SAN JOSE, Calif. — After a tough 9-8 loss to San José State in the weekend opener, The University of New Mexico needed a great pitching performance. That’s exactly what Tyler Stevens brought to the hill. Stevens was superb for 7.2 innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out five as he picked up his fifth win as the Lobos evened up the series with a 6-2 win.
The Lobos improved to 25-11 overall and 13-4 in the Mountain West while San José State dropped to 11-23 and 4-13 in the conference. The Lobos will go for their sixth series win of the season tomorrow at 2 p.m. Mountain Time in a game that will be broadcast via GoLobos.com on the Mountain West Network.
Stevens allowed two runs, one earned, over his 7.2 innings. At one point from the third to the sixth he retired 11 straight Spartans. He only really ran into trouble in the third, when he allowed an unearned run, and the eighth. In the third, he allowed two singles and committed an error on a pickoff, leading to a run, but he retired the final three of the inning to start his streak of 11 straight.
In the eighth, he got the first two out before allowing a single, a walk and a single to make it 6-2. That ended his day after 108 pitches, and UNM called on Christian Tripp to get out of the jam. With two out and two on, Tripp got Brendt Citta to strike out on a 2-2 pitch to end the threat. Tripp then retired the side in the ninth with the help of a double play to give UNM the win.
The Lobos got out of the chute in fine fashion with a pair of runs in the first on a two-run single by Jack Zoellner. UNM then added single tallies in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth to give themselves a 6-1 lead. Austin Bell drove in a run in the third on a ground out, Carl Stajduhar had a fourth inning sacrifice fly, Dalton Bowers had an RBI triple in the fifth and Jared Mang had a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
UNM could have easily scored more than six in the game, as the Lobos had 12 hits and received 12 walks, but UNM left 16 on base. UNM actually left 19 on base earlier this season against Hawai’i.
“That was a great job by our pitching staff,” said head coach Ray Birmingham. “Tyler kept the ball down and Tripp is getting better with each outing. He’s getting pretty good for us.”
NOTES: DeVito went 2-for-5 and he average dropped slightly to .444 … Tripp’s appearance was his 13th of the season, one behind Alex Estrella and Victor Sanchez for the team lead … Tyler Stevens hadn’t committed an error all season but had two on errant pick-off attempts.
Stevens, Tripp Pace Lobos in the Hill in 6-2 Win
