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Lobos fall in season-opener vs. #25 Oregon State

SURPRISE, Ariz. – The University of New Mexico baseball team lost their 2020 season-opener against No. 25-ranked Oregon State on Friday afternoon by a score of 11-4 out at Surprise Stadium in Arizona, the Spring Training home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals.
 
It was the third-straight year that the Lobos (0-1) opened up their season with the Beavers (1-0) in Surprise, Ariz. Last season, the Lobos were on the verge of upsetting Oregon State, who was preseason ranked No. 2 that year, but were upended in the ninth. On Friday, the Beavers came out early and posted a 9-0 lead through the first inning.
 
Most of that damage was charged against Lobo starter Cody Dye, who was making his first pitching appearance since 2018 after undergoing Tommy John surgery prior to last season. Dye would be unable to register an out in the first inning and was relieved by newcomer Isiah Campa after Oregon State had struck for five runs. The Beavers would score four more runs that inning with Campa on the mound.
 
“Cody gave us all he had today, but it was too early to put him in that spot coming off Tommy John,” remarked head coach Ray Birmingham. “We had Nathaniel Garley penciled in for the start, but when he got sick we had to decide what to do on opening day and chose Cody. The result today was unfortunate for him and that is my fault.”
 
After the Beavers took that sizable lead, the Lobos came out in the top of the second and pushed across their first run of the game. The first two batters reached in the inning as Kemuel Thomas-Rivera drew a leadoff walk which was then followed by a hit-by-pitch to Ediberto Reyes. The Beavers induced a double play on the next batter and nearly escaped the inning unscathed as starter Christian Chamberlain got a ground ball to shortstop, but the throw was low and not dug out at first allowing Thomas-Rivera to score.
 
The Beavers would get the run back in the bottom of the inning and added another single run in the sixth to take an 11-1 lead.
 
In the top of the seventh, Reyes connected on the Lobos’ first home run of the season as he sent one over the wall in right field.
 

Two innings later, the Lobos applied pressure on the Beavers as they loaded the bases with no outs. In that inning, the Lobos turned to the bench and got consecutive singles from Lance Russell and Shane Podsednik and then a four-pitch walk to Terrell Hudson to load the bases. After a strikeout, Adam Schneider drew a walk to force home Russell. Jarrett Gonzales then drew a walk as well to force home Podsednik and bring the score to 11-4.
 
The Beavers would get the next two outs to end the game.
 
Despite the struggles on the mound in the first inning, pitching came out as a positive for the Lobos with the efforts of Campa and Justin Flebbe. After coming in the game in the first and getting touched up some, Campa gave the Lobos length out of the bullpen and pitched through the sixth inning. Flebbe, who was making his collegiate debut, then got the ball in the 7th and the freshman went on to strike out the side on 12 pitches. In the eighth, Flebbe extended his strikeout streak to four as he punched out the first batter in the frame. He then worked around a one-out walk and a two-out error to keep the Beavers off the scoreboard.
 

 
The Lobos will now prepare for a pair of games against BYU on Saturday. The first game is slated for 10 a.m. while the second is scheduled for a 3 p.m. first-pitch.