Lobos Close MW Schedule with Fresno State Starting Thursday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos conclude their Mountain West schedule at home in a three-game series against Fresno State starting on Thursday night.
SCHEDULE
Thursday @ 6 p.m.
Friday @ 1 p.m.
Saturday @ 10 a.m.
All three games will be on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
UNM enters the series 14-37 on the season, 6-13 in MW and has won four of its last six games. Fresno State enters at 32-16, 12-7 in conference, 5-4 on the road and has also won four of its last six.
SENIOR SENDOFF
On Saturday, the Lobos will recognize six seniors pregame: Savannah Braun, Rachael Hathoot, Amber Linton, Savana Martinez, Diamond Sandoval and Taylor Snow.
SERIES HISTORY
Fresno State leads the all-time series 55-9, with the Bulldogs sweeping the series last season in Fresno and the Lobos winning the series the year prior in Albuquerque. UNM is 2-3 in the last five games with the last home win April 16, 2022 (4-1).
BY THE NUMBERS
The Lobos have reached double figures in hits five times this season: UNM’s win against Tennessee State in the season opener, where the Lobos finished with 12 hits, 15 hits in the win against Marist on Feb. 16, 12 hits in the March 22 game against UNLV, 13 hits in game two against San Diego State and 10 hits in the last game against Utah State.
UNM is 8-1 when scoring at least six runs, 10-3 when scoring at least five runs, 9-6 when outhitting its opponent, 8-5 in one-run games and 2-2 in extra-inning games.
If the Lobos can score in the first inning and hold a lead after the first inning, the Lobos are 8-4 when leading after the first, 7-3 after the third, 9-2 after the fourth inning, 12-3 when leading after the fifth and 11-0 when leading after the sixth inning.
UNM is 44-80 (.550) with a runner on third and less than two outs, going 5-5 in the first game against Marist, 3-3 in the second game against the Red Foxes, 2-2 in the win against Toledo and in the first game at Boise State and 4-4 in Sunday’s game against Utah State. UNM also went 3-4 in the win against SFA. In the series at SJSU, the Lobos were a combined 5-5 in the series.
The Lobos have had their leadoff hitter reach 36.2% of the time (121-334), with all seven reaching in the first game against Marist, 4-6 at McNeese and in the second game against Marist, 5-7 in the game at GCU and 4-6 in Friday and Sunday’s game against USU.
FRESHMEN IMPACT
Nine freshmen have earned a spot in the starting lineup this season and six freshmen (DeNae Vasquez-Dickson, Katherine Brunner, McKenna Guest, Hayden Luderer, Karly Smith and Macie Andrews) have played in over 20 games.
Of the freshmen, Brunner has played in 48 games with 43 starts- 24 as the designated player, 12 games at third and seven at second. Vasquez-Dickson has started in 43 games with 26 in center, 12 in left and five in right and played in 50 games, and Luderer with 15 starts and playing in 29 games with eight starts in center, six in right and one in left. Smith has played in 24 games with nine starts, seven as the designated player and two in right. Gabrielle Briones has started in five games, two at third, two at second and one as the designated player with an appearance in 18 games and Macie Andrews has started 12 games, nine in left and three in right, and played in 29 games.
McKenna Guest leads the Lobos’ pitching staff with 23 starts and 38 appearances and a team-high 142.1 innings, Brooke Umali has made four starts and 18 appearances, throwing 28.0 innings and Kenzie Jones has appeared in 10 games with one start and 11.2 innings.
Vasquez-Dickson has played in 98.0% of the games, 93.7% of the innings and started in 84.3% of the games. Brunner has played in 94.1% of the games, starting in 84.3%, and playing in 85.7% of the innings.
In the circle, Guest has started 45.1% of the games, made an appearance in 74.5% of the games and pitched in 45.1% of the innings. The RHP has accounted for 55.4% of UNM’s strikeouts this season with 87 of UNM’s 157.
UNM started five freshmen against UConn, in the March 19 game against UTEP and the first game at Nevada, 11 games with four freshmen starting and 23 games with three freshmen starting.
Brunner is tied for third on the team in RBI (17) and tied for fourth in home runs (two), while Vasquez-Dickson leads in sac bunts (15), is third in home runs (three), fifth in RBI (16), fourth in runs scored (17), third in stolen bases (five) and fifth in total bases (41), and Smith is tied for fifth in walks (eight). Vasquez-Dickson leads the MW in sac bunts and is fourth in the NCAA in sac bunts per game (.30) and third in number of sac bunts.
KEY CONTRIBUTOR
Keyannah Chavez leads in slugging percentage (.634), on-base percentage (.455), total bases (78), triples (five) and walks (17). Chavez is second in batting average (.374), home runs (six), runs scored (28), hits (46), RBI (22), tied for second in sac flies (two) and third in sac bunts (five).
Chavez is tied for the lead in triples in the Mountain West and leads against MW opponents with three. She is 20th in the NCAA in triples.
The sophomore is 17-37 (.459) as the leadoff in an inning, 38-67 (.567) in successfully advancing runners, 4-8 (.500) with runners on third and less than two outs, and of her 22 RBI, 11 are with two outs.
She’s had 13 multiple-hit games (10 games with two hits and three games with three), besting her total from her freshman season, and six multiple RBI games (five games with two RBI and a game with four), with the four the most RBI in a game by a Lobo this season.
Chavez has surpassed her season total from her freshman season in total bases with 78 (from 52) and RBI at 22 (from 19) and has increased her batting average (.315 to .374), on-base percentage (.410 to .455) and slugging percentage (.364 to .634) from her freshman season to this season. She has also hit five triples and six home runs after not having either last season.
She hit back-to-back home runs with a two-run home run against New Mexico State that tied the game at two and another two-run home run in Friday’s game against Utah State that gave UNM the 8-6 lead.
In MW play this season, Chavez has improved her batting average (.246 to .318), slugging percentage (.279 to .545) and on-base percentage (.378 to .436) from her freshman season last year to this year.
YEATTS GOES YARD
Chloe Yeatts hit home runs in consecutive games for the third time this season with a solo home run in Saturday’s game and a three-run home run in Sunday’s game at Boise State. The sophomore also hit a solo home run against UTEP and followed that with a two-run home run in the seventh inning against UNLV.
Yeatts started off her sophomore season with a two-run home run in the season opener against Tennessee State and again with another two-run home run against McNeese, with both in the first inning.
The Oklahoma native leads the team in home runs with nine and in RBI (32), is tied for the lead in doubles (seven) and is second in slugging percentage (.496), third in total bases (78) and hits (36), and fifth in batting average (.255), and in on-base percentage (.310).
Yeatts has improved her home run total from her freshman season from five to nine as well as her total in total bases (56 last year), her slugging percentage (.448) and in hits (34 last year) and RBI (31 last year).
SHAKING UP THE LINEUP
In the 51 games this season, the Lobos have used 46 different lineup combinations. UNM has used the same batting order in the McNeese and Chattanooga games the first weekend, the same lineup in the Montana and Toledo games, the same lineup against SJSU on March 17 and in the UNLV game on March 22, both SDSU games and the same lineup in the first two Utah State games.
The Lobos have used three different players in the leadoff spot, five in the second spot, four in the third spot, seven in the cleanup, 11 in the fifth spot, 10 in the sixth spot, 11 in the seventh spot, 11 in the eighth spot and five in the ninth spot in the lineup.
Rachael Hathoot has led off in 40 games, Sydney Carithers has hit ninth in 35 games and DeNae Vasquez-Dickson second in 30 games for the most frequency in the lineup. Elizabeth Baylor has hit seventh in 20 games, Chloe Yeatts cleanup in 19 games, Carithers has batted eighth in 11 games, Keyannah Chavez third in 21 games, Emma Bramson fifth in 16 games, and Katherine Brunner sixth in 16 games for the most appearances in each spot of the order.
Keyannah Chavez and Ashley Archuleta have made the most movement in the batting order appearing in seven different spots. Chavez has hit the most often third (21 games), followed by leadoff and second (eight games), as well as three games in the cleanup spot, two times in each the sixth and eighth spot and hit fifth in one game. Archuleta has hit third in 15 games, fifth in 11 games, cleanup in seven games, leadoff in three games, seventh in four games, second in four games and one game in sixth.
In the field, UNM has used five different players in left, six in right field, four at third, three behind the plate, three in center, three at second base and two at first base. UNM has also had 10 different players as the designated player.
Only Hathoot has started every game at shortstop, while Bramson has started every game, but has played 36 games at first, four at third, eight as the designated player and three games in right field.
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Fresno State enters the series after winning two of three against Colorado State last weekend and has series wins over CSU, UNLV, SJSU, USU and BSU and is 5-4 on the road this season.
Sophia Medellin leads the Bulldogs at the plate with a .375 batting average, 13 doubles, six home runs, 38 RBI, 90 total bases, a .592 slugging percentage and .448 on-base percentage while starting all 48 games.
As a team, FS is averaging 4.6 runs per game, 8.4 hits per game and is hitting .310 with a .377 on-base percentage. When the Bulldogs reach base, they are 29-42 in stolen bases, led by seven from Emma Martinez and six from Natalie Elias. Eight different players have at least one stolen base.
FS has used four pitchers this season, led by Taylor Gilmore with 41 appearances and 143.2 innings. Gilmore has started 18 games with five complete games and five saves and carries a team-best 2.39 ERA. To date, she’s allowed 39 walks to 126 strikeouts. Throwing nearly as many innings with 20 starts is Serayah Neiss, appearing in 37 games with 142.0 innings, and has thrown two complete games and recorded five saves.
As a staff, the Bulldogs have a 2.91 ERA and average 5.1 strikeouts per game to 2.5 walks per game.