SAN JOSE, Calif. — The University of New Mexico baseball team couldn’t take advantage of San Jose State giving up 10 free passes as it left 12 runners on base in a 2-1 loss Friday afternoon at Municipal Stadium.
The Lobos (18-12 overall, 11-2 Mountain West) couldn’t find a way to punch through numerous opportunities against the Spartans (12-17, 6-7) – particularly with San Jose State starter Matt Brown hitting five UNM batters and walking another five.
But the Lobos managed just a lone RBI single from Carl Stajduhar in the sixth inning off Brown to cut what was a 2-0 deficit in half at 2-1 as the SJSU right-hander sidestepped several dangerous situations in seven innings of work.
“We’re just not getting the job done right now with runners on base,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “We are in a position to score runs, we just got to have guys come through. We need better at-bats in those situations”
UNM looked as if it was going to at least tie the game in the ninth as a lead-off single by Luis Gonzalez and a one-out single by Stajduhar put runners on the corners. Unfortunately for the Lobos, they bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end the game and dropped their second contest in Mountain West play.
SJSU scratched a run across in each the first and second innings to take an early 2-0 lead on Lobo ace Tyler Stevens. The Spartans used a walk, stolen base and a two-out single to score the first run while an infield single, error, wild pitch and a groundout scored the second run.
Stevens was solid again for UNM, going 6.1 innings and giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits with six strikeouts and four walks (a season high). The loss drops his record to 4-3 on the season.
Stajduhar picked up two of the five Lobo hits, going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
UNM looks to bounce back in game two of the series 5 p.m. (MT) Saturday with Johnathon Tripp (2-0, 4.50 ERA) taking the mound for the Lobos while Jake Swiech (1-3, 5.33 ERA) goes for SJSU.
NOTES
- Friday’s game was moved forward to a 2 p.m. (MT) start from its initial 8 p.m. (MT) start due to inclement weather forecast in the evening in the San Jose area.
- Tyler Stevens moved into 10th place on the UNM all-time strikeout list Friday with 177 in his career. He’s 11 behind Chris Cooper (2000-01) for No. 9 on the list.