ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There was only one word Ray Birmingham could use to describe his team’s Mountain West-opening 10-6 win over Air Force Friday night.
“Sloppy. That was a sloppy win,” the University of New Mexico head coach said.
Still, a win is never a bad thing, especially in conference play, and especially when you’re fortunate to play the series at home when it was originally scheduled for the road, as this one was. The teams were slated to meet in Colorado, but inclement weather forced the teams to relocate the series to Albuquerque. It also helps when you’re able to jump out to a 7-0 lead after half an inning, as the Lobos (4-1, 1-0) were able to do Friday night. And in the end, UNM did enough things right to beat the Falcons (0-5, 0-1)
Last season the Lobos managed just one run in 14 innings against Griffin Jax, the starter Friday night for Air Force. Well it took them just five batters to better that mark in 2015.
Back-to-back errors got things started, and a passed ball gave the Lobos a 1-0 lead without even a runner advancing even a single base without the benefit of a defensive miscue. Chris DeVito walked and UNM got its first hit off the bat of Carl Stajduhar, a single up the middle that scored Sam Haggerty. Walks to Luis Gonzalez and Dalton Bowers forced home another run. Jared Holley and Cory Voss each singled home one more, and then groundouts from Aaron Siple and Danny Collier recorded RBI groundouts to give UNM an early 7-0 lead.
“The great thing today is we beat Griffin Jax,” Birmingham said. “That’s the biggest thing. I want to focus on the fact that we beat him, and he is really good. We were really patient in the first inning, got some base hits, some things happened, and we got a 7-0 lead. And when you get a 7-0 lead you should make that stick.”
The Lobos did make it stick, but it wasn’t that easy. The Falcons struck back in the home half of the first with a pair of runs and then added single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to climb back into it.
Haggerty broke the Air Force run with a solo homer leading off the seventh.
“It was my first home run at Lobo Field, so it was a little surreal,” said the junior second baseman. “Going into the at bat though, Jax had been working me in all night so I went in with a game plan. I took a couple inches back off the plate. He threw the first one in, I stayed where I was, he threw the second one in, and I got my hands extended and the rest was history.”
The Lobos then added two more in the eighth. DeVito knocked home Scottie Graham with a sacrifice fly, and Siple scored on a passed ball.
The Falcons added one last run in the ninth, but Jake Cole came on and got three outs on just three pitches to finish the game.
Haggerty and Siple each went 2-for-5 to lead the team. UNM starter Toller Boardman picked up his second win despite not being nearly as dominant as he was in his first start. He allowed five runs, four earned, on 12 hits in 5.2 innings while throwing 94 pitches.
“Toller was not very good today,” Birmingham said. “No excuses. He was really good down in the zone all fall and all spring, but he’ll get better. You just can’t mess around with this Air Force team because they’re well coached, they play hard, and they’re unpredictable.”
The teams will meet Saturday at noon and ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM will carry the game. Left-handed senior Colton Thomson will get the start for UNM. Fans attending Saturday’s game are asked to please park in the dirt lot south of the stadium and enter through the south gate.
Notes: Haggerty made his 112th straight start, the seventh longest streak in UNM history … the Lobos have won 35 straight games when leading after six (dating back to June 1, 2013) and 61 straight when leading after eight (dating back to March 24, 2013) … Haggerty had five assists to lead the team … every Lobo that got in the lineup scored a run except for starting catcher Cory Voss … the teams combined to commit three passed balls … it was UNM’s 31st win in its last 32 games against Air Force in the state of New Mexico.