RENO, Nev. – The opening game of the Mountain West Tournament could not have gone any better for the University of New Mexico baseball team. The Lobos (30-25) routed the Air Force Falcons (22-28) 13-1 in a seven-inning, 10-run-rule contest as Tyler Stevens pitched a complete game that helped save the bullpen. The Lobos will now face top seed and host Nevada at 8 p.m. MT Thursday.
Jack Zoellner went 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles to, three RBIs, a walk and four runs scored to lead the offense, which had eight of the nine batters record a hit.
“Jack Zoellner has really turned into a big-time baseball player,” UNM head coach Ray Birmingham said. “He has worked really word and has cut down on his swing. He used to mishit balls, but I don’t think he mishit anything tonight.”
Aaron Siple chipped in by going 2-for-2 with three RBIs, including a key, two-strike, run-scoring single in UNM’s five-run second. After going down in order in the first, the Lobos responded by scoring in each of the next five innings to shorten the game. After their big second inning, they got one in the third and fifth, and three in the fourth and sixth.
Zoellner’s home run came on a 1-1 pitch with two outs in the third. He hit a mammoth shot that carried into the night just to the left of the batter’s eye in center.
“My swing has been feeling pretty good lately,” the second team All-Mountain West first baseman said. “I can’t be getting big at the plate. I’ve been putting myself in good counts, and that’s what I did today, and I put some good swings on the ball.”
Lane Milligan hit an opposite-field three-run homer in the fourth, and he finished with a team-high four RBIs.
Meanwhile, Stevens tossed his second complete game against the Falcons this season to save UNM’s bullpen. He struck out a career-high eight batters.
“He’s money,” Birmingham said. “He’s just like this whole time. We’re so young. We have eight or nine (underclassmen) on the field sometimes, and we’ve been inconsistent because of that. But they’re pretty good, and we displayed that tonight.”
Stevens (5-4) wasn’t quite as dominant as he was when he recorded a one-hit shutout of the Falcons back on April 12, but he was more than good enough. He allowed a run in the first, but did well to minimize damage after that as he stranded nine Falcons on the base paths. He allowed six hits, but all of them were singles and just one came after the fourth inning.
“I had good fastball command,” he said. “I felt like I could put the fastball anywhere I wanted. I made a couple of mistakes with my offspeed stuff, but at the end of the day we won. I kept them off the board and there’s nothing better than that.”
He threw a career-high 107 pitches, but 74 of them were for strikes, and now UNM will have its entire bullpen ready for its matchup with Nevada.
The Lobos and Wolf Pack will meet at approximately 8 p.m. MT Thursday with junior left-hander and All-Mountain West first team selection Toller Boardman starting for the Lobos. Boardman earned a win at Nevada back on March 13 by limiting the best offense in the conference to one run and four hits in 8.1 innings. The game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network and broadcast by ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM.
“We got the game we want,” Birmingham said. “We want Nevada (Thursday) night.”
Notes: It was the first time a game in MW history was settled by the run rule in its first year of implementation … Zoellner’s four runs set a new career high … it was Zoellner’s third home run of the season, as was Milligan’s … UNM walked eight times and struck out just three.