LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Freshman right-hander Jack Murano pitched 3.0 innings of one-hit, scoreless baseball out of the bullpen for the University of New Mexico in what was a 13-5 loss to rival New Mexico State University on Tuesday night at Presley Askew Field in Las Cruces.
The solid relief appearance for the rookie was made even more impressive considering that it came against the high-powered offense of the Aggies (18-6). Coming into play, NMSU led the country in nine major offensive categories including batting average and home runs.
Murano’s outing, however, did not come until the fifth inning when the score was 10-5 in favor of the Aggies. In his first inning, Murano hit the first man he faced, but got a groundball double play out of the next batter. An infield single followed before Murano got out of the inning unscathed with a swinging strikeout of the Aggies’ four-hole hitter.
Murano then went on to retire the next six batters in order to keep the Aggies off the board in the sixth and seventh innings. The Aggies would score three runs in the eighth to reach their final score of 13 runs.
Offensively, the Lobos (12-12) were able to match the Aggies in terms of hits as UNM totaled 10 in the game; one back of the Aggies output.
Fellow freshman Tyler Kelly was responsible for nearly 1/3 of the Lobos’ hit total as he went 3-for-4 from the lead off spot in the order. Kelly also added a run scored and a RBI to his stat line.
The second inning was the Lobos’ best inning offensively as they sent eight men tot the plate and scored four runs. The four runs in that frame tied the game at the point, four-all.
In the inning, Ediberto Reyes led off with walk, which was then followed up by a walk to Reese O’Farrell. Adam Adkins then drove in Reyes with a single through the left side. The Adkins single was the first of three-straight RBI hits for the Lobos. Kelly was the second of those hits with a single up the middle. Hayden Schilling had the third of the hits with a single through the right side. The fourth run of the inning was scored on a sacrifice fly to deep left field off the bat of Jared Mang.
The Lobos will remain on the road this weekend as they travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to take on UNLV. The three-game set is scheduled to begin on Friday, March 29 at 7 p.m. (MT).
Murano sharp in relief; Lobos fall to NMSU 13-5
