May 4, 2005
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NEXT IN LOBO BASEBALL
New Mexico (19-26, 9-12 MWC) at BYU (32-13-1, 16-5 MWC)
THURSDAY-SATURDAY, MAY 5-7 — PROVO, UTAH — LARRY MILLER FIELD
SCHEDULE:
Thursday, May 5 - 7 p.m.Friday, May 6 - 7 p.m.Saturday, May 7 - 1 p.m.
MEDIA COVERAGE:
LIVE STATS: Live stats available for all games at BYUCougars.com.
RADIO: An audio webcast is available at BYUCougars.com for Saturday’s game.
Click here for Saturday Game Audio
SERIES INFORMATION: BYU leads the all-time series, 64-41-1. The Cougars took two of three games in Albuquerque March 18-19. The Lobos are 10-31 all-time in Provo.
PROJECTED PITCHING MATCHUPS:
Thursday:UNM: #11 RH Sr. Karsten Gaarder (1-7, 7.91 ERA, 52.1 IP, 47 K)vs.BYU: #11 RH Jr. Dave Horlacher (5-2, 3.65 ERA, 69.0 IP, 67 K)
Friday:UNM: #2 LH So. Danny Ray Herrera (5-4, 6.86 ERA, 61.2 IP, 42 K)vs.BYU: #14 LH Sr. Lance Beus (1-0, 6.48 ERA, 16.2 IP, 11 K)
Saturday:UNM: #21 RH Jr. Darren Coltrinari (6-3, 7.87 ERA, 74.1 IP, 56 K)vs.BYU: #32 RH Fr. Blake Torgerson (6-2, 6.03 ERA, 59.2 IP, 19 K)
The New Mexico baseball team will face a tough challenge this week as it takes on Mountain West co-leader BYU in Provo Thursday-Saturday (May 5-7). The Lobos, tied for fourth in the standings with a 9-12 conference mark, will look to improve its positioning for the conference tournament at the end of the month in Salt Lake City. Live stats of all three games will be available at www.BYUCougars.com; live audio is available at BYUCougars.com for Saturday’s game. The series gets underway Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by a 7 p.m. start on Friday and a 1 p.m. start on Saturday.
UNM enters the week with a 19-26 record after getting swept by Utah at home last weekend. The Lobos are now tied with the Utes for fourth in the conference standings. BYU and UNLV continue to pace the league with identical 16-5 league records, while San Diego State sits in third at 12-9. Air Force is in sixth with a 1-20 mark.
The Lobos had a chance to rest this week as they did not play at Texas Tech on Tuesday due to inclement weather in the Lubbock area. That game has been moved to Monday, May 16 at 1 p.m. MT.
First baseman Daniel Stovall |
BYU (32-13-1) opened its strong league run by taking two out of three games at Isotopes Park March 18-19 in the opening series of the conference season. In one of the most competitive series of the year, the Lobos opened with a 6-5 comeback victory in the first game of a doubleheader, scoring four runs in the bottom of the ninth. The Cougars bounced back with a 19-6 win in game two and a 4-3 comeback victory of their own in 11 innings in the series finale. The Cougars beat Utah Valley State, 10-6, on Monday.
ON DECK
The Lobos will not play a mid-week game next week due to final exams. UNM returns to action for its final home series of the year, May 12-14, against San Diego State. Saturday, May 14, is the annual Dugout Cookout, and all tickets are only $2. There will be a silent auction featuring memorabilia from major league and minor league teams throughout the game. The cookout starts an hour before the game at 11 a.m. in the football parking lot across the street from Isotopes Park – all hot dogs and sodas are only 50 cents.
HISTORY LESSON – LOBOS VS. COUGARS 101
BYU leads the all-time series, 64-41-1
The Lobos are 10-31 all-time in Provo
The Lobos won the season series last year, 4-2…they swept the Cougars for the first time in school history April 1-3 at Isotopes Park…BYU tooktwo of three May 6-8 in Provo.
Coach Alday is 33-45 vs. BYU; 9-23 in Provo
LOBOS IN THE NCAA STATS
The NCAA released its fourth statistics report of the season May 3, and the Lobos were well represented. Here’s a look at the report:
As a team, New Mexico is second in the nation in triples with 0.71 per game (32 total). Garrick Haymore leads the nation with nine triples (0.21 pg).
The Lobos also rank among the top 15 in four more categories: slugging (7th – .528), scoring (12th – 8.4 runs pg), homers (12th – 1.29 pg) and batting (14th – .324).
Chris Carlson ranks among the top 50 in five categories: RBI (10th – 1.36 pg), slugging (10th – .755), runs (28th – 1.23 pg), doubles (30th – 0.41 pg) and batting (63rd – .393).
Jordan Pacheco ranks among the top 50 in three categories: runs (33rd – 1.21 pg); batting (36th – .407) and slugging (40th – .688).
GET OUT THOSE BINOCULARS – LOBOS TO WATCH
Sophomore first baseman Daniel Stovall is looking to top his sensational freshman campaign that landed him spots on the Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-America and All-Mountain West teams. He is currently one of 132 players on the Wallace Watch Award list, which is given out to college baseball’s top player. He was also named Baseball America’s preseason Mountain West Player of the Year. Stovall hit .347 with 12 homers, 14 doubles and 34 RBI last year. Stovall is certainly avoiding the sophomore jinx, as he’s improving in every offensive category this season – he’s batting .360 with six homers, 47 RBI and 16 doubles.
Freshman Jordan Pacheco, who led Albuquerque’s La Cueva High School to back-to-back state championships, is making a nice transition to Division I collegiate baseball. The second baseman leads the Mountain West in hits with 77. He also ranks among the Mountain West leaders in batting (.407), runs (52), slugging (.688), on-base percentage (.449), homers (10) and triples (four). Pacheco had a 19-game hitting streak earlier this season.
Pacheco is one of 64 players on the Dick Hower College Baseball Player of the Year watch list, as announced by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association. The membership of the NCBWA will choose the Xanthus-Dick Howser Trophy based on three rounds of voting. The 2005 winner will be announced at the College World Series in Omaha on Friday, June 17, at 9:30 a.m. CDT. The Dick Howser Trophy, given in memory of the former Florida State University All-America shortstop and major league player and manager who died of brain cancer in 1987, is regarded by many as college baseball’s most prestigious award.
Sophomore DH/outfielder Chris Carlson is one of the top sluggers in the Mountain West. He leads the team in doubles (18), walks (32), slugging (.755), on-base percentage (.483), runs (54) and RBI (60). He is also tied for the team lead in homers with 11 and is batting .393. Carlson went 4-for-4 with two homers, four runs and six RBI May 1 vs. Utah. Carlson is getting it done in conference play as well, leading the team in league games with seven homers, 29 RBI and a .423 average.
Chris Carlson is 10th in the nation in RBI. |
Senior outfielder Garrick Haymore is third on the team with a .373 batting average and is second on the team with a .404 average in conference games. Haymore, who hit three triples in the Air Force series, leads the nation with nine for the season.
Catcher Jeff Grady is tied for the team lead with 11 dingers, including a monster grand slam that hit the top of the scoreboard in left-center field at Isotopes Park March 25 vs. UNLV. Grady has hit the scoreboard twice this season and has also hit two grand slams. He collected his second multi-homer game of the season April 17 vs. Air Force. Grady has 30 career homers, which ranks fifth best in New Mexico history.
DON’T LEAVE FOR THE BALLPARK WITHOUT THEM – CAN’T MISS NOTES
The Lobos claimed their 1400th win in program history with their 11-6 win March 4 vs. Northern Colorado. UNM is 1414-1302-14 (.521) all-time in its history.
Coach Alday, already the winningest coach in New Mexico history, is four wins shy of claiming his 950th career victory. He won his 450th game at New Mexico on April 17 in the second game of a doubleheader against Air Force. Alday is 946-668-3 all-time, and 450-448-3 at UNM.
UNM tied an NCAA record with 11 consecutive hits in the second inning of the March 11 game against Savannah State, a 20-7 win…16 consecutive Lobos reached base to start the inning, four shy of tying another NCAA mark…all in all, the Lobos scored 15 runs and collected 13 hits in the inning.
Get out the brooms – the Lobos have five three-game series sweeps this season (New Mexico State, Northern Colorado, Savannah State, Utah, Air Force), the most since the 2000 season, when the regular season champs got out the brooms six times.
DOCTOR, DOCTOR
The Lobos have lost three players for the season due to injury, and could be without No. 1 starter Jason Fernandez for the rest of the season.
Fernandez, who has been nursing a sore right knee the past few weeks, was scratched just minutes before last Friday’s game against Utah. He is questionable to return this season. The right-handed senior was 6-5 with a 7.24 ERA in 73.1 innings of action.
Junior catcher A.J. Spitaleri, a preseason All-Mountain West selection, will miss the remainder of the season due to a shoulder injury. Spitaleri only appeared in six games, but was batting .438 with a homer and four RBI. Spitaleri hit .339 as a freshman and .361 as a sophomore.
Redshirt freshman Chad Itokazu suffered an ankle injury in practice in early March and will also be unavailable for the rest of the year. Itokazu, who saw action in 12 games at right field, second base and shortstop, was batting .292 with two homers and five RBI.
Freshman pitcher Brandon Hewett, who was coming off shoulder surgery last spring, reaggravated his right arm this spring and will not throw the rest of the season.
NOTES FROM THE FIRST BYU SERIES
BYU took two of three games from UNM March 18-19 at Isotopes Park
Down 5-2 in the bottom of the ninth in the first game of the series, UNM rallied for four runs to win 6-5…Matt Foote hit a game-winning, bases-loaded RBI single to right field to win the game…Garrick Haymore went 4-for-5, including a two-run double in the bottom of the ninth…Jordan Pacheco went 3-for-5 with two doubles and two runs scored.
The Lobos led 5-4 after seven innings in the second game, but BYU scored three runs in the eighth and 12 in the ninth for the 19-6 victory…BYU hit seven doubles in the ninth inning, one shy from tying an NCAA record…Daniel Stovall went 3-for-5 with an RBI…Haymore went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in the seventh…Pacheco collected three hits and scored three times.
UNM couldn’t hold onto a 3-1 lead after seven innings in the series finale as BYU scored once in the eighth and once in the ninth on a Ryan Chambers solo homer to tie the game at 3…Casey Cloward hit a run-scoring triple in the 11th to propel BYU to the 4-3 triumph…UNM starter Darren Coltrinari pitched a career-best nine innings and struck out five in a no-decision…Jeff Grady went 2-for-4 with an RBI double and hit his team-leading fifth homer of the year.
Jordan Pacheco hit .500 (7-for-14) in the series with five runs, two doubles, a homer and two RBI
THE ESSENTIALS: CLIFF NOTES FROM LAST WEEKEND’S UTAH SERIES
Utah swept New Mexico for the first time in school history last weekend (April 29-May 1) at Isotopes Park
Much like the Lobos did in their three-game sweep of Utah in Salt Lake City, the Utes used dominant pitching to win all three games in the series
In Friday’s 5-2 opening loss, Ute right-hander Josh Cooper struck out eight batters and only allowed two runs, one earned, while scattering five hits in seven innings…Cooper improved to 3-0 for the season…Brian Lane pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth for his third save of the year
Lefty Matt Crockett picked up right where Cooper left off in Saturday’s game, tossing a four-hit complete game while striking out nine in the 8-4 Ute victory…the Utes outhit UNM, 17-4.
The series finale was a slugfest, but the Utes came out on top, 20-13…Ute second baseman Doug Beck went 6-for-7 with nine RBI and hit for the cycle en route to earning National Co-Hitter of the Week honors…Chris Carlson went 4-for-4 with two homers, four runs scored and six RBI in the losing effort.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT
BYU COUGARS (32-13-1, 16-5 MWC)
BYU, picked fourth in the preseason coaches poll, is the surprise of the conference with a 16-5 league mark. The Cougars are tied atop the standings with UNLV. The Cougars took two of three at Air Force last weekend in Colorado Springs and beat Utah Valley State in Orem, Utah on Monday. They are receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll.
SERIES NOTES:
Current streak: BYU won 2Last 10 games: 5-5Last series win: 4/1-3, 2004Last series loss: 3/18-19, 2005Last home series win: 4/1-3, 2004Last home series loss: 3/18-19, 2005Last road series win: 5/11-13, 2000Last road series loss: 5/6-8, 2004Last UNM series sweep: 4/1-3, 2004Last time swept: 4/13-14, 2001Alday vs. BYU: 33-45Longest UNM win streak: 4 (three times)Longest UNM losing streak: 13 (1987-90)Last UNM win: 3/18/05 (6-5)Last UNM loss: 3/19/05 (4-3, 11 inn.)Last UNM home win: 3/18/05 (6-5)Last UNM home loss: 3/19/05 (4-3, 11 inn.)Last UNM road win: 5/6/04 (9-6)Last UNM road loss: 5/8/04 (7-4)Last UNM shutout win: 4/2/04 (1-0)Last UNM shutout loss: 3/1/01 (21-0)Highest scoring game: 34 (L, 3/4/95, 24-11)Largest margin of victory: 12 (3/1/96, 14-2)Largest margin of defeat: 21 (3/1/01, 21-0)Most runs by UNM: 19 (W, 3/13/04, 19-14)Most runs by BYU: 22 (twice)UNM in one-run games: 15-15