Lobos and Titans meet for first time in Albuquerque
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 8-4 |
CAL STATE FULLERTON TITANS 5-5 |
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Friday, March 8 – 6 p.m. | Saturday, March 9 – 2 p.m. | Sunday, March 10 – Noon |
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Leading Off
After opening up Mountain West play last weekend, the University of New Mexico baseball team takes a brief break from the league slate as they welcome in perennial power Cal State Fullerton for a three-game weekend series. This will be the first trip the Titans have made to Albuquerque with the first 15 meetings between the two teams being played in Fullerton.
Entering play this weekend, the Lobos are 8-4 overall and 5-2 at home at Santa Ana Star Field. The Titans will enter play at 5-5 overall and will be playing their first true road games of the year.
The Lobos will send two of their usual weekend starters to the mound with Justin Slaten getting the ball on Friday night and Nathaniel Garley having the start in game two. The change will come on Sunday as the Lobos are expected to have Drew Gillespie on the mound. Gillespie has made two starts and has three appearances overall this season, but this will be his first start in a three-game weekend series.
The Titans have only announced their Friday and Sunday starters. Tanner Bibee will get the nod against Slaten on Friday night and Michael Knorr is slated to pitch on Sunday.
Scouting Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton enters the weekend series 5-5 overall and are coming off of a 6-4 loss in mid-week action vs. Arizona State. That game was scheduled to be the first to a two-game mid-week series with the Sun Devils, but the second day was canceled due to inclement weather. Prior to the start of the season, the Titans were picked to repeat as Big West Conference champions. The Titans were also ranked nationally No. 24 by the USA Today Coaches Poll and by the NCBWA.
Offensively, the Titans are hitting .269 (89-for-331) as a team with 48 runs scored, 13 doubles, two triples and four home runs. The leading hitter so far is Sahid Valenzuela at .389 (14-for-36). He also is tied for the team lead in runs scored with Hank LaForte with 7. Jacob Pavletich is the team-leader in RBIs with 7 and home runs with two.
On the mound, Cal State Fullerton has a staff ERA of 4.85. In 89.0 innings pitched, the arms for the Titans have collectively struck out 86 batters. Friday night starer Tanner Bibee is the top arm for the Titans. He is 2-1 in three starts with a 1.74 ERA. In 20.2 innings pitched, Bibee has struck out 21 batters. Michael Weisberg is the team’s closer and has both of the saves for the Titans.
Lobo News & Notes
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 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 .370 through the first three weekends of the season. In his senior season, Jared is pacing the team in slugging percentage (.614), on-base percentage (.492), runs scored (16), doubles (7) and RBIs (17). Connor leads in batting average (.386) is right there in slugging (.614), doubles (5) and RBIs (11).
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 5-2 with a 3.27 ERA. Standing out among those starters early on are Justin Slaten and Nathaniel Garley. Slaten is 1-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 24 strikeouts in 1.0 innings pitched. His start against Niagara saw the junior right-hander strikeout a career-best 10 batters. Garley is off to a 2-0 start and has a 2.25 ERA. He has also registered 15 strikeouts in 20.0 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.
Mang Named Preseason All-MW
For the second-consecutive year, senior outfielder Jared Mang has been named to the Preseason All-MW Team, earning the honor prior to his junior season. That initial preseason plaudit was in response to a sensational sophomore campaign that saw Mang hit .373 (90-for-241) with 63 runs scored, 17 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, and 62 RBIs. Mang’s junior season, however, was hampered by injuries and limited him to just 29 games played. Despite that, Mang still put up impressive numbers as he batted .284 (29-for-102), scored 27 runs, drove in 29 and hit a team-high eight home runs.
A 2017 All-MW First Team selection, Mang enters his senior season as a .328 career hitter with 127 runs scored, 170 hits, 30 doubles, four triples, 20 home runs and 121 RBIs.
Lobos Looking for Turnaround in 2019
The 2018 season was a down year for the Lobo baseball program. With an overall record of 20-33-1 and an 11-19 mark in the Mountain West, the Lobos missed out on the MW Tournament for the first time in league history. All of that is in the rear-view, however, as the Lobos enter the 2019 season with a renewed sense of optimism and confidence. Aiding that change in culture are the additions to the coaching staff. Head Coach Ray Birmingham is all that returned from the 2018 staff, giving way to three new coaches. New to the program this year are infield coach and recruiting coordinator, Jon Coyne, pitching coach, Brandon Higelin and volunteer catching coach, Nate Causey.