LAS VEGAS, Nev. — The University of New Mexico baseball team picked up where it left off in Mountain West play – and did so in impressive fashion – as the Lobos racked up 24 hits and drew 14 walks on their way to a 29-8 victory over UNLV Friday night at Wilson Stadium.
The 29 runs are a season high for the Lobos, tied for the third most in program history (the UNM record is 31 runs) and the most ever against UNLV.
This comes on the heels of a 22-3 victory over Grand Canyon for UNM on Wednesday as the 51 runs scored in this two-game span are the second-most in program history (the Lobos scored 55 in back-to-back games in 1999).
More importantly, UNM (13-9 overall) moves to 7-0 in Mountain West play and has outscored its conference foes 123-48, an average margin of victory of 10.7 runs per game.
“It was a great job by our hitters today, but tomorrow is a new day,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “UNLV will come out fighting and it’s going to be hard one tomorrow. The Lobo fight needs to be ready.”
Friday night’s game was tied 1-1 heading into the second before UNM put up eight runs on UNLV (10-14, 5-5) in the frame. The Lobos had eight straight batters reach at one point with the inning highlighted by a three-run homer from Jared Mang as UNM took a 9-1 lead into the third.
But the big innings weren’t over for the Lobos as UNM tacked on six more in the third inning, capped by a two-run homer to right by Daniel Herrera to give the Lobos a 15-1 lead. UNM scored two in the fourth (on a two-run homer by Carl Stajduhar), one in the fifth, seven in the seventh and four in the eighth to build a 29-4 lead before allowing four runs in the bottom of the ninth to make the final margin of victory 21 – the largest margin of victory for UNM ever against UNLV.
Stajduhar had his second consecutive five hit game, going 5-for-6 with two doubles, a home run, five RBI (tied a career high) and five runs (career high), Mang went 3-for-4 with a home run, triple, two runs and a career-high six RBI, Daniel Herrera went 3-for-5 with a home run, three runs and four RBI, Beau Capanna went 3-for-4 with a double and three runs while Luis Gonzalez was 2-for-5 with two runs and three RBI.
Tyler Stevens picked up the win for the Lobos, going six innings and giving up four runs (three earned) on seven hits, four strikeouts and no walks to move to 3-2 on the season. The Lobos also got two innings of scoreless relief from Cody Dye before Brian Coffey went the final inning.
UNM handed UNLV, which was coming off an extra-inning loss to No. 3 Texas Tech on Wednesday, ace Alan Strong his first loss of the season as he went 1.2 innings and gave up nine runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and three walks.
The Lobos and Rebels play again 7:05 p.m. Saturday with Johnathon Tripp (1-0, 5.88 ERA) going for UNM and Tevita Gerber (2-3, 7.43 ERA) going for UNLV. Listen to Saturday and Sunday’s games on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM streamed at www.1017theteam.com and on the TuneIn Radio app.
NOTES
- It’s the most runs scored by the Lobos against UNLV in program history. The previous high was 17 – which UNM did twice (1999 and 2006). It’s also the most runs scored all-time between these two teams, besting the 23 runs scored by UNLV in 2002.
- It’s the largest margin of victory for the Lobos against UNLV. Their previous high was 15 in 2006 (17-2). It ties the largest margin of victory in series history as UNLV won a game by 21 in 2002.
- It’s the first time the Lobos have scored 20-plus runs in back-to-back games since doing it three times in a row against Air Force April 13-14, 2006.
- It’s the second most runs the Lobos have scored in a two-game span in program history. UNM scored 55 runs in a two-game span in 1999 (beat New Mexico State 28-18 on March 30 and Fresno State 27-26 on April 1).
- The 14 walks drawn by the Lobos on Friday are tied for the third most in program history.
- Stajduhar’s home run in the fourth inning was his sixth of the season and 33rd of his career – one shy of tying Jeff Grady (2002-05) for eighth on the Lobo all-time list.
- Herrera’s home run was the first of his Lobo career.