UNM Falls in Las Vegas to Rebels
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The 24th-ranked University of New Mexico baseball team lost Saturday afternoon to UNLV by a score of 14-6. The Rebels scored four in the fourth to break a 1-1 tie and then answered every Lobo rally the rest of the way to earn the victory.
UNLV (27-15, 15-5) scored first on a solo home run in the bottom of the second. The Lobos (31-13-1, 14-6) answered the next half inning to tie the game. Jack Zoellner led off with a double. Jered Meek sacrificed him to third, and Lane Milligan followed with an RBI groundout to second to make the game 1-1.
In thebottom of the fourth, a one-out single was followed by an error, a hit by pitch and three straight singles to give the Rebels a 5-1 advantage. They added two more in the fifth to put the Lobos in a deeper hole.
UNM, though, fought back. Milligan led off the sixth with his first career double. Sam Haggerty followed with a walk. Aaron Siple then reached on a bunt single, but UNLV’s pitcher, John Richy, threw the ball away, which allowed Milligan to score and both Siple and Haggerty to move up a base. Groundouts by Chase Harris and Andre Vigil cut UNM’s deficit to 7-4.
In the seventh, though, the Rebels got a two-out single ahead of a two-run homer to increase their lead to 9-4. The Lobos again responded, with two of their own in the top of the eighth on RBIs from Siple and Harris. But in the bottom of the inning UNLV hit another two-run homer as part of a five-run inning to put the game out of reach.
Siple and Milligan led the offense with two hits each, while Haggerty and Milligan each scored a pair of runs. UNM smacked four doubles in the game, but the Rebels hit four home runs to out-power UNM.
Starting pitcher Colton Thomson struck out seven in just four innings, but he was charged with five runs on eight hits.
UNM will look to avoid the sweep Sunday at 2:05 p.m. MT. Senior Josh Walker will take the mound looking for career win No. 26, which would put him just one behind the all-time records for both UNM and the Mountain West. The game will be streamed live at GoLobos.com, and ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM will broadcast the game as well.
Notes: Rob Hoover had 27 wins for UNM from 1976-79, while Kyle Winkler of TCU holds the Mountain West record with 27 from 2009-11 … Haggerty’s double was his fourth of the year, Zoellner’s was his fifth, and Alex Real added his team-high 19th.