RENO, Nev. — Tyler Stevens was practically brilliant for 7.2 innings, and when he started to falter, UNM’s bullpen duo of Alex Estrella and Victor Sanchez came through as UNM used a 3-run seventh and strong defense to take out Nevada 3-2, improving to 8-5 overall and 2-0 in the Mountain West. UNM will now go for an early season road sweep tomorrow at 2 p.m. Mountain Time with Colton Thompson on the hill for the Lobos.
With several Lobos back at the hotel after coming down with some sort of bug, it looked like UNM’s offense might not get off the deck as UNM couldn’t solve the riddle that was Nevada starter Trevor Charpie, who was making his first start of the season. Through the first six innings, UNM could only muster a third inning single by Jared Holley and a six inning double from Danny Collier.
Fortunately for UNM, Tyler Stevens was on his A-game as well, keeping Nevada scoreless through his first seven innings. That gave the Lobo time to adjust, and they did just that in the seventh. UNM opened the inning with a single up the middle by Carl Stajduhar, and then Chris DeVito followed with a double that put runners on second and third with no out. Andre Vigil then poked a dying quail to center that just dropped in, plating Stajduhar for the first run of the game and pushing DeVito to third.
Austin Bell pinch hit and picked up his second hit of the season and first RBI, knocking in a single through the right side, crossing DeVito to third and making it 2-0. Michael Eaton then made it 3-0 with a perfectly executed safety squeeze, a run that would prove large when Stevens ran into trouble in the eighth.
With two on and one out in the eighth, Miles Mastrobuoni laced a triple to right center, plating both runners to make it 3-2 and putting the tying run on third with just one out. Andre Vigil then provided UNM’s second defensive gem of the game, making a diving catch of a soft liner in right to not only save a base hit, but he prevented the run from tagging.
Ray Birmingham then went to the bullpen, bring in lefty Alex Estrella to face left-handed hitter Trenton Brooks, and he struck him out to end the threat. Victor Sanchez then came in with a 2-0 count on the leadoff batter, retired him and then picked up the save after a two-out hit batter. It was the third save of the season for Sanchez.
UNM now has won two straight after a four-game losing streak, keyed by strong pitching as UNM has allowed just five runs in two games vs. Nevada so far.
Notes: Carl Stajduhar saved a run in the fifth when he dove into foul ground with a runner on second to get the batter for the second out … Stevens lowered his ERA by more than two runs with his outing … UNM extended its streak of winning when leading after eight innings to 87 straight games … Ray Birmingham picked up career win 1,098 … UNM will go for its first road Mountain West sweep since April 18-19, 2014 when the Lobos swept San José State … the save was the 15th of Sanchez’ career.