Lobo Baseball – at Hoglund Ballpark
When: Tuesday – 5 p.m. (MT); Wednesday – 2 p.m. (MT)
Who: Kansas Jayhawks
GoLobos.com: Live stats, live stream, box score, postgame recap and stats
Video: Both games will be broadcast on ESPN3, and links can be found on the baseball schedule page at GoLobos.com
Mountain West Standings
| Place | School | MW record | Overall record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego State | 12-3 | 24-8 |
| 1 | Nevada | 12-3 | 25-7 |
| 3 | Fresno State | 7-5 | 16-17 |
| 4 | New Mexico | 8-7 | 16-13 |
| 4 | Air Force | 8-7 | 14-16 |
| 6 | UNLV | 2-13 |
12-18 |
| 6 | San José St. | 2-13 |
8-23 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The gauntlet is over. The UNM baseball team just finished a stretch of 15 games in 23 days that featured 12 games (eight of which were on the road) against Top 30 opponents with a 6-9 record. The stretch was so stuff that UNM’s strength of schedule climbed all the way to fifth toughest in the country.
According to D1Baseball.com the Lobos’ RPI currently sits at No. 42 after that tough stretch, which featured eight one-run games and a pair of two-run games, so the Lobos are still in decent shape in that regard.
However, the next 14 games on the schedule, which comprises the rest of April, are all against teams with RPIs worse than 100, so now is the time for UNM to start padding the win column. The Lobos proved they can hang with, and beat, some of the top teams in the nation, so now they need to start getting wins in earnest.
It begins with a two-game series at the Kansas Jayhawks this Tuesday and Wednesday. After reaching a regional last season, Kansas has been scuffling so far to the tune of an 11-20 record. Its offense has been decent with a .289 average, but the pitching staff has really struggled. Jayhawk pitchers have combined to allow opponents to hit .315 and score 6.6 runs per game. The Lobos, who have raised their batting average 16 points over the last three weeks, need to take advantage of any KU mistakes on the mound if they want to come home with two more wins.
The Lobos will count on sophomore lefty Carson Schneider to limit the Jayhawks bats in Tuesday’s matchup. The southpaw had started on Sunday during the last few weekends, but with the Easter schedule last week he was bumped to this midweek start. In his three starts he has struck out nine and walked just three in 12.2 innings, but he owns a 5.58 ERA, well below his season ERA of 4.26, which possibly points to a little bad luck. Wednesday’s starter is still undecided, but the Lobos will need whoever it is to step up and provide a quality outing.
Against Kansas: The Lobos won both contests between the teams at Lobo Field last year by scores of 6-3 and 10-4. Those are the only two meetings between the schools.
Series Record: 2-0
Home: 2-0; Away: 0-0; Neutral: 0-0
Up Next: UNM returns home for a Mountain West series against Air Force.
• SCOUTING KANSAS … The Jayhawks have played their last eight games away from home and gone just 2-6 in that span, including a sweep last weekend at Oklahoma.
Offensively KU is hitting .289 with six regular at .299 or better, including sophomore catcher Michael Tinsley at .354 and senior outfielder Connor McKay at .344. The main power threat is senior Blair Beck who leads the team with five home runs and a .539 slugging percentage. Junior second baseman Colby Wright leads the squad with a .485 OBP thanks in part to a team-high 18 walks.
Where the Jayhawks have faced most of their struggles is on the pitching mound. They own a staff ERA of 6.35, are allowing opponents to hit .315 against them and are allowing 6.6 runs per game. Brandon Johnson will make his first start of the season Tuesday and has only pitched 3.0 innings this season. He’s allowed just one hit, but he has also walked four. Fellow righty Sean Rackoski will threw on Wednesday, and he is nearly right in line with the rest of the pitching staff. He has a 6.88 ERA and is allowing opponents to hit .314. Closer Stephen Villines has seven saves and has struck out 28 versus just four walks in 27.0 innings.
• SAVE ME … With his save against No. 19 Texas Tech on March 31, Victor Sanchez moved into sole possession of third place on UNM’s all-time saves list with 12 in his career. He is one behind second place and just three behind of the leader, Gera Sanchez.
• COLE, VOSS SWEEP MW WEEKLY AWARDS … Senior RHP Jake Cole and freshman catcher Cory Voss were named Mountain West Pitcher and Player of the Week on Monday, March 30. It was the first career honor for both players, and it was the first weekly honors for UNM this season. Voss was also named the College Sports Madness MW Player of the Week.
• YOUNG LINEUP … The Lobos have one of the youngest lineups in the country, and it’s evidenced by the fact that 65 percent of their plate appearances have come from freshmen and sophomores, which is the eighth highest percentage in the nation. Right now UNM can expect to start just two juniors — Dalton Bowers at short and Jared Holley at second — and seven freshmen and sophomores.
• NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY … Speaking of youth, the Lobos current weekend rotation looks almost nothing like how the coaching staff drew it up before the season. UNM’s starting trio of Toller Boardman, Tyler Stevens and Carson Schneider entered the 2015 season with a combined total of ONE Division I start, and that was by Boardman as a member of the Texas Longhorns back in 2013. Schneider made a UNM fresman-record 24 appearances out of the bullpen last season, but did start a game. Stevens was pitching for Rocky Mountain HS last season. This year, however, the trio have started 16 of UNM’s 29 games heading into this weekend’s series at San Diego State. Add in freshman James Harrington, who started last Thursday at San Diego State, and that brings the total to 62 percent of UNM’s starts this season.
• FIVE STRAIGHT … From March 18-24 the Lobos played in five straight one-run games. It was the first time they had done so since 1968, and it was just the second time in program history, UNM has now been part of 616 one-run games in program history and owns a .506 winning percentage (312-304). UNM has never had a stretch of six straight one-run games.
• LET’S TURN TWO … New Mexico has been one of the most prolific teams in the nation in turning double plays since 2012. Over the last three-plus seasons UNM has turned 193 double plays, which is the 10th most in the country during that span. This season they are 27th in the NCAA with 30 twin killings, and 19th in double plays per game with 1.03.
• THREE FOR ME … On Tuesday, March 10, freshman catcher Cory Voss tripled twice in UNM’s 8-5 loss to Stephen F. Austin. He was the first Lobo to record two triples in a game since Alex Allbritton did so on April 18, 2010, against Coppin State. Heading into the matchup with Kansas he’s fifth in the NCAA with five triples, which is tops among all catchers.
• HIT ME BABY ONE MORE TIME … Despite standing just 5-foot-8 and being the shortest player in each of his three years on the Lobos, Jared Holley has become a baseball magnet. He has been hit by 28 pitches in his career, which is good for a three-way tie for second in UNM history.
• FOLLOW MY LEAD … The Lobos have had their leadoff man reach in 109 of their 256 innings, good for an inning-starting OBP of .426.
• BULLPEN DOMINANCE … The UNM bullpen has been outstanding at protecting leads during the last several seasons. If UNM is leading after eight innings? Forget it. The Lobos haven’t lost when leading after eight in 71 straight games. They recently saw their streak of winning when leading after six innings snapped, however. Despite leading 3-2 after six against No. 24 Houston on March 20, the Lobos eventually lost 6-5 to snap a 40-game win streak when holding a lead after six complete innings. Still, they have won 45 of their last 46 when leading after six.