Lobo baseball to take on Arizona in mid-week clash
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 5-3 |
ARIZONA WILDCATS 6-2 |
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Wednesday, February 27 | 6 p.m. |
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Leading Off
The University of New Mexico baseball team is set for their first mid-week non-conference game of the year as they are traveling to Tucson, Ariz. to take on the Wildcats of the University of Arizona. This will be the 195th meeting between the two in a series that began back in 1940. This year’s edition will feature a couple of teams off to a solid start in 2019.
The Lobos are 5-3 overall after taking three of four from Niagara over the weekend, while the Wildcats are 6-2 overall and are coming off a 2-1 series loss on the road at Houston. The two losses in the weekend series for the Wildcats were by a combined three runs. Wednesday night’s game will be the fifth at home for the Wildcats and they are currently 4-0 at home thanks to a four-game sweep of UMass-Lowell to begin the season. It will also be the Lobos’ first true road game of the season as their four games away from Santa Ana Star Field were played at a neutral site in Surprise, Ariz.
With a scheduled first-pitch time of 6 p.m. (MT), the Lobos will start junior right-hander Drew Gillespie. The Wildcats are expected to counter with freshman right-hander Quinn Flanagan. This will be both pitchers second starts of the season. Gillespie is 0-1 after losing his start vs. Oregon State and Flanagan is 1-0 after winning the series finale against UMass-Lowell.
Scouting Arizona
The Arizona Wildcats are off to a 6-2 start to their season and are coming off of a 2-1 series loss in non-conference play at Houston. Prior to that, the Wildcats had opened up 2019, 5-0 thanks to a four-game sweep at home against UMass-Lowell and a mid-week road game at Rice. Prior to the start of the season, the Wildcats were picked fourth in the Pac-12 preseason coaches poll and also received national acclaim being ranked No. 26 in the
Collegiate Baseball preseason Top-40 poll.
Individually, the Wildcats had a pair of players receive high plaudits. Infielder Nick Quintana was named a Preseason Second-Team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and a Preseason
Third-Team All-American by Baseball America, D1Baseball. com, Perfect Game, and Collegiate Baseball. Quintana was also selected to the 2019 Golden Spikes Award preseason watch list. Cameron Cannon earned Preseason Second- Team All-American recognition from D1Baseball.com. Additionally, D1Baseball.com listed Quintana as the No. 3 third baseman in the country, while Cannon checked in as the No. 2 ranked second baseman in the nation.
Through the first weekend of the season, the Wildcats are hitting .325 (94-for-289) as a team with 102 runs scored, 23 doubles, four triples and 10 home runs. Their leading hitter is Cameron Cannon at .469 (15-for-32). He
also leads the team in doubles with seven. Ryan Holgate is the team-leader in both home runs and RBIs with three homers and 15 RBIs..
On the mound, Arizona has a staff ERA of 3.86. In 70.0 innings pitched, the arms for the Wildcats have collectively struck out 70 batters. The projected starting pitcher for the Wildcats against the Lobos is freshman right-hander Quinn Flanagan. Flanagan has made one start and is 1-0 with a 2.25 ERA and four strikeouts in 4.0 innings pitched.
Home-Opener Weather or Not
Winter weather made an unwelcome appearance this past week and weekend causing the schedule of the Lobos’ home-opening series vs. Niagara to shift several times. Eventually, the scheduled format of a four-game series over three days was condensed down to a four-game slate over two days as the teams played doubleheaders both on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
After dropping the first game 5-3, the Lobos bounced back to win the next three games and take the series over the Purple Eagles. In those four games, the Lobos scored 28 runs and hit .278 as a team. Pitching was rather
dominant on the weekend as the Lobo arms had a 3.18 ERA and 33 strikeouts in 34.0 innings pitched.
Opening Weekend In Surprise
For the second-straight season, the UNM Baseball team opened their season out in Surprise, Ariz. with four games as part of the annual College Baseball Classic. This year’s classic featured three quality opponents for the Lobos with Oregon State and Minnesota being preseason nationally-ranked and Gonzaga tabbed as the preseason favorite in their league. All three teams were coming off of NCAA Regional Tournament appearances a year ago with Oregon State claiming the National Championship.
In the opening weekend, the Lobos went 2-2 with wins over No. 24 Minnesota and Gonzaga. The two losses came against No. 7/8 Oregon State as the Lobos and Beavers bookended the weekend. The Lobos had a lead against the Beavers until the bottom of ninth when Oregon State rallied for three runs to walk-off with a win. The second meeting saw the Beavers shutout the Lobos.
Right Mangs for the Job
Both Jared and Connor Mang are off to great starts offensively for the Lobos as the brothers from Los Alamos are both hitting over .400 through the first two weekends of the season. In his senior season, Jared is pacing the
team in slugging percentage (.778), on-base percentage (.541), runs scored (11), doubles (5) and RBIs (14). Connor is right there slugging over .700 as well and is leading the team in batting average at .419 (13-for-31).
Starting off Right
Starting pitching for the Lobos has been a welcomed surprise through the first two weekends of the 2019 season. A year ago, the Lobos ended the season with a 6.92 ERA and a 10-27 record for their starting pitchers.
This year, the starting rotations is 4-1 with a 2.18 ERA. Standing out among those starters early on are Justin Slaten and Nathaniel Garley. Slaten has yet to record a decision, but has a 0.75 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 12.0
innings pitched. His most-recent start saw the junior right-hander strikeout a career-best 10 batters against Niagara. Garley is off to a 2-0 start and has a 0.64 ERA. He has also registered 15 strikeouts in 14.0 innings pitched.