Complete box: New Mexico State 9, New Mexico 6
EL PASO, Texas– Trailing 7-0 early, the University of New Mexico baseball team rallied against the New Mexico State Aggies and brought the go-ahead run to the plate in the eighth, but the Lobos ultimately fell 9-6 to their Rio Grande Rival.
UNM (6-5) had the bases loaded with just one out and down three in the top of the eighth, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat. The Lobos’ struggles with the bases loaded likely cost them a chance at winning. They had six plate appearances in those situations, many with fewer than two outs, but managed just a single walk.
Two Lobo errors led to three unearned runs for NMSU 8-6) in the first. The Aggies tacked on three more in the second and another in the third before UNM responded with four in the fourth to fight back into the game.
Dalton Bowers led off the frame with a double to left. He came in to score on a single by Luis Gonzalez. Chris DeVito then hammered the first pitch he saw for a two-run homer to make the score 7-3.
Carl Stajduhar followed with a walk, Jack Zoellner singled and Jared Mang walked to load the bases with no outs. However, a 1-2-3 double play left two men in scoring position. Back-to-back walks by Jared Holley and Danny Collier forced in a run, but Bowers grounded out to first to end the inning.
UNM crept closer with a run in the sixth. With two outs Holley was hit by a pitch and Collier singled him to third. Holley came in to score on a balk to bring UNM within two. However, the Aggies tacked on two more in the seventh and withstood UNM’s eighth-inning rally.
Collier, DeVito and Zoellner all finished with two hits for the Lobos. James Harrington (2-1) pitched well enough to win, but he suffered the loss partly due to those three unearned runs in the first. He allowed seven total, four earned, on nine hits in six innings. He struck out five and did not walk a batter.
The Lobos open Mountain West play at Nevada this weekend.
Notes: Holley’s HBP was the 32nd of his career, moving him within six of UNM’s all-time record … Taylor Duree made his 67th career appearance in relief, which is third most for a Lobo, and just one behind second place (David Steinberg, 1979-82) … it was just the third neutral-site meeting between the teams in the history of the rivalry dating back to 1948, and UNM has lost all three.