SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The University of New Mexico baseball team rebounded emphatically from being shutout Friday as the Lobos racked up 11 runs and 13 hits in the first three innings, got a solid start from Johnathon Tripp and cruised to an 11-6 victory over San Diego State on Saturday afternoon at Tony Gwynn Stadium.
The victory keeps the Lobos (25-18-1), who lost 4-0 Friday, in first place in the Mountain West at 15-3-1 while San Diego State (30-14) drops to 14-6 with Sunday’s rubber match looming.
“It was good to come out and get the bats going today,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “Plus, Johnathon Tripp gave us a good six innings and Drew Gillespie looked good in those first two innings before getting through that final inning to close it out.”
The Lobos scored all their runs in a seven-run first inning with two outs as singles by Jared Mang and Jack Zoellner led to a Carl Stajduhar RBI single to give UNM 1-0 advantage.
Danny Collier followed with an RBI double down the right field line, Hayden Schilling beat out an infield single to drive in a run, a pair of runs scored on an Aztec error and a Mang two-run single gave the Lobos a quick 7-0 lead.
UNM followed it up with three more runs in the second – highlighted by a Schilling RBI single – to make it 10-0 after two before scoring a run in the third on a Danny Collier RBI triple to push the Lobo lead to 11-0.
That was more than enough for Tripp who gave up three runs (two earned) on five hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in six innings to pick up his fourth win of the season. Gillespie tossed two scoreless innings before the Aztecs scored three runs in the ninth off the freshman to make the final 11-6. Still, Gillespie picked up his first save of the season.
Collier finished 3-for-5 with a triple, double, two RBI and two runs for the Lobos, Stajduhar (on his 21st birthday) went 3-for-4 with an RBI and three runs, Mang finished 3-for-6 with a double (that hit the top of the wall in left center), two RBI and a run and Schilling went 2-for-5 with two RBI and two runs.
SDSU’s Dominic Purpura picked up the loss, going 1.1 innings and giving up nine runs on 10 hits with no strikeouts or walks. Alan Trejo led the Aztecs at the plate, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run while David Hensley added a two-run homer.
The series concludes 2 p.m. (MT) Sunday with Luis Gonzalez (3-2, 5.11 ERA) going for the Lobos and Cody Thompson (1-0, 4.91 ERA) taking the hill for the Aztecs. Listen to the game with Robert Portnoy providing play-by-play on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM and on the 101.7 The TEAM “app.”
Lobos bounce back, even series with Aztecs
