ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico baseball team used a five-run sixth inning to pull away from San Jose State and complete a three-game sweep of the Spartans with an 8-3 victory Sunday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field.
It stretched UNM’s win streak to seven games as the Lobos sit at 11-3 overall and 6-0 in Mountain West play after sweeps of San Jose State and Air Force. It’s the best 14-game start for the Lobos since starting the 2009 season 12-2.
UNM found itself in a tight contest with SJSU (6-8, 2-4) midway through Sunday’s contest after three straight hits to start the sixth inning by the Spartans scored a run and tied the game 2-2 with runners still on the corners and no outs. It also marked the end of the day for Lobo starter Luis Gonzalez after a solid five innings of work (two runs, 10 hits) as freshman Justin Slaten entered in relief.
The tall right-hander got a little help to get the Lobos out of the jam as catcher Robby Campillo threw out a Spartan trying to steal second for the first out with a runner still on third. Slaten then used his hard-breaking slider to strike out the next two SJSU batters to get the Lobos out of the inning with the game still tied.
“That was a big moment right there,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “Justin came in and got the job done. He did that for us at Air Force last weekend as well.”
The Lobos regained the lead quickly as they promptly loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the sixth before Gonzalez was plunked with a pitch to force in the go-ahead run at 3-2. The Lobos kept rolling as Danny Collier, who homered earlier in the contest, singled home a run to make it 4-2, a wild pitch made it 5-2, Jack Zoellner hit a sacrifice fly to push it to 6-2 before Jared Mang ended the scoring in the frame with a line-drive single to right to give the Lobos a 7-2 advantage.
It was more than enough for the UNM bullpen as Slaten would go 2.2 innings and giving up a run on four hits with three strikeouts to pick up the win (moving him to 2-0). Christian Tripp entered in the top of the eighth with two on, two out and the tying run in the on-deck circle before getting the Lobos out of the jam. He finished the game in the ninth to pick up his second save of the season – giving up just a lone hit.
Collier paced the Lobos at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBI and two runs. Zoellner finished 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI as he raised his average to .444 on the season while Mang, Andre Gregory and Andre Vigil (who had an RBI triple in the eighth) had two hits apiece as well.
“Any time you can get a conference sweep it is incredible,” Collier said. “Especially last weekend getting one on the road at Air Force. That was pretty clutch. Then we were able to come home in front of our fans and do it.”
The Lobos have a pair of non-conference road series this upcoming week against ranked opponents as they travel to take on No. 18 Oklahoma State on Tuesday and Wednesday (both games at 3 p.m. Mountain Time) before traveling to play No. 7 Cal State Fullerton for a three-game series starting 8 p.m. (MT) Friday.
NOTES
- The Lobos’ seven-game winning streak is their longest since winning seven in a row in from March 10-21, 2015.
- This is the Lobos’ first 6-0 start to conference play since the Mountain West was created in 2000.
- Since Justin Slaten took over to pitch the final 4.2 innings against Air Force on March 4, the Lobo bullpen has an ERA of 1.52 with 17 strikeouts in 23.2 innings.
- Beau Capanna stretched his hit streak to nine games Sunday and is hitting .421 over that stretch (16-for-38).
- Danny Collier has reached base in all 14 of the Lobos’ games this season.
- Sunday’s home run was Collier’s second of the season – and his career. The Lobo junior hit his first career homer Feb. 19 against Binghamton in his 366th career at-bat.
- The Lobos extended their home winning streak to nine and their home winning streak against San Jose State to 10 games.