ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – There have been colder days at Lobo Field. There have been windier days at Lobo Field. But you’ll be hard pressed to find a colder, windier day than Sunday, which featured temperatures in the 30s, 35 mile-per-hour winds, and a wind chill around 21 degrees.
Playing in their new turquoise alternate uniforms for the first time, the University of New Mexico baseball team was able to battle through the elements and take advantage of numerous Air Force miscues to notch a season-high for runs and win the rubber match of their three-game series 15-5. The Lobos (5-2, 2-1 MW) drew 12 walks and scored seven unearned runs thanks to six errors by the Falcons (1-6, 1-2).
“I would much rather be in 115 (-degree) weather out in Phoenix than play in this crazy wind,” winning pitcher Luis Gonzalez said.
It’s probably safe to say that the cold and wind affected the starting pitchers as neither showed good control in the early goings. Five of the first 10 Lobo batters reached by walk, and four of the first nine Falcons also reached via free pass. Air Force also committed five errors in the first three innings, which allowed UNM to tally five unearned runs.
“(We) fought, and we fought hard,” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said, “and that’s what Lobo Baseball is all about. To get this done after a loss yesterday is what I wanted to see. … It was a huge win.
The Lobos jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Danny Collier led off with a single to left and Sam Haggerty walked. They each advanced a base on a wild pitch. Collier came around to score on a fielding error by Air Force’s shortstop, and Haggerty scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Cory Voss.
Air Force got one of its own in the home half of the inning, but UNM struck for four in the second. Amazingly the first four batters walked to force home a run as they combined to see just six strikes. One batter later Chris DeVito singled home Dalton Bowers. Aaron Siple then scored on a fielder’s choice off the bat of Stajduhar. DeVito eventually scored on a wild pitch to close out the inning.
Again Air Force scored to close the score, this time to 6-3, and again the Lobos tacked on to their lead the next inning. UNM scored three times with the help of three Air Force errors in the frame.
“Air Force is tough competition,” DeVito said. “We knew as military guys they’d keep battling, so we had to battle right back.”
The Lobos were finally kept the Falcons off the board thanks to the work of Gonzalez on the mound. The freshman lefty retired the first seven batters he faced before allowing his first hit of the season after 6.1 innings, a harmless infield single.
But the Falcons finally got to him in the sixth due to a pair of Lobo errors as Air Force closed the gap to 9-5.
Things had a chance to get interesting in the seventh. A leadoff double just inside the third-base bag and a four-pitch walk, including a wild pitch, put men on the corners with nobody out. Carson Schneider came in and got a strikeout, but the runner stole second to put two men in scoring position. The next man hit a ball right to Stajduhar at third with the runner breaking on contact. Stajduhar threw to home in plenty of time to nail the runner. Schneider then got another groundball from the next batter to escape trouble.
UNM then put the game away late, and it started in the eighth with a two-out rally.
Collier and Haggerty both walked, and DeVito drove them both in with UNM’s first hit since the third inning: a double down the right-field line. Stajduhar then drove home pinch runner Reece Weber with a single to left. The Lobos added three more in the ninth, partly thanks to Air Force’s sixth error, to close out the scoring and claim the series victory.
Gonzalez allowed just the two unearned runs on five hits in 4.0 innings of relief with two strikeouts to earn his second win. So far this season he has allowed just two unearned runs on five hits and two walks with six strikeouts in 8.1 innings.
“I think I did alright,” he said. “I just tried to go out there and throw strikes. The weather was pretty brutal so I didn’t want to stay out there on the mound too long. I just wanted to get my outs and get into the dugout.”
DeVito was the only player to record multiple hits for UNM, finishing 2-for-5 with a team-high three RBIs. The Lobos drew more walks than they recorded hits, with four Lobos recording at least two, including Haggerty with three. Collier, Bowers and Jack Zoellner were the others with two walks.
“We thought there’d be command problems today because of the weather, and it was a game of throwing strikes and playing catch,” Birmingham said. “I thought we could throw more strikes and play more catch than they could, so we worked deep in the count to draw walks, and that was the difference in the ballgame.”
The Lobos are off until Friday night when they host the University of San Francisco in the Lobo Invite at 5. The game will be broadcast live in HD by uPUBLIC TV on Comcast channel 26, online at GoLobos.com, and on the radio by ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM.
Notes: Haggerty made his 114th straight start, the seventh longest streak in UNM history … Reece Weber recorded his first career hit in the ninth … it was the first time UNM had at least 10 walks in a game since May 18, 2013, against San Diego State … Jake Cole recorded the final four outs in his team-high fourth appearance of the season … Zoellner led the team with three runs scored, one of six Lobos to score multiple runs.