UNM Hosts UTEP Tuesday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico faces the UTEP Miners in its lone game of the week, scheduled for Tuesday, April 9 at 3 p.m.
Tuesday’s contest will be the second meeting this season as the Lobos and Miners faced each other in the NM State Invitational, in which UNM won 15-6 to open the season.
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ABOUT THE MATCHUP
Tuesday’s meeting will be the second this year, with UNM winning the first game 15-6 to open the season. The Lobos scored the first 10 runs of the game before UTEP got on the board and had 6-of-7 leadoff hitters reach base. UNM also had a season-high 16 walks in the game.
Bailey Klitzke led the Lobos at the plate with a 4-for-5 outing, all singles, with four RBI. Monica Salas went 2-for-4, also with four RBI in the game, including a three-run home run in the second.
Andrea Howard drew a career-high four walks in the game. In the circle, Klitzke pitched 5.0 innings, allowing five hits and five runs, while striking out eight Miners. Kennedy Ferguson pitched the final 2.0 innings and allowed just one run on two hits, striking out two and not issuing a walk.
Both teams enter Tuesday’s game with similar stats in several categories. UNM holds a slight edge in runs (159-154), RBI (149-148), and doubles doubles (46-42), but have a larger advantage in triples (8-4), walks (148-98), ERA (5.94-7.99), batters struck out (161-133) and fewer walks and runs allowed. UTEP has the edge in hits (260-234), batting average (.283-.242), home runs (36-27), double plays (22-5) and fielding percentage (.965-.945).
LAST TIME OUT
UNM won one of three games at Utah State, with a one-run loss on Friday, a three-run win on Saturday and a loss to close out the series on Sunday.
Aleyah Wilbon led the Lobos at the plate, hitting 6-for-11, a team-high .545 batting average, and tied her career high with three hits on Friday. The outfielder had another multi-hit game on Saturday with two hits and a walk, and reached base all three at-bats on Sunday with two coming on errors by the Aggie shortstop. Lauren Wilmert had a team-high four RBI on the weekend, which came on a grand slam in the third inning on Saturday that gave UNM a 4-2 lead. Bailey Klitzke hit her first career home run on Friday, a two-run home run in the fifth to make it a one-run game.
Kiana Spencer and Kennedy Ferguson each pitched 5.0 innings on the weekend with Emma Steltzer throwing 4.2 innings and Bailey Klitzke pitching 2.1 innings.
MIXING IT UP
The Lobos have used 29 different lineups to date, only having duplicated their lineup eight times. UNM used the same lineup in the Arizona and Alabama game, the same lineup in the Cal State Fullerton and UTEP game, the same lineup against Hawai’i on Feb. 22 and DePaul on Feb. 23 and the same lineup against Tennessee and UConn. The Lobos used the same lineup in the second game at SDSU and the second game vs. CSU, the same lineup in the first and third games against Nevada and the second game against North Dakota and the second game against Nevada. Recently, UNM used the same lineup in both games at NMSU and in all three games at USU.
UNM has had five different players in the leadoff spot in the lineup.Cameryn O’Grady moved into the leadoff hitter spot in the game against Canisius and played six games at the No. 1 spot in the batting order. Andrea Howard led off the lineup in 10 games and moved down to the No. 2 spot for 14 games, the third spot for 10 and the seventh spot in five games. Bailey Klitzke hit in the leadoff spot in three games, D’Andra DeFlora has led off in 19 games and Sydney Townes hit first in one. Maggie Buckholz has batted second in two games, DeFlora in 12 games and Aleyah Wilbon has hit second in 11. Taylor Jones hit second in the first game versus North Dakota.
Four Lobos (Cameryn O’Grady, D’Andra DeFlora, Andrea Howard and Lauren Wilmert) have started all 39 games this season, while Monica Salas has started in all but three.
WALK IT OUT
UNM leads the MW in walks drawn to date with 148, 17 more than the second-highest team (SJSU).
In the season opener against UTEP, UNM drew 16 walks alone for a season high. Against the Miners, eight different players drew a walk, with Andrea Howard reaching base four times via a walk. Cameryn O’Grady and Lauren Wilmert each drew three walks, Maggie Buckholz two and Monica Salas, Taylor Jones, Kasey Halleen and Daryn Haslam each had one.
Versus Cal State Fullerton on Feb. 15 and North Dakota on March 26, the Lobos nearly reached double digits with nine walks in each game.
Cameryn O’Grady leads the team with 24 walks, followed by Andrea Howard (21) and Maggie Buckholz (17).
LET’S GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT
After nine weeks of competition for the MW teams, the Lobos lead the conference in one category, is second in two, third in one and fourth in three.The Lobos are first in the conference in walks (148), second in caught stealing by (9) and total plate appearances (1138), third in home runs (27), fourth in batters struck out (161), innings pitched (234.2) and putouts (704).
As a team, UNM has at least one player listed in the top 10 in the conference in 10 hitting categories, six pitching categories and four fielding categories. To date, Cameryn O’Grady is in the top-10 statistically in the MW in five categories offensively. The junior is in the top 10 in on-base percentage, total bases, walks, doubles and total plate appearances. O’Grady is tied for second in the conference in walks and tied for third in doubles. O’Grady is fourth in total bases and tied for fourth in total plate appearances. Lauren Wilmert is tied for fifth in runs batted in, tied for fourth in caught stealing by, fifth in fielding chances and sixth in putouts as well as ranked in home runs and doubles. Kennedy Ferguson is ranked in batters struck out and second in innings pitched and games started, as well as leads the league in appearances. D’Andra DeFlora ranks second in hit-by-pitches and ranks in total plate appearances, Bailey Klitzke is ranked in triples, sacrifice flies and fielding percentage, and Andrea Howard in total plate appearances and walks. Aleyah Wilbon ranks in fielding percentage.
In Mountain West play, UNM is second in walks (41), third in assists (85) and tied for first in caught stealing by (2).
WHAT ABOUT WILBON?
Since entering the starting lineup nine games ago, Aleyah Wilbon has been on a tear at the plate.
In the nine starts that Aleyah Wilbon has hit second in the Lobo lineup, the outfielder has tallied 14 hits on 27 at-bats for a hitting- and slugging-percentage of .519 and an on-base percentage of .536 while being 1-for-1 in steals. Wilbon has registered a hit in the last four games and has three times recorded three hits in a game, once going 3-for-3 and twice going 3-for-4, which were career highs for the outfielder. She has tallied at least one hit in seven of the nine games. In the last nine games, Wilbon went 5-for-8 with runners on base, 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position and 3-for-7 with 2 outs in the inning. The California native was 8-for-10 in success advancing runners.
In the series at Utah State, Wilbon led the team in batting average (.545), hits (6), and third in on-base percentage (.583) and total bases (6).
Batting second in the second North Dakota game and the Nevada series, Aleyah Wilbon went 7-for-10 at the plate with a .700 batting average, slugging percentage and on-base percentage to lead the team in batting average and on-base percentage. Wilbon recorded one RBI and successfully stolen one base as well. The outfielder was 3-for-3 with runners on base and 4-for-7 with bases empty, and 2-for-2 with runners in scoring position as well as with two outs. Wilbon was also 4-for-4 with success in advancing runners.
Wilbon leads the team in batting average (.459) and on-base percentage (.487) and is fourth in slugging percentage (.459) and fifth in runs scored (13). She also has a team-best 10-for-16 rate of successfully advancing runners and .500 percentage with bases empty (12-for-24).
IT’S ALL O’GRADY
Junior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady leads the team in slugging percentage (.620), hits (38), runs scored (27), total bases (67), walks (24), total plate appearances (133) and doubles (12). The California native is second in batting average (.352), on-base percentage (.474), home runs (5) and RBI (23).
With two outs, O’Grady is 9-for-27, with six RBI coming with two outs. When it comes to success advancing runners during an at-bat, O’Grady also is second on the team at 40-for-75 (.533). O’Grady is also 14-for-26 (.538) as the leadoff batter in an inning.
O’Grady was nearly unstoppable in the first three games of the season, going 7-for-9 at the plate (.778 batting average), registering one double, a triple and two home runs as well as a team-high seven RBI. O’Grady tallied 16 total bases, drew three walks and posted a slugging percentage of 1.778 and an on-base percentage of .833.
The junior was 2-for-2 as the leadoff hitter in an inning, 4-for-5 with runners in scoring position and 2-for-2 batting with two outs, in which she recorded two of her seven runs-batted-in. During her at-bats, O’Grady was 6-for-8 in successfully advancing runners and 5-for-7 in getting a hit with runners on base.
O’Grady was a perfect 3-for-3 against Creighton, finishing just a double shy of hitting for the cycle.
In the LMU Tournament, O’Grady was a team-best .500 in batting with runners on (4-for-8), 2-for-2 as the leadoff hitter in an inning, 3-for-6 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-2 with runners on third and less than two outs as well as with two outs. The shortstop was 4-for-9 with success in advancing runners.
Last season, O’Grady led the Lobos in triples (four), doubles (12), walks (32), on-base percentage (.444) and runs scored (31) last season. She was second on the team with 43 hits, 75 total bases and 26 RBIs, and third in batting average (.301) and slugging percentage (.524).
O’Grady hit just four home runs last season, which the junior reached half that in the first three games this season and matched the total with a home run against North Dakota on March 26. She surpassed that number against Nevada on March 31.
3-2, WHAT YOU GOING TO DO?
Lauren Wilmert leads the team in RBI (31), and home runs (6) and is second in total bases (59), slugging percentage (.532) and in hits (30) and doubles (9). The catcher/ first baseman is fourth in runs scored (21), while hitting in the cleanup spot in 29 games before hitting in the five spot in the last 10 games starting against North Dakota. Since moving to the five-spot, Wilmert is 8-for-25 with three doubles, a triple and two home runs with four walks and 11 RBI for a batting average of .320, a slugging percentage of .760 and an on-base percentage of .414. The junior is also second in sacrifice flies and hit her first career triple against North Dakota on March 26.
Wilmert has a team-high 12 RBI with two outs and is 10-for-34 when hitting with 2 outs. She is also 3-for-7 with bases loaded and 8-for-17 when there is a runner on third with less than 2 outs.
Playing 21 games behind the plate, Wilmert has thrown out five runners attempting to steal, bringing her career total to 10.
Wilmert has hit two grand slams this season, once against Western Carolina on March 8 and on April 6 at Utah State, which came with two outs in the third inning and gave UNM a 4-2 lead. Wilmert recorded a career-high three hits against SDSU on March 17, while also recording her sixth home run of her career and tied a career-high six total bases.
NOT JUST A PITCHER
Bailey Klitzke got the ball to start the season against UTEP, but has played in 33 games either in the circle or as the DP, starting in 31.
Klitzke leads the Lobos in triples (3), sac flies (3) and stolen bases (2), is third on the team in batting average (.337), slugging percentage (.506), RBI (22) and hits (28) and fourth in on-base percentage (.411), doubles (5) and tied for fourth in total bases (42).
The junior hit a triple with bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh against North Dakota on March 26 in the first game of the doubleheader to give the Lobos a walk-off 7-6 victory. In the series at Utah State, the junior hit her first career home run.
At the plate on the season, Klitzke is a team-best 4-for-6 with bases loaded. She is 7-for-10 with a runner on third with less than 2 outs, 12-for-30 with runners in scoring position, 12-for-31 with 2 outs in the inning and seven of her RBI on the season came with two outs. Klitzke is 27-for-49 in successfully advancing runners in her at-bat, which is the second-highest success rate on the team.
However, in the circle, the LHP earned her first win of the season in her first appearance in a Lobo uniform, pitching 5.0 innings and giving up five hits and five earned runs. Klitzke struck out eight batters and finished the weekend with nine total in 6.0 innings pitched. She threw for 146 pitches, 120 of which came in the first game against UTEP.
Klitzke matched her strikeout count against Illinois-Chicago and pitched her first complete game with 6.0 innings pitched to move to 2-1 on the season.