STILLWATER, OKLA. — The University of New Mexico baseball team had its seven-game winning streak snapped as despite a strong start from James Harrington, the Lobos couldn’t muster enough offense and fell to No. 23 Oklahoma State 3-0 on a windy Tuesday afternoon at Allie P. Reynolds Stadium.
The Lobos (11-4 overall) and the Cowboys (10-6) were each hitless through the first four innings and scoreless through the first six before it looked like the Lobos were going get going in the seventh.
Danny Collier led off the inning with a walk and Carl Stajduhar followed with a single – UNM’s lone hit of the game – to put runners on first and second with no outs. However, Jack Zoellner lined a ball right back to OSU pitcher Blake Battenfield who doubled off Collier at second base for two quick outs. Jared Mang followed with a ground out and the Lobos came up empty in the inning.
“The kids played well in an adverse situation,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “It was cold and the wind was blowing hard straight in from left center. It probably knocked down two or three homers.”
Oklahoma State took advantage of its chance in the seventh inning, however, and it proved to be the difference in the game.
UNM went to the bullpen to Brandon Langan after six strong innings from Harrington (his first start of the season) and the left-hander got a pair of outs, but also walked two to put runners on first and second. The Lobos again went to the pen in freshman Cody Dye and he got OSU’s Jon Littell to dribble a ball up the middle – but unfortunately it was just out of the reach of both UNM shortstop Andre Gregory and second baseman Beau Capanna and made its way to the outfield to score a run.
Luis Gonzalez’s throw home from center field on the play bounced off the catcher and went out of play, allowing another run to score and push the Cowboy lead to 2-0. The Cowboys added a homer in the eighth by Garrett Benge to make the final 3-0.
Langan picked up the loss, going to 0-1 on the season after pitching 0.2 innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on no hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Harrington in his first start of the season went six innings for UNM, giving up no runs on two hits with three strikeouts and four walks.
The Lobos and Cowboys close out this two-game set 3 p.m. Wednesday with Austin Isenhart (2-0, 2.53 ERA) getting the start for UNM. Listen to the game on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM streamed at www.1017theteam.com and on the TuneIn Radio app.
NOTES
- This was the first time the Lobos have been shut out since losing to Air Force 1-0 on May 20, 2016.
- This is the fewest hits for the Lobos since being one-hit against UNLV on April 30, 2011.
- Austin Bell picked up his first start of the season, playing left field for the Lobos.
- UNM is now 2-10 all-time against Oklahoma State, including 0-5 in Stillwater.