Lobo Baseball – at Packard Stadium, Tempe, Ariz.
When: Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. (MT)
Who: No. 19 Arizona St. Sun Devils
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Video: Live stream available at GoLobos.com
Mountain West Standings
| Place | School | MW record | Overall record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego St. | 2-1 | 2-1 |
| 2 | San Jose St. | 1-2 | 1-2 |
| 3 | UNLV | 0-0 | 4-0 |
| 4 | Fresno St. | 0-0 | 2-1 |
| 5 | Nevada | 0-0 | 2-2 |
| 6 | Air Force | 0-0 |
1-2 |
| 6 | New Mexico | 0-0 |
1-2 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Lobos conclude their season-opening four-game road trip with a stop in Tempe, Ariz., and a date with the No. 19 Arizona St. Sun Devils. UNM is coming off a 1-2 weekend at the University of San Diego in which the teams split a doubleheader Saturday after Friday’s game was suspended in the third inning due to fog. The Toreros then proceeded to win the rubber match on Sunday.
Chase Harris and Alex Real led the Lobos’ offensively against USD, as they combined to drive in six of the team’s nine runs. Harris had UNM’s only home run — a two-run shot Friday night — and one of the team’s two doubles. Real drove in the winning run in game two Saturday with a fielder’s choice in the 11th inning. John Pustay went 5-for-12 (.417) and walked three times to post an on-base percentage of .533.
Sophomore right hander Victor Sanchez, who allowed one hit and one run in relief during the conclusion of the suspended game Saturday, will start on the mound for the Lobos. Arizona St. will counter with junior righty Darin Gillies, who pitched in relief in the Sun Devils’ opener vs. Baylor on Friday. he went 3.0 innings and allowed one run on one hit and one walk with two strikeouts.
• SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE … The Sun Devils went 2-1 against visiting Baylor last weekend, losing the opener 9-7 after they couldn’t hold a 7-2 eighth-inning lead. They won game two 7-4 and the rubber match on Sunday 12-1. ASU hit .337 as a team and slugged .452 in a well-rounded effort that saw no player start all three games. They also played sound defense, committing only one error in the three-game series. The team used 11 different pitchers, but no hurler threw more than 5.0 innings as the staff combined to hold the Bears to a .223 batting average.
• IMPRESSIVE DEBUT … Junior southpaw Colton Thomson made his collegiate debut in the nightcap of the Lobos’ doubleheader at San Diego on Feb 15, and he made quite an impression. He held the Toreros hitless through five innings before finally allowing one hit, and one run, in the sixth.
• YOUTH MOVEMENT … The Lobos will field one of the youngest teams in the nation this year with no fourth-year seniors and only four third-year players: juniors Alex Real and Ryan Padilla, and seniors Josh Walker and John Pustay. In fact, the entire roster only has 19 seasons of Division I experience, eight of which comes from those four upperclassmen. In the team’s opening series of the season at the University of San Diego, 13 Lobos saw their first intercollegiate action.
• GAME 3,000 … The number 3,000 holds a special place in baseball, and the Lobos will celebrate a certain milestone in their eighth game of the season. UNM’s game against Missouri St. on Sunday, Feb. 23 as part of the Lobo Invite will be the 3,000th intercollegiate game in program history. UNM has played over 3,200 baseball games in its history, but several of those have come as exhibitions or games against high schools (including UNM’s first ever baseball game, an 18-9 triumph over Albuquerque High in 1899). The oldest recorded intercollegiate game in program history came against Arizona in 1940. The Lobos have posted an all-time record of 1,552-1,427-13 for a winning percentage of .521.
• BIRMINGHAM NAMED TO TEAM USA STAFF … Head coach Ray Birmingham will be part of USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team this summer as the hitting coach. He has led the Lobos to the team national batting title twice in six years at UNM (2009, 2013) as well as Justin Howard to an individual national batting title (2010). Additionally, the 2012 Lobos finished fifth in the nation with a team average of .326, and the 2008 squad placed eighth at .346.
“This is a big honor,” the Lobo skipper said. “I am both humbled and excited.”
Birmingham’s teams have averaged a .326 batting average since he took over the Lobo program in 2008, and have amassed 140 doubles, 29 triples and 41 home runs per season. In 2013 the Lobos were the only team in the nation to reach those respective totals in all four categories.
• PRESEASON FIRST … The UNM baseball team is no stranger to preseason All-Americans. In fact, they had three just last season in DJ Peterson, Mitch Garver and Ryan Padilla. What the team had never had, however, was a pitcher earn Preseason All-America honors. That changed this season, though. Following a stellar 2013 campaign that saw him win a Mountain West-leading 11 games, and save seven others, senior right-handed pitcher Josh Walker earned Third Team All-America honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
“It means a lot to me,” he said. “I never would have imagined this … This is one of the highest recognitions I can receive at this point. I want to thank my teammates and coaches for pushing me so hard.”
A native of Rio Rancho, N.M., Walker currently owns the school record for highest winning percentage, and with eight wins in 2014 will tie the record for most career wins in program history.