DALLAS — The timeless nature of baseball is a charming attribute of the sport in the sense a game isn’t over until the final out is recorded.
The University of New Mexico baseball team experienced the good and, unfortunately for the Lobos, the bad of baseball’s timelessness Sunday afternoon.
The Lobos rallied from a 4-1 deficit in the ninth inning on the road against No. 23 Dallas Baptist University and took a 6-4 lead in the top of the 11th – only to see the Patriots hit a walk-off, three-run home run to defeat UNM 7-6 and take the rubber match of the three-game series at Horner Ballpark.
The Lobos (4-2) trailed 3-1 after three innings and an eighth-inning home run (one of four by the Patriots on the day) pushed the lead to 4-1 heading into the ninth inning.
UNM led off the ninth with singles from Jared Mang and Andre Vigil to put runners on the corners before Austin Bell came in to pinch hit and lifted a sacrifice fly to center to make it 4-2. Beau Capanna followed with an RBI single to left to cut the DBU lead to 4-3.
Luis Gonzalez walked before Hayden Schilling entered to pinch hit and struck a single to left to tie the game 4-4. DBU (5-2) got out of the inning, but couldn’t do anything against reliever Christian Tripp in the bottom of the frame and the game went to extra innings.
The game remained that way until the 11th when Robby Campillo – who entered at catcher late in the contest – doubled to lead off the inning. Capanna grounded out to second to move Campillo to third, Gonzalez was intentionally walked (his fourth walk of the game) before Schilling came up with his second clutch hit in as many chances and laced a go-ahead RBI single to give the Lobos a 5-4 advantage.
A Collier groundout scored another run for the Lobos to make it 6-4 heading into the bottom of the inning.
Freshman Drew Gillespie entered in relief and hit the first batter he faced before allowing a single to put two on. The right-hander got a ground out (in what looked like could be a double play, but the throw to first was off) before Tim Millard hit a three-run, walk-off home run to left to give the Patriots the win.
Gillespie picked up the loss for the Lobos, going a third of an inning and giving up three runs on two hits. Johnathon Tripp got the start for UNM, going six innings and giving up three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
UNM’s Gonzalez went 2-for-2 on Sunday to finish the series 8-for-11 and reached base 13 of the 16 times he came to the plate during the series.
Schilling finished 2-for-2 for UNM with two RBI, Mang went 2-for-5 with a run and Capanna went 2-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
The Lobos return to action 1 p.m. (MT) Tuesday when they head to Lubbock to take on No. 11 Texas Tech. Listen to the game live with play-by-play from Scott Galletti on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM streamed at www.1017theteam.com and on the TuneIn Radio app.
NOTES
- Gonzalez’s four walks Sunday is the first time a Lobo has been walked four times since Aaron Siple against Air Force on April 11, 2015.
- Johnathon Tripp made his first start on the mound as a Lobo, going six innings and giving up three runs on six hits with six strikeouts and two walks.
- Gonzalez’s stolen base in the first makes the Lobos 7-for-7 this season in steal attempts.
- This was the Lobos’ first extra-inning game of the season. The Lobos went 2-1 in extra innings in 2016.
- The Lobos are now 4-7 all-time against Dallas Baptist
- UNM is 11-11 since 2014 against nationally ranked teams