit safely in 29 of his last 30. He has reached base via a walk or hit in all 32 games.
For Schneider, who has helped UNM to opening series wins in all five conference series this season, is 6-1 on the year with a 3.05 ERA. His six wins are tied for eighth nationally, and he is tied for 14th in complete games and tied for 23rd in starts. In his last three starts, Schneider has a 3-0 record and a 1.41 ERA, pitching at least into the ninth inning in all three.
HOW MANY HALL OF FAMES CAN ONE GUY GET INTO? ... Apparently if you are Ray Birmingham, the answer is three.
After the UNLV series on Sunday night, New Mexico’s all-time leader in collegiate coaching wins was inducted into the New Mexico Athletics Hall of Fame. It’s the third hall of fame he has been inducted into, along with the Lea County Hall of Fame and National Junior College Athletic Association Hall of Fame.
WINNING 1-0 … The Lobos’ 1-0 win over Sacramento State was the first 1-0 win for Ray Birmingham as head coach of New Mexico and the program’s first since defeating San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament on May 23, 2007. The last regular season win by a score of 1-0 came in 2004.
STARTING WITH A W … The Lobos earned a 2-1 series opening win last Friday against Fresno State, making them 5-0 on the season when starting a Mountain West Conference series. In fact, UNM has started off all five Mountain West series by winning the opening two games.
PITCHING …IT’S KINDA IMPORTANT … UNM’s starting pitchers this season have turned in quality starts (at least 6 innings and 3 or fewer runs) in 17 of the 32 games so far this season. Overall, UNM’s pitchers are averaging 6.1 innings per start, and 3.3 runs per start.
Overall, UNM’s starters have a combined ERA in those starts of 3.91, while its opponents are at 7.69 per start.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE ... At 12-3, the Lobos tied for first place and are in line to compete for another conference championship. That is to be expected of Birmingham’s Lobos. Since Birmingham took over the program in 2008, New Mexico has been the champions or runners up in either the regular season or conference tournament. That includes five regular season or tournament titles during a four year span from 2011-2014.
WINNING ON THE ROAD ... New Mexico is currently on a run of 15 wins in 18 games, with nine of the those games played away from Santa Ana Star Field. Prior to the team’s back-to-back wins over Grand Canyon, the Lobos held an RPI of 189. The Lobos recent success has bumped them up 149 spots to 40th.
Fresno State has the league’s second best RPI at 50th, ahead of Air Force at 89. Air Force is followed by Nevada at 1115, UNLV at 175, San Jose State at 178 and San Diego State at 206.