New Mexico Lobo Softball – Kajikawa Classic | Weekly Notes
Friday (Feb. 12) – New Mexico vs. San Diego (7 p.m.)
Saturday (Feb. 13) – New Mexico vs. Stanford (2:30 p.m.), New Mexico vs. Cal Poly (7:30 p.m.)
Sunday (Feb. 14) – New Mexico vs. Oregon State (1:30 p.m.), New Mexico vs. No. 17/18 Kentucky (3:45 p.m.)
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Series History
San Diego: UNM leads, 6-3 (last meeting – UNM won 6-4 – 2/7/15)
Stanford: STAN leads, 2-1 (last meeting – STAN won 3-2 – 2/11/06)
Cal Poly: Cal Poly, leads 4-0 (last meeting – Cal Poly won 3-2 – 2/8/13)
Oregon State: OSU lead, 9-2 (last meeting – OSU won 5-4 – 2/14/15)
No. 17/18 Kentucky: UNM leads, 1-0 (last meeting – UNM won 5-2 – 2/18/00)
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It’s a tradition now for the University of New Mexico softball team. A tradition to start off the season at one of the top opening tournaments in the country, the Kajikawa Classic, hosted by Arizona State.
It will be the fifth straight year that the Lobo softball team opens up their season with the trip to Tempe, Ariz. After struggling to get things going in the first week the first few trips to this tournament, the Lobos opened their season last year with a 3-2 record, claiming wins over Seattle U, San Diego and UC Santa Barbara.
This year they take on a little bit more of a tough schedule. They open up on Friday with San Diego before taking on Stanford and Cal Poly on Saturday. They close up the weekend with two more tough opponents in Oregon State and No.17/18 Kentucky.
LOBOS PICKED FOURTH IN MW PRESEASON POLL: New Mexico is picked to finish fourth in Mountain West action this season. The Lobos received a total of 34 points which is 15 points away from eighth pick San José State. The Lobos finished eighth in 2015 with a 13-11 record, for a fourth place finish and one of the best seasons in program history.
The favorite of the conference once again is Fresno State, who finished with a 20-4 conference record last season. They claimed the MW title last season. The Bulldogs received eight first place votes for a total of 64 points.
San Diego State picked up 57 points and one first place vote for second while SJSU was picked to finish third for a total of 49 points. Along with New Mexico, UNLV, Utah State and Colorado State are the middle of the pack for five, six, and seven. Nevada and Boise State are picked at the bottom for eighth and ninth.
ABOUT THE 2016 LOBOS: New Mexico returns 11 letterwinners for the 2016 season, including four pitchers from last season. The Lobos are broken down by four seniors, four juniors, three sophomores, a redshirt freshman and seven true freshman. The Lobos are looking to climb up further in the Mountain West. Last season, they finished with one of their best seasons in program history, picking up their first-ever win over Nevada and picking up four series wins in the first five weekends of conference play.