ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Jack Zoellner highlighted an impressive home run display by the University of New Mexico with three of the Lobos’ six home runs as UNM moved to 2-0 on the young season with a 10-4 victory over Binghamton Saturday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field.
After walking in his first at-bat, Zoellner hit a three-run home run in the third inning, a solo home run in the fifth inning and a two-run shot in the sixth inning to give him six RBI on the day.
“I was just trying to get my pitch to hit and put myself in some good counts,” Zoellner said. “Luckily I was able to put a few good swings on the ball and have myself a good day.”
Zoellner had a chance to tie Brian Cavazos-Galvez’s UNM record of four home runs (set April 12, 2008) with two outs in the eighth inning, but grounded out to second base.
“It was in the back of my head,” Zoellner said about trying to hit a home run in the fourth at-bat. “But I was just really trying to hit a ball up the middle and keep it simple. I ended up chopping one up to second base, but it’s all good. We got the win.”
Also going deep for the Lobos was Andre Vigil in the second inning, Carl Stajduhar in the fifth inning (giving him 28 in his career, moving him into 10th place by himself in school history) and Andrew Pratt in the seventh inning.
It was more than enough for the UNM pitching staff, led by a stellar start from senior Carson Schneider. The left-hander picked up the win, going five innings and giving up no runs on four hits with four strikeouts and no walks.
James Harrington tossed two scoreless innings until running into a rough patch in the eighth and freshman Cody Dye entered in relief with the bases loaded and one out. Dye surrendered a pair of singles and Binghamton (0-2) eventually scored four in the inning before the Lobos got out of the jam to make it 10-4.
Drew Gillespie shined in the ninth on the mound for the Lobos as the freshman struck out the first two batters of his college career before giving up a single and closing out the game with another strikeout.
“Schneider pitched his butt off,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “… But Drew Gillespie was cash. He hit 94 mph today. There is still a lot of improvement with him too.”
Zoellner was the only player with multiple hits for the Lobos, going 3-for-4 with the three homers and six RBI.
The Lobos and Bearcats close out the series 1 p.m. Sunday with Luis Gonzalez going for UNM and Nick Wegmann going for Binghamton. You can listen to the game live on ESPN Radio 101.7 The Team streamed at 1017theteam.com and on the TuneIn Radio app.
NOTES: The previous three homer game by an individual Lobo was Chris DeVito on April 9, 2016, against Fresno State. … That was also the last time the Lobos as a team hit six home runs in a game. … Stajduhar and Zoellner hit back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning, the first time the Lobos did that since Stajduhar and Zoellner did it at Texas Tech on March 22, 2015. … With the win today, Carson Schneider is now 17-6 in his Lobo career – giving him a .739 career winning percentage, the fourth-best in Lobo history.