Three-game set with Aztecs begins Friday
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 11-9 (3-3 MW) |
SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS 11-8 (2-2 MW) |
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Friday, March 22 – 6 p.m. | Saturday, March 23 – 2 p.m. | Sunday, March 24 – 1 p.m. |
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First Pitch
The University of New Mexico baseball team continues its home stand this weekend against Mountain West rival San Diego State. The Lobos will enter with an 11-9 overall record and a 3-3 mark in MW play. The Lobos will be looking to get back on track in the win column as they have lost their last three games and four of their last five. In the 11 games prior, the Lobos had won eight.
Earlier this week, the Lobos played a two-game series against the University of Oklahoma. The Sooners, who recently became nationally-ranked ahead of the series, would win both games. With the Sooners being ranked, the Lobos have now played five games against a ranked opponent this year through 20 games played. Known for scheduling tough under the leadership of Ray Birmingham, all five of those games have come against teams outside the Mountain West.
The Lobos are expected to send the same starting rotation out this weekend with Justin Slaten getting the ball on Friday night. Nathaniel Garley is slated for Saturday with Drew Gillespie tabbed for the finale.
Scouting San Diego State
San Diego State enters this weekend 11-8 overall and 2-2 in Mountain West play. The Aztecs are coming off a loss in their mid-week game against Loyola Marymount this past Tuesday. In their last weekend action, the Aztecs swept Seattle U in a three-game non-conference series.
Offensively, the Aztecs are hitting .289 (179-for-620) as a team with 118 runs scored, 33 doubles, seven triples and seven home runs. Six of the lineup regulars are hitting over .300. The leading hitter so far is Casey Schmitt at .362 (21-for-58). Schmitt is also tied for the lead the team in home runs with two. Brian Leonhardt paced the team in RBIs with 19.
On the mound, San Diego State has staff ERA of 4.37. In 171.0 innings pitched, the arms for the Aztecs have collectively struck out 198 batters. Adrian Mardueno has the best ERA on the staff at 1.31 in 10 appearances and 20.2 innings pitched. He is also tied for the second-most strikeouts on the team with 24. Fellow reliever Casey O’Sullivan has the most Ks on the team with 26 and also has the most wins with three. Among starters, Aaron Eden has the best ERA at 2.45 in 25.2 innings pitched.
Lobo News & Notes
Mid-Week Tuneup with Sooners
A day after playing a weekend series on the road at Nevada, the Lobos played a two-game mid-week series against No. 25-ranked Oklahoma. The Sooners would take both games of the series, but the Lobos were able to get game experience for numerous arms. All told across the two games, the Lobos used 13 different pitchers with Kyle Conley making his collegiate debut.
Back and Forth with the Wolf Pack
The most-recent Mountain West series for the Lobos against Nevada was an up-and-down weekend. Playing on the road for the first time in conference play this season, the Lobos dropped the opener in a tight 5-3 game that saw the Lobos rally late. Game two kept the momentum of the Friday night rally as the Lobos scored nine runs on 12 hits en route to a 9-3 win to even the series. In the finale, the Lobos out-hit the Wolf Pack, but an early 5-0 deficit was too much to overcome, losing 6-4.
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
Senior designated hitter Jeff Deimling became the third Lobo to be named Mountain West Player of the Week as he went on an offensive tear in the 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.