Lobo Baseball – at Beiden Field
When: Thursday – 7:35 p.m. (MT); Friday – 7:35 p.m. (MT); Saturday – 2:05 p.m. (MT)
Who: Fresno State Bulldogs
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
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 | 28-23 |
| 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 |
12-41 |
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico baseball team takes its four-game winning streak to Fresno, Calif., to face off with the Bulldogs in the final regular-season series for both teams. Whoever wins the series will earn the No. 3 seed in the Mountain West Tournament and possibly miss host, and regular-season champion, Nevada in the second round. But ask the Lobos who they want, and they’ll bring just one team up?
“We want another crack at Nevada,” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said. “They won the title and dog piled on our field, and good for them, they deserved it, but I don’t want any team doing that but the Lobos.”
UNM won’t be overlooking an equally hot Fresno State squad that has won five straight, but a couple key players, such as Danny Collier, might miss the series to rest up for the conference tournament.
The Lobos will need other players to step up. One such is Sam Haggerty, who has four hits in two of his last four games, to step up. Carl Stajduhar, the reigning Mountain West Player of the Week, has also been swinging a hot bad, and redshirt freshman Reece Weber tied a UNM record with four doubles last Sunday.
They’ll need to continue to swing well if they want to beat Thursday’s starter Jake Shull, who leads the Mountain West with a 1.80 ERA. Fresno State’s Friday night starter, lefty Ricky Thomas, is no slouch either with a 3.02 ERA.
Against Fresno State: The Lobos took two of three from the Bulldogs earlier this season inAlbuquerque. UNM is 15-4 against Fresno State under head coach Ray Birmingham.
Series Record: 29-120
Home: 11-1; Away: 7-8; Neutral: 0-2
Up Next: UNM heads to the Mountain West Tournament in Reno, Nev., with a game against a TBD opponent on Wednesday, May 20.
• SCOUTING FRESNO STATE … The Bulldogs are red-hot, winners of five straight heading into a series that will determine the third seed in the Mountain West Tournament.
Fresno State is hitting .271 and is led by Taylor Tempel (.364) and Austin Guibor (.331). Preseason All-American Taylor Ward is chipping in at .290 and is throwing out 37 percent of attempted base stealers from behind the plate.
Thursday night starter Jake Shull leads the MW with a 1.80 ERA, but will be making just his sixth start. He was formerly the team’s closer and leads them with six saves. Freshman lefty Ricky Thomas owns a 3.05 ERA and will start Friday. Lefty specialist Casey Rodriguez leads the team with 26 appearances.
• 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 446.0 of UNM’s 450.2 innings this season, which is 99.0 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 eighth in double plays per game with 1.10.
• 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.
• STAJ ON FIRE … Carl Stajduhar posted a 14-game hitting streak from April 8 to May 1. He hit 27-for-60 (.450) with nine doubles, 12 runs and 19 RBIs during the streak with eight multi-hit games.
• 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 81 straight games, a streak that dates back to March 24, 2013.