ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — New Mexico fell behind 8-1 and had a golden chance to even the game up in the eighth, but couldn’t and Fresno State pulled away in the ninth as the Bulldogs pulled of their first sweep of UNM in Albuquerque and handed UNM its fifth straight loss, 11-6 at Santa Ana Star Field.
The loss dropped UNM to 12-17-1 overall and 6-9 in the Mountain West, and UNM tumbled all the way down to sixth place in the seven-team league at the half-way mark. Only the top four teams make the conference tournament in San Diego.
With a 25-30 MPH wind gusting to 40 MPH and blowing out to right field, Fresno State got on the board after a pair of walks from UNM starter Robert Gasser. Gasser busted Carter Binns in and he jammed him on the handle, but Binns had enough muscle, and enough wind behind him for a three-run home run.
After UNM got a run on a fielder’s choice in the second, Fresno State struck for three more in the third inning off Robert Gasser, two coming on a Jeremiah Burks home run. Nathaniel Garley replaced Gasser and limited the damage, but UNM trailed 6-1, and two more runs in the fourth made it 8-1.
T8 | Sikes with an ESPN #SCTop10 Catch #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/4vwRFXgcrB
— UNM Baseball (@UNMLoboBaseball) April 8, 2018
That’s when UNM mounted a comeback. The Lobos made it 8-2 in the fourth on a pair of singles by Chris Dunn and Robby Campillo and a fielder’s choice by Justin Watari. In the fifth UNM made it a game with three more runs to make it 8-5.
Brayden Merritt opened with a double, and he scored when Hayden Schilling stroked a single to center to make it 8-3. After a deep flyout move Schilling to second, Connor Mang laced a triple into the right field corner, scoring Schilling and cutting the lead to 8-4. Mang then scored on a Dunn groundout and it was 8-5.
UNM made it 8-6 when Phillip Sikes singled and eventually scored on a double play, the fourth run out of six that scored via an out. The reason UNM stayed in the game was a yeoman’s effort by Drew Gillespie in relief, as he entered in the fifth and locked Fresno State down over the next four innings.
That set UNM up for a golden opportunity in the bottom of the eighth. Pinch hitter Derek Marshall and Justin Watari both walked, and Garrett Gouldsmith took two balls. That forced Fresno State head coach Mike Batesole to switch to Jaime Arias in mid-at bat, and he eventually retired Gouldsmith on a sacrifice, putting runners at second and third with one out.
Needed a single to potentially tie the game, Arias struck of Merritt and Schilling to end the inning. Fresno State put it away in the ninth with three runs that in an earlier inning would never have scored. Gillespie hit JT Arruda in the foot, and then allowed a seeing-eye single to Bins. UNM elected to play the infield in, and Korby Batesole hit a soft pop-up to second, but with Watari pulled in, it just went over his glove for a single.
UNM played the infield in again, and after a sacrifice fly, a grounder to Schilling went for a single, but it was a probable double play if he were back.
UNM went down 1-2-3 in the ninth. The loss was the fifth of the season for UNM, its longest of the season, and UNM will finish up its five-game homestand with a Tuesday night game with New Mexico State, starting at 6:30 p.m. at Santa Ana Star Field.
NOTES: Hayden Schilling extended his on-base streak to 11 games … Danny Collier sat the game out due to a mandatory one-game suspension for his ejection on Saturday … UNM pitchers struck out nine, the 12th time in the last 13 games they have struck out at least eight … the last time UNM was swept in conference at home was May 1-3, 2015 when the Lobos lost three in a row to Nevada.