Lobo Baseball – at Eck Stadium, Wichita, Kan.
When: Friday – 5:30 p.m. (MT); Saturday – 1 p.m. (MT); Sunday – 12 p.m. (MT)
Who: Wichita State Shockers
GoLobos.com: Live stats, live stream, box score, postgame recap and stats
Video: All three games will be streamed and fans can watch for a fee. Links will be available at the baseball schedule page on GoLobos.com
Mountain West Standings
| Place | School | MW record | Overall record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | 16-5 | 31-10 |
| 2 | San Diego State | 14-7 | 27-15 |
| 3 | New Mexico | 13-8 | 24-16 |
| 4 | Fresno State | 10-8 | 20-21 |
| 5 | Air Force | 10-11 | 19-20 |
| 6 | San José St. | 3-15 |
10-31 |
| 6 | UNLV | 3-15 |
16-23 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico baseball team hopes its second trip in 2015 to the state of Kansas goes a little better than its first. The Lobos have won eight of their last nine games since losing a pair of midweek contests to the Kansas Jayhawks on April 7 and 8.
Since that time, though, the Lobos have been rolling. They’ve outscored the opposition 85-26 and have three wins by at least nine runs in that span. Their only loss was a 3-2, 10-inning setback at UNLV this past Sunday. It has helped that their starting pitching has been phenomenal.
Tyler Stevens threw the first solo, nine-inning one-hitter in the program in 50 years on April 12 vs. Air Force, and Toller Boardman has allowed just one run in 14.2 innings over his last two starts. They have been named the last two Mountain West Pitchers of the Week. Luis Gonzalez, Sunday’s starter for UNM, has won the first two starts of his career in the last two midweek series for the Lobos.
The story for the Lobos, though, has really been the offense. They have hit a staggering .375 as a team since their two losses at Kansas. Four players are hitting .436 or better, including Jack Zoellner at .529 (18-for-34). Aaron Siple has a pair of five-hit games in that span, while freshman catcher Cory Voss has five straight multi-hit games. Carl Stajduhar is also working on a 10-game hitting streak as he has rocketed up the national leaderboard in doubles, ranking 11th with 17. He leads all freshmen in that category.
The Lobos will look to continue rolling against a Wichita State team that is having a down year. The Shockers are just 14-26, including 9-12 at home, and have a staff ERA of 5.31. Their Saturday and Sunday starters have ERAs of 7.61 and 7.23, respectively. That’s not a good combination when they’re facing one of the hottest-hitting teams in the country.
Want more good news for the Lobos? There is a chance Preseason All-Mountain West second baseman Sam Haggerty could return this weekend. He has played just one inning (the ninth inning last Saturday at UNLV) in UNM’s last 28 games due to a strained oblique. He has not started a game since March 7 against San Diego State but is improving and could be back soon.
Against Wichita State: This will be the first meeting between the schools since 1997, and just the second since 1991. UNM’s only win at Wichita came in 1988.
Series Record: 6-19
Home: 5-9; Away: 1-9; Neutral: 0-1
Up Next: UNM hosts Mountain West-leading Nevada next weekend. The Lobos are three games back of the Wolf Pack in the MW.
• SCOUTING WICHITA STATE … The Shockers are having a down year by their lofty standards. They sit at just 14-26 overall, including home series losses to Central Michigan, UCSB and Illinois State.
Wichita State is batting .263 as a team, but is led by junior first baseman Ryan Tinkham at .359. He also leads the squad in doubles (15), home runs (six), runs (33), slugging (.592) and OBP (.468). Sam Hilliard, Sunday’s scheduled starting pitcher, and Daniel Kihle chip in at .317 and .316, respectively.
The pitching staff has struggled as well, posting just a 5.31 staff ERA. The Shockers will get their share of strikeouts, however, led by Friday night starter Isaac Anderson’s 47 in 46.0 innings. Chase Williams (1-3, 7.61) will make just his third start of the season on Saturday before Hilliard (0-3, 7.23) takes the bump in the series finale. Junior RHP and reliever John Hayes owns a 2.79 ERA in 16 relief appearances covering 29.0 innings. He has 34 strikeouts and just 11 walks.
• BOARDMAN LOBOS’ SECOND STRAIGHT MW PiOW … Toller Boardman was named the Mountain West Pitcher of the Week on April 20 following his seven shutout innings at UNLV on April 17. He struck out a career-high eight, walked just one and allowed five hits. He was the second straight Lobo to earn the honor, following Tyler Stevens on April 13.
• FRESHMEN LEADERS … The Lobos have a number of freshmen making cases for being named a Freshman All-American. Third baseman Carl Stajduhar currently ranks 11th in the nation in doubles with 17, which is two more than any other freshman. Catcher Cory Voss leads is fourth in the nation among freshmen with a .618 slugging percentage. He is also leading the Mountain West in conference play with a .419 batting average. Meanwhile, Tyler Stevens leads the Mountain West with a 2.45 ERA. And don’t forget two-way player Hayden Schilling, who has a 1.54 ERA in 12 relief appearances.
• 1,600 AND COUNTING … UNM’s game against UNLV on Friday, April 17 marked the 1,600th game of head coach Ray Birmingham’s coaching career.
• LOBOS STARTING TO ROLL … Ray Birmingham is one of the best hitting coaches in the nation (and was the hitting coach for USA Baseball’s Collegiate National Team last summer) as evidenced by the Lobos hitting at least .312 in all but one of his years at UNM. This year, though, they got off to a slow start, hitting just .259 through March 18. In the 22 games since then, however, UNM is batting .335 and seven of their nine projected starters this weekend are at .311 or better during that span. Five (Chris DeVito, Danny Collier, Aaron Siple, Cory Voss and Jack Zoellner) have hit over .378 in that time.
• STAJ ON FIRE … Perhaps no Lobo is hotter than freshman Carl Stajduhar. He is currently on a 10-game hitting streak after snapping an 0-for-13 stretch that lowered his season average to .250. He is 18-for-43 (.419) with eight doubles, nine runs and 15 RBIs during the streak with eight multi-hit games to push his average to .302.
• 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 77 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 52 of their last 54 when leading after six.
• FOLLOW MY LEAD … The Lobos have had their leadoff man reach in 144 of their 351 innings, good for an inning-starting OBP of .410.