Birmingham's Lobos Pound Aggies 14-4 in Cruces
Tuesday: Lobos 14, Aggies 4
LAS CRUCES — The New Mexico Lobos smacked 17 hits and pounded the New Mexico State Aggies 14-4 Tuesday afternoon at Presley Askew Field, UNM’s eighth win in its past nine games.
The Lobos jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning, fell behind 4-3 after three and then dominated the Aggies the rest of the way paced by a four-run fifth inning and a five-run eighth inning. The Aggies did not score in the final six innings of the non-conference Rio Grande Rivalry game.
“The Lobos played well today and it’s always nice when Lobos beat Aggies,” said Lobo Coach Ray Birmingham. “I have a lot of respect for the New Mexico State program and this was a good win for us and helped us keep momentum for conference. We hit well at the plate and we pitched well on the mound.”
The Lobos’ five-game skid in Cruces ended thanks to hits from nine Lobo batters with Sam Haggerty, Chase Harris and Lane Milligan each pounding three hits off NMSU pitching.
Haggerty led the way with three RBIs and two runs scored. Harris had two RBIs and scored one run for his team. John Pustay had two RBIs, scored three runs and blasted a solo home run. Milligan joined the Lobo parade to home plate scoring three times.
The Lobos also stranded 10 base runners to only four left on base for NMSU. UNM hit .405 (17-of-42) on the day while NMSU hit .206 (7-of-34). UNM hit .429 in two-out situations and hit .407 with runners on base.
New Mexico senior A.J. Carman got his first start of the season, but left after giving up three runs in the bottom of the second inning. Carson Schneider gave up a single run but picked up the win thanks to UNM’s four-run fifth inning. Taylor Duree, Tyler Gibson and Kevin Baumgartner also worked the mound for the Lobos.
That group of Lobo arms held NMSU to seven hits while not giving up a single walk and returning seven Aggie batters to the dugout on strikes. NMSU sent 14 Aggies to the plate trying to produce enough runs to hang with the hard-hitting Lobos, but only one Aggie could manage a multi-hit game off the UNM arms.
The fifth inning provided all the runs the Lobos would need to produce this 14-4 romp. Pustay started the scoring parade with a solo blast to lead off the frame. UNM scored four more times thanks to singles by Jered Meek, Andre Vigil and Aaron Siple. The Aggies also contributed to UNM’s scoring with an error and two wild pitches.
The Lobos’ five-run eighth began with an Aggie error, an Aggie wild pitch, and two Aggie walks. The big blow in the inning was a two-out double by Haggerty that pushed two unearned runs across the plate.
The Aggies’ Kyle Kigore took the loss in his sixth start of the season. NMSU went to the bullpen five times using six pitchers to try and stall the Lobos’ hitting barrage. UNM had seven earned runs out of their 14 runs. NMSU walked six Lobos, had three errors, and had five wild pitches.
The win pushed UNM to 17-8-1 on the season while the Aggies fall to 10-14. UNM has now won eight of its last nine and has had double-digit hits in nine straight games, which is the longest such streak in the nation this season.