Lobos travel to Reno for first MW road series
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 10-5 (2-1 MW) |
NEVADA WOLF PACK 8-7 (1-2 MW) |
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Friday, March 15 – 3 p.m. | Saturday, March 16 – 3 p.m. | Sunday, March 17 – 1 p.m. |
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Leading Off
Following consecutive weekend series at home, the University of New Mexico baseball team is heading to Reno, Nev. this weekend to take on the University of Nevada for their first conference series away from Santa Ana Star Field this season.
The Lobos are off to a 2-1 start in league play following a series win against San Jose State while the Wolf Pack are 1-2 following a series loss to San Diego State. Both teams enter the series having dropped their most-recent game. For the Lobos it was the series finale last weekend against Cal State Fullerton while it was a mid-week game against UC Santa Barbara for the Wolf Pack.
This series on paper will feature a battle of strengths as the Lobos have the best offensive team in the MW early in the season and the Wolf Pack boast the league’s best overall pitching staff. Last season, these two teams met six times with Nevada claiming five of the meetings. The Wolf Pack will also enter this year’s first series having won four-straight.
Scouting Nevada
Nevada enters the weekend series 8-7 overall ans 1-2 in Mountain West play. The Wolf Pack and are coming off of a 2-1 loss in mid-week action against No. 25 UC Santa Barbara. The weekend before, Nevada opened up MW play at San Diego State where they dropped the first two games before taking the finale 6-5 in 10 innings.
Last season, the Wolf Pack won the MW Regular Season after a 20-9 record in league play. Ahead of this season, Nevada was picked second in the preseason predicted order of finish. The Wolf Pack also had a trio of players in Kaleb Foster (C), Jake Jackson (RHP) and Joshua Zamora (3B) be named preseason All-MW
Offensively, the Wolf Pack are hitting .252 (124-for-493) as a team with 63 runs scored, 19 doubles, four triples and 11 home runs. The leading hitter so far is Weston Hatten at .340 (18-for-53). He also is tied for the team lead in home runs with Zamora and Dillan Shrum with two. Zamora is the team-leader in RBIs with 10.
On the mound, Nevada has a MW-best staff ERA of 3.12. In 132.2 innings pitched, the arms for the Wolf Pack have collectively struck out 96 batters. Friday night starer Ryan Anderson is the top arm for the Wolf Pack. He is 3-1 in four starts with a 1.88 ERA. In 24.0 innings pitched, Anderson has struck out 24 batters.
Lobo News & Notes
Titans Experience ABQ for First Time
UNM and Cal State Fullerton had met 15 times in their all-time series ahead of their weekend series, but it would be the first time that the two teams had played a game in Albuquerque. The rare change in venue did not bode well for the Titans as the Lobos secured the series in just two games and scored 24 runs in the process with 18 coming in game two. The Titans would salvage the finale to avoid the sweep, but their first trip to the Duke City ended in a 2-1 series loss.
Deimling Becomes 3rd Lobo to Earn MW Player of the Week
The early season stranglehold by the Lobos on the Mountain West Player of the Week award continued this past week as senior designated hitter Jeff Deimling became the third Lobo to earn the honor. On an offensive tear as of late, Deimling carried that over to the recent weekend series against preseason nationally-ranked Cal State Fullerton. In the three-game set, Deimling batted .455 as he went 5-for-11. In the Lobos’ two wins over the Titans, Deimling did most of his damage as he was 4-for-6 with four runs scored, two HRs and eight RBIs. In each of those two games, Deimling was 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs. Overall for the weekend, Deimling would total nine RBIs and slugged 1.091.
Fight at the Bat Rack
In the second game of the weekend series vs. Cal State Fullerton the Lobos notched a season-high 19 hits against the Titans. All nine players in the starting lineup had at least one hit with eight registering multiple hits.
First MW Series Win
The calendar had barely turned over to March and the UNM baseball team already played their first Mountain West series as they hosted San Jose State last weekend. The Lobos would take the series 2-1 after winning the first two and dropping the finale.
In the first game, the bats were alive as the Lobos jumped out to a 9-0 lead through three innings before ending with a 14-2 win. The second game ended in an improbable walk-off fashion as the Lobos were down to their last strike and scored twice on a throwing error to win. The series finale went the way of San Jose State to stave off the sweep.
Marathon 9-Inning Game
All of the following numbers are true and what you would expect for marathon extra inning game, except all of it occurred in one regulation nine-inning game. In the series finale between UNM and San Jose State there were 15 pitchers used, 434 pitches thrown, four balks in an inning, 40 combined run, 42 combined hits and a 9-inning game record 4 fours and 52 minutes.
Two Nickels = A Dime; Two HRs = a Deimling
In the wild series finale against San Jose State, senior Jeff Deimling left the yard twice. His first was a two-run homer to center in the second inning and his second was a three-run bomb to left in the seventh. The multi-home run game was the first by a Lobo since Jack Zoellner hit two against Air Force in 2017.
Schilling Hits His Way to MW Player of the Week
Hayden Schilling is the second Lobo to earn Mountain West Player of the Week honors joining Jared Mang, who earned the year’s first award. In receiving the honor, Schilling had two hits in each game of the four-game week for the Lobos, going 8-for-17 (.471). He also scored five runs, had two doubles, a triple and six runs batted in, including a career-high five on Friday in a 14-2 win.
It’s Not Over Until It’s Over
In their game against Arizona, the UNM Lobo baseball team entered the top of the ninth inning trailing by two and were down to their final strike on several occasions. Despite that, the Lobos caught a couple of breaks and engineered a come-from-behind victory against the Wildcats on the road. It was the first win for the Lobos against the Wildcats since 2006 and snapped what was a 14-game losing streak to Arizona.
The late-inning heroics were handled by Jared Mang. Batting with the bases loaded, two outs and the Lobos trailing by a run 4-3, Mang hit a fly ball into deep foul territory down the left field line. On the play, the Wildcats’ left fielder ranged over to the fence line, reached over and had the ball in his glove, but was unable to secure the catch, giving Mang new life at the plate. On the next pitch, Mang smacked a two-RBI single into centerfield to give the Lobos a 5-4 lead. Malachi Emond came on in
the bottom half and nailed down the victory.
Home-Opener Weather or Not
Winter weather made an unwelcome appearance 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 at least .368 through the first month of the season. In his senior season, Jared is pacing the team in slugging percentage (.705), runs scored (22), doubles (9) and RBIs (24). Connor is third on the team in batting average (.368) and is right there in slugging (.632), doubles (5) and RBIs (16).
Starting Off Right
Starting pitching for the Lobos has been a welcomed surprise through the first three 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 rotation is 7-2 with a 4.04 ERA. Standing out among those starters early on are Justin Slaten and Nathaniel Garley. Slaten is 2-0 with a 1.85 ERA and 31 strikeouts in 24.1 innings pitched. His start against Niagara saw the junior right-hander strikeout a career-best 10 batters. Garley is off to a 3-0 start and has a 2.88 ERA. He has also registered 18 strikeouts in 25.0 innings pitched.
Sweeping MW Player and Pitcher of the Week
Opening weekend saw a lot of positives both collectively as a team and individually for several Lobos. As a result UNM swept the first edition of the Mountain West Player and Pitcher of the Week awards with Jared Mang garnering the player award and Nathaniel Garley the pitcher award. Through the first three games of his senior season Mang would hit .545 (6-for-11) with five runs scored, seven RBIs, two doubles and a home run. Mang also slugged at 1.000 and had an on-base percentage of .600
thanks to three walks, two of which were intentional.
In the first three games, Mang registered at least one hit and RBI. In the Lobos’ 11-1 win over No. 24 Minnesota, Mang went 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and two RBIs.
On the mound, Garley earned the award in his lone appearance of the week as he pitched 7.0 innings and allowed just three hits (all singles) and one earned run against the No 24 Gophers. Garley also struck out six.