ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico hosts Mountain West preseason favorite Boise State in a three-game series beginning Thursday night at 6 p.m. at Lobo Softball Field. Friday’s game is scheduled for 4 p.m. with the series finale at noon on Saturday.
WEEKEND PROMOTIONS:
Thursday’s game will be Heroes’ Day with all active and retired military servicemen and women, as well as first responders, eligible for a $3 ticket with their ID.
Friday is designated as Bark in the Park where fans are encouraged to bring their dogs to Lobo Softball Field. Free admission for all dogs and $2 hot dogs.
Saturday is Youth Day as well as an Easter Egg Hunt for all children in attendance. All kids wearing a jersey will get a $3 ticket and tickets will be $2 for all teams in attendance. Teams must be registered by April 19 by calling 505-925-LOBO.
UNM NOTES | BSU NOTES | LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS | TICKETS
ABOUT THE MATCHUP
UNM is 5-4 in games played in Albuquerque, however, the Lobos lost all three games the last time the Lobos were the home team in 2017.
In the 2018 series, the Broncos won all three games. Andrea Howard led the Lobos at the plate with a 4-for-8 outing, with a walk, double and home run, with one RBI and a team-high eight total bases. Howard had a team-best .500 batting average, 1.000 slugging percentage and .556 on-base percentage. Cameryn O’Grady had a team-high two RBI with three hits, including a double, and a walk.
Sydney Townes and Aleyah Wilbon each drew two walks, with UNM drawing 10 on the weekend.
This season, UNM leads in walks (150-74) and batters struck out (161-141) and a slight edge in doubles (47-46), while BSU leads in runs (219-160), hits (305-236), triples (15-8), home runs (34-27), ERA (3.46-5.97) and double plays turned (41-5).
MIXING IT UP
The Lobos have used 29 different lineups to date, only having duplicated their lineup eight times. UNM used the same lineup in the Arizona and Alabama game, the same lineup in the Cal State Fullerton and UTEP game, the same lineup against Hawai’i on Feb. 22 and DePaul on Feb. 23 and the same lineup against Tennessee and UConn. The Lobos used the same lineup in the second game at SDSU and the second game vs. CSU, the same lineup in the first and third games against Nevada and the second game against North Dakota and the second game against Nevada. Recently, UNM used the same lineup in both games at NMSU, in all three games at USU and versus UTEP.
UNM has had five different players in the leadoff spot in the lineup.
Cameryn O’Grady moved into the leadoff hitter spot in the game against Canisius and played six games at the No. 1 spot in the batting order. Andrea Howard led off the lineup in 10 games and moved down to the No. 2 spot for 14 games, the third spot for 11 and the seventh spot in five games. Bailey Klitzke hit in the leadoff spot in three games, D’Andra DeFlora has led off in 20 games and Sydney Townes hit first in one. Maggie Buckholz has batted second in two games, DeFlora in 12 games and Aleyah Wilbon has hit second in 12. Taylor Jones hit second in the first game versus North Dakota.
IT’S ALL O’GRADY
Junior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady leads the team in slugging percentage (.620), on-base percentage (.478), hits (39), runs scored (28), total bases (69), walks (25), total plate appearances (136) and doubles (13). The California native is second in batting average (.355), home runs (5) and tied for second in RBI (23).
With two outs, O’Grady is 9-for-27, with six RBI coming with two outs. When it comes to success advancing runners during an at-bat, O’Grady also is second on the team at 40-for-75 (.533). O’Grady is also 15-for-27 (.556) as the leadoff batter in an inning, the highest percentage on the team.
Last season, O’Grady led the Lobos in triples (four), doubles (12), walks (32), on-base percentage (.444) and runs scored (31) last season. She was second on the team with 43 hits, 75 total bases and 26 RBIs, and third in batting average (.301) and slugging percentage (.524).
O’Grady hit just four home runs last season, which the junior reached half that in the first three games this season and matched the total with a home run against North Dakota on March 26. She surpassed that number against Nevada on March 31. The shortstop has also surpassed last season’s total in doubles and is close to matching her total hits, RBI and total bases.
3-2, WHAT YOU GOING TO DO?
Lauren Wilmert leads the team in RBI (31), and home runs (6) and is second in total bases (59), slugging percentage (.518) and in hits (30) and doubles (9). The catcher/ first baseman is fourth in runs scored (21), while hitting in the cleanup spot in 29 games before hitting in the five spot in the last 11 games starting against North Dakota. Since moving to the five-spot, Wilmert is 8-for-28 with three doubles, a triple and two home runs with four walks and 11 RBI for a batting average of .286, a slugging percentage of .679 and an on-base percentage of .375. The junior is also second in sacrifice flies and hit her first career triple against North Dakota on March 26.
Wilmert has a team-high 12 RBI with two outs and is 10-for-35 when hitting with 2 outs. She is also 3-for-7 with bases loaded and 8-for-17 when there is a runner on third with less than 2 outs.
Playing 21 games behind the plate, Wilmert has thrown out five runners attempting to steal, bringing her career total to 10.
Wilmert has hit two grand slams this season, once against Western Carolina on March 8 and on April 6 at Utah State, which came with two outs in the third inning and gave UNM a 4-2 lead.
Wilmert recorded a career-high three hits against SDSU on March 17, while also recording her sixth home run of her career and tied a career-high six total bases.
WHAT ABOUT WILBON?
In the 10 starts that Aleyah Wilbon has hit second in the Lobo lineup, the outfielder has tallied 14 hits on 30 at-bats for a hitting- and slugging-percentage of .467 and an on-base percentage of .484 while being 1-for-1 in steals. Wilbon has registered a hit in four of the last five games and has three times recorded three hits in a game, once going 3-for-3 and twice going 3-for-4, which were career highs for the outfielder. She has tallied at least one hit in seven of the 10 games.
In the last 10 games, Wilbon went 5-for-9 with runners on base, 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position and 3-for-9 with 2 outs in the inning. The California native was 8-for-11 in success advancing runners.
In the series at Utah State, Wilbon led the team in batting average (.545), hits (6), and third in on-base percentage (.583) and total bases (6).
Batting second in the second North Dakota game and the Nevada series, Aleyah Wilbon went 7-for-10 at the plate with a .700 batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage to lead the team in batting average and on-base percentage. Wilbon recorded one RBI and successfully stolen one base as well. The outfielder was 3-for-3 with runners on base and 4-for-7 with bases empty, and 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position as well as with two outs. Wilbon was also 4-for-4 with success in advancing runners.
Wilbon leads the team in batting average (.425), is second in on-base percentage (.452), fourth in slugging percentage (.425) and fifth in runs scored (13). She also has a team-best 10-for-17 rate of successfully advancing runners and .462 percentage with bases empty (12-for-26).
NOT JUST A PITCHER
Bailey Klitzke got the ball to start the season against UTEP, but has played in 34 games either in the circle or as the DP, starting in 32.
Klitzke leads the Lobos in triples (3), sac flies (3) and stolen bases (2), is third on the team in batting average (.337), slugging percentage (.500), total bases (43), and hits (29) and fourth in on-base percentage (.400), doubles (5) and tied for second in RBI (23).
The junior hit a triple with bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh against North Dakota on March 26 in the first game of the doubleheader to give the Lobos a walk-off 7-6 victory. In the series at Utah State, the junior hit her first career home run.
At the plate on the season, Klitzke is a team-best 4-for-6 with bases loaded. She is 7-for-10 with a runner on third with less than 2 outs, 13-for-31 with runners in scoring position, 13-for-32 with 2 outs in the inning and eight of her RBI on the season came with two outs- the second-highest total on the team. Klitzke is 28-for-51 in successfully advancing runners in her at-bat, which is the second-highest success rate on the team.
SCOUTING BOISE STATE
Boise State has won its last three games but are 5-6 on the road this season.
BSU has played two common opponents with UNM in LMU and Illinois-Chicago. The Broncos defeated the Flames 8-0 in five innings and twice beat LMU: 9-8 in 10 innings and 14-6.
The Broncos are outscoring opponents 219-107 and outhitting them 305-193. They are 40-49 in steal attempts while opponents are 15-23.
Kora Wade leads the Broncos in hits (48 and on-base percentage (.469), Ashlyn Adams leads in triples (5) and Rebekah Cervantes in doubles (10), slugging percentage (.717), total bases (81) and is tied with Jessica McKay in home runs (7). McKay leads with 22 walks.
The pitching staff has a collective ERA of 3.46 with the Broncos using five pitchers. Of the 193 hits allowed, 36 are doubles, five triples and 15 home runs. They have 141 strikeouts to 100 walks. Of the 107 runs allowed, 84 have been earned. Gianna Mancha has appeared in 16 games with a team-high 13 starts, throwing nine complete games and two shutouts in 83.0 innings for a 9-4 record and 3.04 ERA. Mancha has given up 70 hits, 33 runs (28 earned) and 35 walks while striking out 51. Kelsey Broadus has appeared in 18 games with 12 starts, with four complete games and one shutout in 79.1 innings of work. Broadus has compiled a 3.29 ERA and a 9-3 record on 72 hits, 39 runs (29 earned), 54 strikeouts and 44 walks. Micaela Leal has thrown in 11 games with two starts, throwing one complete game for a 2-0 record and a 3.49 ERA. In 28.1 innings in the circle, Leal has allowed 26 hits, 15 runs (11 earned), 17 strikeouts and eight walks. Rainey Dyreson has a 4-1 record on the year and an ERA of 4.13, making eight appearances and seven starts with one complete game. In 24.0 innings, Dyreson has allowed 18 hits, 13 runs (11 earned), 19 strikeouts and 11 walks. Veronica Lynch has thrown in five games and 4.0 innings, with seven hits, seven runs (five earned), two walks and zero strikeouts. Lynch enters the weekend with an 11.25 ERA and 1-0 record.
The Broncos are ranked fourth in triples per game (.44), 13th in batting average (.325), 20th in scoring (6.44), 24th in slugging percentage (.514), 32nd in double plays per game (.47) and 40th in home runs per game (1.0). Kora Wade is 14th in runs per game (1.12), 22nd in toughest to strikeout (28.8), 28th in triples (.12) and 33rd in stolen bases (.59). Rebekah Cervantes is 28th in triples and 30th in RBI (1.09) and Ashlyn Adams is seventh in triples per game (.15), 12th in triples and 23rd in toughest to strike out (28.0).