Friday the 13th Brings No Luck, UNM Loses Opener
RENO, Nev. — The New Mexico Lobos allowed 13 unanswered runs after tying the game in the fifth inning as the Nevada Wolf Pack took the opening game of a three game weekend series in Reno 15-2. Game two of the series is Saturday night at 5 p.m. Mountain Time.
Justin Slaten took the loss, dropping to 1-7 on the season, while Mark Nowaczewski of Nevada improved to 4-2. Slaten deserved a better fate. He was stellar over the first four innings, getting hurt just in the second inning on back-to-back doubles and a hit batter with the bases loaded.
Down 2-0, the Lobos battled back in the fifth to tie the game. Phillip Sikes opened the inning with an infield single, and after an out Garrett Gouldsmith walked. After Danny Collier lined out for the second out, Hayden Schilling lined a double just inside the right field foul line to score both Sikes and Gouldsmith.
UNM couldn’t take the lead however. Schilling moved to third in a wild pitch and Jared Mang walked, but Chris Dunn grounded into a fielder’s choice up the middle to end the frame.
T5 | Schilling ties it at 2-2 #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/SHnSnAD6tl
— UNM Baseball (@UNMLoboBaseball) April 14, 2018
In the fifth, UNM ran into trouble as Nevada scored six runs on six hits and a pair of errors. Dillan Shrum’s one-out triple ignited the rally. That hit was followed by back-to-back singles and then a double by Cole Krzmarzick made it 5-2, ending Slaten’s night.
Malachi Emond entered and allowed a single, but his own throwing error eventually led to two more runs scoring, both unearned, making it 8-2. From there Nevada added single runs in the sixth and seventh innings, and then they salted it away with five in the eighth as the first five hitters reached safely.
UNM managed just four hits on the night as the team dropped its seventh in a row. UNM will look to end that skid and get back to its winning ways behind Cody Dye on Saturday in a game that will start at 4 p.m. Pacific/5 p.m. Mountain Time. That time was moved slightly from its original time of 6/7 p.m.
NOTES: UNM recorded four errors for the second time during the streak, after also having four against Fresno State last weekend … Nevada leads the season series 3-1.