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Lobos snap skid behind offensive outburst and solid pitching

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico baseball team snapped a season-high five-game losing streak on Sunday afternoon as they beat San Diego State by a score of 13-4 in the series finale out at Santa Ana Star Field.
 
The Lobos (12-11, 4-5 MW) were able to get back into the win column thanks to a highly-productive day at the plate as well as quality pitching.
 
Offensively as a team, the Lobos scored 13 runs on 14 hits with four of those being extra-base hits. Eight of the nine batters in the starting lineup had a hit for the Lobos with four going for multi-hit games. Jared Mang paced the club in hitting as he was 4-for-5 with four runs scored, two doubles and two RBIs. Hayden Schilling, Jeff Deimling and Reese O’Farrell also had multi-hit games as well as multi-RBI games. Both Schilling and Deimling drove in three runs and O’Farrell two.
 
On the mound, three pitchers combined to work the finale with Drew Gillespie, Brian Coffey and Malachi Emond each doing their part in silencing the offense of the Aztecs (13-9, 4-3) who hammered out 19 runs on 20 hits just a day ago.
 

 
Gillespie got the start for the Lobos and was extremely sharp through the first three innings as he allowed just two hits and had two strikeouts during that time. The Aztecs would get to Gillespie some in the fourth as they scored three runs on four hits. All the major damage in that inning came with two outs, but Gillespie was able to work out of the frame.
 
In the bottom half of the fourth, the Lobo offense got Gillespie off the hook as they responded with a four-run inning on four hits to take their first lead of the series at 4-3. J. Mang led off that inning with an infield single to third. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch and with one out avoided a tag by the Aztecs’ third baseman to move to third and place runners on the corners. Tanner Baker, who reached on that fielder’s choice was then put into motion for a hit-and-run with Deimling at the plate.
 
On the hit-and-run, the Lobos got their first real break of the series as the ball had eyes up the middle to score J. Mang despite the Aztecs’ second baseman being in the area to possibly turn a double play. After that, Ediberto Reyes hit a ground-rule double to right field to score Baker and make it a 3-2 game. The very next pitch, O’Farrell hammered a two-RBI double into the left-centerfield gap to put UNM up 4-3.
 
Coffey then emerged from the bullpen to relieve Gillespie to start the fifth. Coffey allowed a one-out single, but a pitch later was out of the inning on a 6-3 double play. That started a string of three-straight innings that the Aztecs would not score.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, the Lobos plated a run on a Deimling bases loaded walk to make it 5-3. After escaping an Aztec threat in the top of the sixth, the Lobos broke the game wide open in the bottom half with four runs and then matched that run total in the seventh to account for their 13 runs.
 
Emond was the reason the Lobos escaped the sixth inning unscathed as he came on with two on and two outs and got a swinging strikeout to end the frame. Emond then proceeded to work the final three innings on the mound and scattered four hits and allowed one run en route to nailing down his fifth save of the season.
 
The Lobos will now prepare to make the trek south to Las Cruces for a mid-week game against rivals New Mexico State. First-pitch in the first baseball edition of the 2019 Rio Grande Rivalry is scheduled for 6 p.m.