Colorado Springs, Colo. — Early in the second inning, The University of New Mexico baseball team had to wait out a 41 minute lightning delay. As soon as that ended, UNM brought the thunder.
Lots and lots of thunder.
New Mexico scored five runs in the second inning after the lightning delay, Jared Holley had a career-high seven runs batted in and Colton Thomson was nearly unhittable on the hill as the Lobos put the hammer down with a 23-2 win over the Air Force. The win moves UNM to 34-20 overall and 19-9 in the Mountain West. The Lobos inched to within two wins of a share of the Mountain West title and the No. 1 seed in next week’s conference tournament, hosted at Santa Ana Star Field.
The Lobos got all they would need after a 41-minute lightning delay that came right after a single by Jared Mang. Upon the return, Jack Zoellner singled and moved to second on the play after Air Force tried to get Mang crossing to third. Andrew Pratt hit a sacrifice fly, scoring a run and moving Zoellner to third, where he would score on an Austin Bell single. UNM eventually loaded the bases for Jared Holley, a recurring theme in the game. Holley would bat with the bases loaded in the second, fifth and sixth innings. Holley did minimal damage with an RBI ground out to make it 3-0, but he eventually went to second on a wild pitch that scored Bowers, and then he came home on a Stajduhar single to make it 5-0.
From there UNM poured it on.
Andrew Pratt hit a two-run homer in the third to make it 7-0, and UNM made it 8-0 in the fourth after Jake Westerman singled Stajduhar to third, who then scored when the throw to get Westerman went wide of the bag. Those plays by the freshmen Pratt and Westerman were indicative of the day for UNM as the Lobos played six freshmen, five in the field and Jacob Nelson on the mound. UNM’s five rookies in the batting order (Mang, Bell and Erick Migueles were the others) combined to go 9-for-14 with 8 RBI, 11 runs scored, two doubles and a two-run home run.
“Holley and the freshmen were great today,” said head coach Ray Birmingham. “We now have four freshmen hitting over .300 for the season.”
Saying Holley was great is an understatement. Those three at bats with the bases loaded produced a career-high seven RBI, as he cleared the bases in the fifth with a double off the wall in left, and then he did it again in the sixth with a double off the wall in left center. He became the second Lobo this season to drive in seven in a game, joining Chris DeVito, who had seven against Wichita State back on February 26.
As for needing two more wins, right now, Birmingham and the team have just one thing in mind, and that’s tomorrow. “We are only thinking about tomorrow. They have their ace on the mound, and he’s very good, and can hit 95 MPH. Tyler Stevens will have to be good and he will be.”
If he is as good as Colton Thomson, that would work. Thomson threw just 75 pitches over six innings, allowing just two runs and five hits with just one walk in improving to 6-3. Freshman Jacob Nelson picked up his first career save by pitching the final three scoreless innings.
New Mexico’s magic number to clinch a first round bye in the conference tournament is 1, meaning one win for UNM or one loss by Nevada since Nevada lost 7-1 to UNLV. Nevada was eliminated from the conference title chase.
NOTES: New Mexico’s 10-run sixth was its most runs ever in the top of the sixth inning, topping the nine scored at Tarleton State on February 20, 1993 … The 23 runs scored were the most since UNM defeated Coppin State 29-3 on April 18, 2010, and it was the most on the road since May 15, 2009 when UNM beat Air Force in Colorado Springs 25-7.