SAN JOSE, Calif. — The University of New Mexico baseball team has certainly gotten a few lucky breaks and bizarre wins in the 2016 season. Friday night’s contest was the polar opposite.
After scuffling, scratching and clawing to overcome an early 5-0 deficit to tie the game at 7-7 and then 8-8, the Lobos fell in defeat 9-8 on a play that could only be described as odd as UNM dropped the opener of a Mountain West series for the first time this season, dropping to 24-11 overall and 12-4 in the conference.
After tying the game up at 8-8 in the top of the eighth on a Carl Stajduhar sacrifice fly, Hunter Tidwell reached on a leadoff single off of Alex Estrella (1-1), and he was sacrificed to second base. He was still there with two outs when leadoff batter Aaron Pleschner hit a grounder to short. Dalton Bowers threw low, but the ball was dugout by Jack Zoellner for the out. Or so he thought. Pleschner was ruled safe, catching UNM off guard so much so that Tidwell, who never stopped running, scored without a play.
Zoellner and head coach Ray Birmingham argued to no avail, but the call clearly didn’t agree with the Lobos. Center fielder Luis Gonzalez had already trotted into the infield from center field, and Jared Holley stood in disbelief with his hands on his head. However, with Tidwell running and no play, UNM was down 9-8 and after coming back twice in the game, there were no more left as UNM went down 1-2-3 in the ninth.
UNM was down 5-0 after a shaking outing from Carson Schneider, who didn’t travel with the team due to the funeral for his grandmother, not arriving on the trip until two days after the team. UNM however got it tied up eventually in the seventh. By that time it was 7-4 San Jose State, but but Jared Holley opened the seventh by getting hit by a pitch, and then he crossed to third on a single by Chris DeVito. Stajduhar doubles in Holley to make it 7-5, and then a Jack Zoellner ground out made it 7-6.
“We were worried about Carson coming into tonight after such an emotional week with the passing of his grandmother,” said Birmingham. “He gave it all that he had.”
After a line out by Jared Mang, Erick Migueles tied it up with a single, making it 7-7. UNM quickly gave that lead back as the Spartans got a run off of Matt Villalobos, but the Lobos answered again, this time without a hit. Luis Gonzalez coaxed a one-out walk and then the Lobos caught a break when Pleschner booted a potential double play ball.
San Jose State walked Chris DeVito intentionally, Stajduhar hit a sacrifice fly that just missed being a grand slam. That tied it at 8 and set up the eventful bottom half.
UNM nearly tied it in the fifth inning, getting a run on a Zoellner sacrifice fly and then a two-out single. Migueles then drilled one to straight away center, but Tidwell made a diving over the shoulder catch to save a run and end the inning.
NOTE: UNM was 10-0 in the opening two games of Mountain West series … DeVito went 2-for-3 and is now hitting .445 on the year, and his OPS is 1.302 … UNM was outhit 15-10 … the Lobos dropped to 5-9 when allowing six or more runs … UNM is 19-2 when allowing fewer than six runs … Tyler Stevens takes the hill for UNM on Saturday.