Lobo Baseball opens season in Arizona

NEW MEXICO LOBOS 20-33-1*	OREGON STATE BEAVERS 55-12-1*	MINNESOTA GOPHERS 44-15*	GONZAGA BULLDOGS 33-24*
UNM NOTES * – Indicates final 2018 record	Friday, Feb. 15 | 1 p.m.  Monday, Feb. 18 | 2 p.m.  Surprise Stadium LIVE STATS | OSU NOTES	Saturday, Feb. 16 | 5 p.m. Surprise Stadium LIVE STATS | MINN NOTES	Sunday, Feb. 17 | 5 p.m.    Surprise Stadium  LIVE STATS | ZAG NOTES

Leading Off
The 2019 baseball season has finally arrived, and the University of New Mexico baseball team is set to open their campaign with a stout slate of opponents as the Lobos will once more take part in the College Baseball Classic in Surprise, Ariz. During the four-day classic, the Lobos will face three teams that all made a NCAA Regional Tournament last year in Gonzaga, Oregon State and Minnesota. Oregon State and Minnesota also advanced to the Super Regionals while Oregon State went on to claim the sports’ top prize winning the National Championship.

The Lobos on the other hand are looking to return to postseason form in 2019 after missing out on the Mountain West Tournament for the first time in program history last season. UNM will have the return services of seven lineup regulars and six arms. Highlighted among the returning position players are seniors Hayden Schilling and Jared Mang. Schilling returns as the Lobos’ shortstop and posted the top average on the team a year ago at .348. Mang, recently named Preseason All-MW, returns from an injury-shortened 2018 season that still saw him hit a team-high eight home runs. Mang’s younger brother Connor Mang is also a returning bat to watch as he earned Freshman All-America honors last season from Collegiate Baseball.

On the mound, UNM returns one weekend starter from a year ago in Justin Slaten. The junior right-hander started 14 games for the Lobos last year and punched out 62 in 66.2 innings pitched. The Lobos are without the services of their closer from a year ago, but the emergence of Malachi Emond in relief last season may fill that void. A year ago, Emond saved a pair of games and posted 2.72 ERA with 56 strikeouts in 39.2 innings pitched.
 
Scouting Oregon State
The first opponent for the Lobos in 2019 will be the defending National Champions, Oregon State. Last year, the Beavers went 55-12-1 en route to claiming their third national championship in program history. The Lobos and Beavers will meet twice this opening weekend with games slated for Friday afternoon and Monday afternoon.

Ranked as high as No. 2 in the country by Perfect Game, the Beavers are a consensus preseason Top-10 team and return 22 letterman overall. Of those returners, five have received preseason All-America honors, including the starting pitcher in the season-opener against the Lobos, Kevin Abel. Last season, Abel clinched the National Championship for Oregon State as he pitched a complete
game shutout in the decisive game of the championship series. Overall, Abel went 8-1 with a 2.88 ERA last season and in 81.1 innings pitched struck out 108 opposing batters.

Offensively, the Beavers are headlined by the return of Adley Rutschman. The junior catcher was named the Most Outstanding Player in the College World Series a year ago in a season that saw him be named a consensus All-American. Rutschman would hit .408 (102-for-250) as a sophomore with 22 doubles, three triples, nine home runs and 83 RBI.

In the dugout, Oregon State will be led by a new skipper as Pat Bailey will serve as the interim head coach following the retirement of Pat Casey in September.
 
Scouting Minnesota
The Minnesota Gophers went 44-15 a year ago and advanced to the Corvallis Super Regional where they lost to eventual National Champion, Oregon State. This season, the Gophers are preseason favorites in the Big Ten and return four starting position players as well as four starting pitchers.

The Gophers are also receiving national acclaim ahead of the 2019 season as they are ranked in three of the national polls and are as high as No. 24 in the Baseball American poll.

Individually, Minnesota had a pair of pitchers in Patrick Fredrickson and Max Meyer be named as preseason All- Americans. Fredrickson is slated to be the starting pitcher against the Lobos on Saturday. A year ago, Fredrickson went 9-0 with a 1.86 ERA. In 97.0 innings pitched, Fredrickson struckout 73 batters and limited opponents to a .209 batting average against.

Meyer was the Gophers’ closer last season as a freshman. In 26 appearances that spanned 43.2 innings, Meyer had a 2.06 ERA, struck out 54 and only allowed five extra-base hits en route to posting a .163 opponent batting average. Meyer also set a program record with 16 saves.
 
Scouting Gonzaga
The Zags posted the lowest win total of any of the Lobos’ opponents last season with 33, but Gonzaga still advanced to NCAA Regional play after claiming the West Coast Conference Tournament Championship over top-seeded Pepperdine.

Picked to win the West Coast Conference regular season, Gonzaga returns a standout both in the lineup and on the mound as Ernie Yake and Casey Legumina were both preseason all-conference selections.

Yake is a returning Freshman All-America honoree that led the Bulldogs in batting average (.322) and on-base percentage (.378). Totaling 76 hits on the year, 15 went for doubles to tie for the team-lead in that category. Legumina was the Zags’ closer last year and finished in the Top-20 in the country in saves with a school-record 13.

Legumina was drafted in the 35th round by the Cleveland Indians last June, but chose to return to Gonzaga for his junior season. A preseason All-America selection by Collegiate Baseball, Legumina is also on the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Association (NCBWA) Stopper of the Year Watch List.