ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Untimely miscues by the University of New Mexico baseball team turned out to be the difference as the top-seeded Lobos were edged by No. 2 San Diego State 9-8 in the semifinals of the Mountain West Tournament on Friday at Santa Ana Star Field.
UNM (30-26-1) plays an elimination game 1 p.m. Saturday against No. 3 Fresno State at Santa Ana Star Field to try and keep its season alive and face SDSU again at 5 p.m. Saturday. To win the conference tournament title, the Lobos have to beat Fresno State in the early game and SDSU twice (with that second game – if necessary – to be played 1 p.m. Sunday).
A lost ball in the sky by an outfielder, a pair of errors by outfielders on fly balls and a two-out wild pitch led to four SDSU (40-18) runs in the one-run ballgame.
“We made some mistakes – and by some guys that never make those errors – and that turned out to be the difference in the game,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said. “… But these guys haven’t quit. These guys kept battling and battling – and I don’t expect that will stop Saturday. Nobody in that clubhouse is ready to quit yet.”
UNM fell behind 4-0 heading into the bottom of the third before the Lobos mounted a rally behind a pair of clutch home runs.
The Lobos loaded the bases against Mountain West Pitcher of the Year Brett Seeburger with one out thanks to an Andre Vigil single, Beau Capanna single and a Jared Mang walk. Carl Stajduhar stepped in, and on a 2-1 pitch, smashed a ball just to the right of the batter’s eye in center field and over the wall for a grand slam to tie the game 4-4. It’s the Lobos’ first grand slam since Stajduhar hit one May 2016 against New Mexico State.
But the Lobos weren’t done as Matt Villalobos, UNM’s hero in Sunday’s Mountain West regular-season title clinching victory, crushed a 2-1 pitch over the left field fence to give UNM a 5-4 lead.
SDSU tied the game in the fifth with a run off of UNM starter Johnathon Tripp, but left runners on the corners when freshman Nathaniel Garley entered in relief and got a strikeout to end the threat. But the Aztecs took a 6-5 lead in the top of the sixth before UNM tied it with a two-out RBI single by Hayden Schilling in the bottom of the inning.
SDSU took the lead for what turned out to be for good in the eighth as a dropped fly ball and a wild pitch eventually led to three runs (two unearned) to give the Aztecs a 9-6 lead.
UNM battled back, however, as a Danny Collier double, Austin Bell single, a Schilling RBI double and an Andre Vigil flyout cut the SDSU lead to 9-8 – but that’s as close as the Lobos would get.
Justin Slaten picked up the loss, going three innings and giving up three runs (one earned) on three hits with a strikeout. Tripp went the first 4.2 innings and gave up five runs (four earned) on nine hits with a strikeout and two walks.
Vigil finished 2-for-2 at the plate for UNM with an RBI and a run, Schilling was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBI and Villalobos went 2-for-4 with a home run, RBI and two runs.
Listen to Saturday’s game with play-by-play from Robert Portnoy on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM and on the 101.7 The TEAM “app.”
Live streaming of the 2017 MW Baseball Championship is available through the Mountain West Network (MWN) on TheMW.com and CampusInsiders.com. All live broadcasts are free of charge. In addition, fans can watch live video on their mobile devices for free with the MW mobile app. Links to live stats, game highlights, recaps and box scores will also be available on the Mountain West Championship Central page on TheMW.com. The Mountain West application can be downloaded from the Apple App Store for iPhones and iPads, and from Google Play for Android phones and tablets.