Lobo Baseball – at Lobo Field
When: Tuesday – 6 p.m. (MT)
Who: No. 16 Arizona State Sun Devils
GoLobos.com: Live stats, box score, live stream, postgame recap and stats
Radio: ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM will broadcast the game
Video: The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and can be found at GoLobos.com
TV: uPUBLICtv is producing the game and airing it locally on Comcast channel 26
Mountain West Standings
| Place | School | MW record | Overall record |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nevada | 21-6 | 40-12 |
| 2 | San Diego State | 19-10 | 34-18 |
| 3 | New Mexico | 16-11 | 27-23 |
| 3 | Fresno State | 16-11 | 27-25 |
| 5 | Air Force | 10-16 | 21-26 |
| 6 | UNLV | 8-19 |
22-28 |
| 7 | San José St. | 5-22 |
12-40 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Senior Day was Sunday for the University of New Mexico baseball team as it rolled to a 19-8 win over San José State, but the Lobos have one home game remaining on the 2015 schedule. They host the No. 16 Arizona State Sun Devils Tuesday night at 6 to close out the home portion of their season.
Reigning Mountain West Player of the Week Carl Stajduhar and his teammates picked up the offense last weekend in a sweep of visiting San José State, but they’ll need to do even better to crack one of the top teams in the nation. UNM lost to the Sun Devils 4-3 in Tempe, Ariz., back on March 18, but had the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the ninth.
“We felt we could have beat them the last time we played,” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said. “They’re really, really good, and Tracy Smith is a great coach doing great things there. That’s who we want to play. That’s who we want to beat. That’s who we think we can be.”
The Sun Devils have played some tough games the last two weekends, losing four of six to No. 13 Cal and No. 2 UCLA, including a 17-inning marathon on Saturday. But the Lobos, who have been a streaky team all season, hope they are now peaking again as the end of the season draws near.
UNM outscored SJSU 52-20 last weekend and had four players hit .563 or better during their four-game week: Stajduhar (.625), Luis Gonzalez (.615), Reece Weber (.600) and Aaron Siple (.563). And by the way, those first three players are all freshmen. For a young team to have so many players performing well at the end of the season is a huge testament to the amount of fight the Lobos have.
Against Arizona State: The Lobos dropped a tight one at Arizona State in March, falling 4-3. The teams split a two-game series in 2012 at Isotopes Park, which was the last time the Sun Devils visited Albuquerque.
Series Record: 29-120
Home: 19-33; Away: 9-77; Neutral: 0-1
Up Next: UNM closes out the regular season with three games at Fresno State.
• SCOUTING ARIZONA STATE … The Sun Devils had hit a rough patch the last two weekends while playing some of the top teams in the nation. They went just 2-4 at No. 13 Cal and at home vs. No. 2 UCLA, which included a 17-inning loss on Saturday night.
Arizona State is 32nd in the nation with a .299 team batting average, and all nine of its starters are at .283 or better. Sophomore infielder David Greer leads the way at .357. He is also tops on the squad with a .490 slugginer percentage. ASU doesn’t hit many home runs (just 24) but is still slugging .417. Center fielder Johnny Sewald leads the attack on the base paths with 20 steals in 25 attempts.
The Sun Devils’ staff has a 4.07 ERA led by All-American closer Ryan Burr at 2.80. He has 13 saves and 61 strikeouts versus just 20 walks in 35.1 innings.
• STAJDUHAR MW PLAYER OF THE WEEK … Freshman third baseman Carl Stajduhar was named the Mountain West Player of the Week on May 11. He hit .625 (10-for-16), slugged 1.188 and drove in 12 runs over four games from May 5-10. He had multiple RBIs in every game, scored seven runs and had an OBP of .625.
• RECORD FOR REECE … Redshirt freshman Reece Weber tied a UNM record, and set a freshman record, with four doubles against San José State on Sunday, May 10. He became just the fifth Lobo with five two-base hits in a game.
• FRESHMEN LEADERS … The Lobos have a number of freshmen making cases for being named a Freshman All-American. Third baseman Carl Stajduhar currently ranks 23rd in the nation in doubles with 19, which is tied for first among freshmen. He is also fourth in the NCAA among freshmen with 50 RBIs. Catcher Cory Voss is seventh in the nation among freshmen with a .572 slugging percentage, and Stajduhar is ninth at .555. Voss is also fourth in the Mountain West in conference play with a .379 batting average, which is the highest by a freshman this season.
• ESTRELLA NAMED ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT … Redshirt junior left-handed pitcher Alex Estrella was named to CoSIDA’a Academic All-District team on May 7. He owns a 4.18 GPA in economics and is already pursuing his MBA in finance.
• YOUNG BACKSTOPS … Freshmen Cory Voss and Scottie Graham have combined to catch 437.0 of UNM’s 441.2 innings this season, which is 98.9 percent of the Lobos’ defensive outs. (Sophomore Lane Milligan has caught 4.2 innings over four games.)
• WALKING WOUNDED … The list of players that haven’t missed time due to injury this season for UNM is probably shorter than those that have missed time. A total of 14 players have spent time on the bench due to injury/illness: Sam Haggerty, Colton Thomson, Lane Milligan, Chris DeVito, Dalton Bowers, Cory Voss, Drew Bridges, Jared Holley, Andre Vigil, Luis Gonzalez, Jack Zoellner, Preston Ryan, Conner Rusch, Danny Collier and Jake Cole. That’s seven starters, three starting pitchers and a couple of valuable bullpen arms.
• 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 224 double plays, which is in the top 10 for most in the country during that span. This season they are sixth in the NCAA with 55 twin killings, and seventh in double plays per game with 1.10.
• BATS COMING ALIVE … 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 32 games since then, however, UNM is batting .335 and eight of their nine projected starters this weekend are at .337 or better during that span. Only Hayden Schilling (.279) fails to reach that mark, but he is on a five-game hitting streak and is batting .476 (10-for-21) since starting to play shortstop full-time on May 3.
• 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 80 straight games, a streak that dates back to March 24, 2013.