PHOENIX, Ariz. — The University of New Mexico nabbed the potential tying run at the plate in the seventh inning in a one-run game, and Alex Estrella did the rest, retiring the side in order in the eighth and ninth as the Lobos picked up their third win in the last four games with a 10-6 victory of the homestanding Grand Canyon Antelopes in the first of a two-game series.
Early on it looked like Estrella wouldn’t be needed as starter James Harrington cruised through the first four innings. After giving up back-to-back singles with one out in the first, Harrington (3-1) coaxed a double play and then retired nine of the next 10 batters, allowing just a walk.
While he was dirty on the mound through four, UNM’s bats were filthy. The Lobos staked Harrington to a 3-0 lead before he ever took the mound. Carl Stajduhar doubled in two runs with a two-bagger down the line in left before scoring on a Jared Mang single.
UNM added three more runs in the second when Scottie Graham scored on a balk and Stajduhar singled in Dalton Bowers for his third RBI of the game. Chris DeVito made it 6-0 with a single as UNM looked to be in complete control. When Luis Gonzalez clubbed his first home run of the season to lead of the fourth and make it 7-0, bullpen help was the last thing on anyone’s minds.
However, it was needed. Harrington, who was brilliant through four, ran into his only rough inning in the fifth. Griffin Barnes singles home a pair of runs, and then Austin Bull tripled in two more and scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 7-5.
Harrington got out of that inning and then threw a four-pitch sixth inning, but he was removed in the seventh after a one-out single. Christian Tripp came in and got a strikeout before allowing a single that scored Barnes and made it 7-6. After a walk, Estrella came in and walked Thomas Lerouge to load the bases, and that’s when UNM’s defense, which was perfect on the night, foiled GCU’s trickeration.
With two strikes, Lerouge wandered too far off first and fell down, drawing a throw from catcher Scottie Graham. Jack Zoellner at first briefly chased Lerouge before firing home as Austin Bell was trying to steal home. Zoellner’s throw was in time and Graham’s tag was true, keeping UNM in the lead at 7-6.
Insurance then arrived off the bat of Bowers in the eighth as he tripled home two runs to make it 9-6 before scoring himself to make it 10-6. That was more than enough for Estrella, who mowed down the final six batters, using just seven pitches in the eighth and with two strikeouts in the ninth as he nailed down his first save of the season and the third of his career.
“Alex was the man tonight,” said head coach Ray Birmingham. “He was 90-92 on the gun and he threw strikes. He was huge for us. That’s what we have to do to get rolling is get the back of the bullpen rolling.”
The Lobos will go for the series sweep tomorrow at 3 p.m. in a game in which both teams have announced that they will be throwing several pitchers on innings limits for the game.
NOTES: The win was win No. 1,099 in Ray Birmingham’s coaching career … Estrella’s 2.2 innings pitched marked his longest stint of the season … Estrella now has pitched 6.0 innings this season without allowing a hit and just two walks … Bowers’ triple was his first career three-bagger.