ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Tyler Stevens made a little history Sunday afternoon.
The freshman righty, making just his sixth career start, hurled the first one-hitter for the University of New Mexico since March 6, 1976, and the Lobos (19-15, 11-7) shut out the Air Force Falcons 5-0 to earn a series sweep.
“Outstanding,” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said of Stevens’ performance. “That was fun to watch. It’s fun to watch a freshman throw a (complete game). … It was an unbelievable performance by a guy we needed to do it.”
Stevens was outstanding against the Falcons (15-19, 8-10) . He faced just one batter over the minimum, did not walk a batter and threw 67 of his 98 pitches for strikes. The only hit he allowed came with one out in the third, but the runner was erased trying to stretch it into a double. UNM made two defesnive miscues behind him, but one of those was erased on a caught stealing to end the fourth.
After that? Perfection. Stevens retired the final 16 batters in the best performance of his young career, and one of the best for UNM in the last 39 years.
“I had a no-hitter once, but this is by far my most memorable (performance),” he said. “Being a freshman, this is incredible.”
The last one-hitter for UNM was by Tom Bepko and Craig Steiner when they combined to limit the Colorado School of Mines to just one base knock over 39 years ago, but that came not only well before Stevens was born, but it nearly came before his father was born. His dad, Tom Stevens, was born Aug. 30, 1975, and was barely six months old the last time a Lobo pulled off what his son did on Sunday.
“That’s amazing,” Stevens said. “I’m short of words right now. Coach Birmingham told me that and I didn’t believe him. That’s awesome.”
The Lobos gave him an early 1-0 lead in the first. Danny Collier walked and advanced to second on a groundout by Aaron Siple. Lane Milligan then lined an 0-2 pitch over the center fielder’s head to give Stevens all the support he would need.
“He’s a blue-collar kid,” Birmingham said of his starter. “You don’t even know he’s in the dugout. He’s awesome. He just goes to work and does his job. It’s inspiring to watch. That was special. He just threw strikes. His offspeed pitches were for strikes. That kid is going to be a big-time pitcher. There’s no doubt about it. He’s going to be a high draft pick. He just does what you’re supposed to do.”
Stevens recorded 12 groundball outs and lowered his season ERA to 2.67. Air Force came into the series white-hot, too. They had 71 hits over their previous four games heading into Friday’s game. But Stevens was so good on Sunday that he reached only three three-ball counts and just six two-ball counts.
“I just attacked the zone,” he said. “I had some nice defense behind me, too. You just have to throw strikes, pound the zone, and that’s what we did today.”
The Lobos added two runs in both the sixth and the seventh in further support of Stevens, but one got the feeling that even if the score had remained 1-0, he wouldn’t have panicked or put any added pressure on himself.
“That was outstanding, especially for a freshman,” said Collier, who finished 2-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. “Hopefully we can get the whole pitching staff to do what he did. All he did was throw strikes, and that was a big part of the game. Our defense did a good job as well. My hat’s off to Tyler Stevens.”
Collier made probably the best play in support of the freshman in the fourth inning. With a runner on first after UNM’s second error, the Falcons’ Tyler Jones, a Freshman All-American last season, lined a 1-2 pitch to shallow center. But Collier got a good jump and made a great diving catch to rob Jones of Air Force’s second hit.
Stevens’ gem capped a great weekend for the Lobos right when they needed it most. It was their first sweep of the season and came after a rough mid-week series at Kansas.
“This (sweep) was a huge deal,” Collier said. “We had kind of gone into a funk, and hopefully this gets us out of it. Those are three big wins against a tough Air Force team.”
UNM will look to keep the momentum going when it welcomes Grand Canyon to Lobo Field Tuesday and Wednesday. LoboTV will stream both games on the Mountain West Network, and ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM will carry both games as well.
Notes: It was the 11th one-hitter in UNM history, and seven of those were only seven-inning games … the last solo one-hitter by a Lobo pitcher came on March 25, 1973, by Ron Simms … Carl Stajduhar joined Collier as the only Lobos with multiple hits as he went 2-for-3 … UNM drew seven walks, including two by Milligan.