ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico baseball team scored in each of the first seven innings and defeated the visiting Air Force Falcons 10-6 Saturday afternoon in front of 802 fans at Lobo Field to clinch a series victory.
It was a well-rounded offensive attack for the Lobos (18-15, 10-7) that saw UNM rack up 11 hits and draw eight walks. Jack Zoellner led the way with a 3-for-4 performance, and Aaron Siple reached base five times via a bunt single and four free passes.
“We were really patient at the plate, which really helped out,” Siple said. “Their starter was kind of all over the place. He’d be in and out of the zone, but we had the approach to be patient and give it a ride when it was in there.”
Siple was the first Lobo to walk four times in one game since DJ Peterson (five) and Ryan Padilla (four) did it in the same game against UC Riverside on March 9, 2013.
“How about Aaron Siple?” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said. “Four walks and a bunt single. We worked on that yesterday. I told him if they play back then there’s no way they can throw him out on a bunt.”
The Falcons opened the scoring with an unearned run in the first, but UNM responded with the next three scores. Cory Voss had an RBI single in the first, Zoellner had a double off the wall in right-center to score Carl Stajduhar in the second, and Jared Holley drove in Zoellner with an RBI groundout to give the Lobos a 3-1 lead after two.
Air Force, though, struck for four in the third to chase starter James Harrington, despite the freshman’s career-high five strikeouts. Alex Estrella (2-1) came in, finished off the inning, and was terrific over the next 3.2 innings. He also struck out a career-high five batters while allowing just a single run on two singles and a walk. He also picked a batter off first.
“Estrella was money,” Birmingham said. “He threw up some goose eggs. And (Jake) Cole is cash. Him and Toller (Boardman) have been cash for us.”
Cole came on with two on and no outs in the eighth, and proceeded to slam the door shut. He retired all six men he faced, including two on strikeouts, to earn his third save of the season. The Lobos set a new season-high for strikeouts with a dozen.
“That was a big win for us, with as well as (Air Force) had been playing,” Birmingham said. “They’re not the Air Force of old. They’re very, very capable of beating anybody.”
After the Falcons went up 5-3 in the third, UNM responded with a run of its own in the home half of the inning and then took the lead for good in the fourth with a two-out rally.
Zoellner walked with one out and was still there with two men down when Holley blooped a single over the first baseman’s head. That put runners on the corners for Danny Collier. The speedy sophomore bounced a single through the right side to tie the game and extend his hitting streak to 15 games. Siple followed with one of his four walks to load the bases, and Lane Milligan also walked to drive in the go-ahead run.
UNM’s offense was working so well, it even managed to score a run –the eventual winning run in fact — without putting a ball in play in the sixth. Siple led off with, what else, a walk, and Milligan followed with one of his own. After a pair of strikeouts Stajduhar was hit by a pitch to load the bases. The first pitch to Zoellner was way inside and it went for a wild pitch, which allowed Siple to scamper home.
Along with Zoellner, Stajduhar was the only other Lobo with a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a pair of runs. Siple scored four times to set a new career high in that category. He and Milligan combined to reach base eight times in 10 plate appearances out of the second and third spots in the lineup.
“We came out here with one goal in mind and that was to win the series,” Zoellner said. “It was kind of a weird game, but we had one job and one job only and that was to win the series today. … One-through-nine the hitters did a great job today. Once we got that cushion for the pitchers, they finished the job for us. Overall it was a great job by everybody today.”
The Lobos will go for the sweep at 1 p.m. Sunday. Freshman Tyler Stevens will start on the mound for UNM, and fans can watch a live stream by LoboTV on the Mountain West Network at GoLobos.com, or listen to the game on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM.
Notes: The Lobos have won 73 straight games when leading after eight innings … UNM is now 45-15-2 in Mountain West series under Birmingham … Collier’s hitting streak is the longest on the team this season.