SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The University of New Mexico baseball team couldn’t take advantage of its chances as the Lobos fell to No. 19 San Diego 7-2 on Wednesday night at Fowler Park.
UNM (18-11 overall) stranded 14 runners, including leaving the bases loaded twice and leaving two runners on three times, as the Lobos couldn’t find the timely hit it needed – particularly when the game was still in the balance before a three-run eighth inning by the Toreros (20-7) gave them a five-run cushion going into the ninth.
“We had a lot of bad at-bats tonight,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “I’m not real pleased about it and it’s something we better fix before we start our series at San Jose State on Friday.”
The Lobos appeared they were going to at minimum tie the game in the sixth inning trailing USD 3-2 after Hayden Schilling led the inning off with a walk and Robby Campillo followed with a single up the middle to put runners on the corners with no outs.
But the next three Lobos struck out to leave the bases loaded – and to put salt into the wound – San Diego led the bottom of the inning off with a home run to take a 4-2 advantage.
UNM looked as if it may get something going in the seventh as it loaded the bases with one out after Jared Mang was hit with a pitch and Jack Zoellner and Danny Collier each drew a walk. But a strikeout and flyout ended the threat for the Lobos.
The Lobos outhit the Toreros 11-9 in the contest with Mang, last week’s Mountain West Player of the Week, finishing 3-for-4 with a triple and an RBI while Carl Stajduhar was 3-for-5 with a double, run and RBI and Robby Campillo finished 3-for-4. The Lobos struck out 13 times, however, the second most this season for UNM.
The Lobos struggled with control on the mound and walked a season-high nine batters Wednesday night after not walking more than six in the previous 28 games this season. James Harrington picked up the loss, going 2.2 innings and giving up three runs on three hits with no strikeouts and four walks.
UNM returns to Mountain West play 8 p.m. (MT) Friday as the Lobos start a three-game series at San Jose State.
Missed opportunities cost Lobos at No. 19 USD
