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Lobos win home-opener vs. Northern Colorado, 7-6

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico baseball team got their 2020 home slate of games off to a good start on Friday night as the Lobos picked up a 7-6 win over visiting Northern Colorado at Santa Ana Star Field.
 
Friday night’s series-opener featured a quality starting pitching matchup as the Lobos’ Aaron Makil opposed Northern Colorado’s Issac Bracken. The two right-handers were coming off a brilliant starts their first time out last weekend and carried it over on Friday as they dueled through three innings each before a run crossed the plate.
 
The Bears (2-3) were the first to push across a run in the game, doing so twice in the top of the fourth. The Lobos (3-2), however struck for two runs themselves in the bottom half to knot the game at two-all. With one out in the inning, Connor Mang got things going as he tripled to right-centerfield. Mang then scored a batter later as Ediberto Reyes pulled a ground ball to first base for the second out.
 

 

Junior newcomer Harry Fullerton then registered a hustle double as he hit a bounding ball up the middle past the diving second baseman of Northern Colorado. Two pitches later, Shane Podsednik doubled in the left-centerfield gap to chase home Fullerton for the Lobos’ second run of the game.
 

A leadoff double by Northern Colorado in the top of the fifth came around to score and gave the Bears a 3-2 lead.
 
The Lobos, however, would get that run back and then some in the bottom of the inning. Following a one-out single and advance on a fielding error by the Bears’ leftfielder by Kyler Castillo, Mang tied the game on a double to left-centerfield. Two batters later, the Lobos plated two more run as Fullerton hammered a two-run home run to centerfield. The homer was Fullerton’s first as a Lobo and the second for the team early in the season.
 

 

That three-run fifth inning allowed Makil to go back out to the mound for his sixth inning of work. In the sixth, the Bears applied some pressure with runners at the corners and two outs, but Makil induced a fielder’s choice to end the threat.
 
With momentum rolling on their side, the Lobos loaded the bases with out and were looking for more in the bottom of the sixth, but a move to the bullpen and an inning-ending double play quelled the Lobo rally.
 
Jack Murano was first out of the bullpen for the Lobos and the sophomore right-hander was efficient on the mound as he retired the side in order on three-straight ground outs. After being sat down in order in the bottom half, the Lobos were once more tested in the top of the eighth, this time against reliever Payton Strambler.
 
A leadoff walk issued by Strambler eventually led to bases loaded, but with two outs. Strambler then beared down and got a harmless pop out to right field to end the inning.
 
The Lobos then went to work in the bottom of the eighth and pushed across two runs of insurance to take a 7-3 lead. Both of those runs came with two outs and were unearned as the inning was extended on a throwing error by the Bears’ third baseman.
 
It did not take the Lobos long to make that error hurt as Kyle Landers laced a single up the middle for a RBI in the ensuing at-bat. Déjà vu then struck a batter later on a Castillo single up the middle that scored Kemuel Thomas-Rivera.
 
As it turned out, those two runs of insurance were vital as Northern Colorado made a furious comeback effort in the top of the ninth. A pair of Lobo errors to begin the inning got the wheels rolling for the Bears and forced the Lobos to turn to the bullpen once more, this time for Isiah Campa.
 
Campa, who pitched 6.0 innings of relief in the season-opener for the Lobos entered Friday night’s game with a runner at third, no outs and two runs already home in the inning. After getting a pop out to Thomas-Rivera at shortstop for the first out of the inning, the Bears plated their third run of the inning on a wild pitch from Campa.
 
Now with the bases clear, Campa went to the windup and struck out the next batter looking for the second out. A full-count walk followed and put the tying run at first. The Bears then went to the bench and called upon Cooper Rust to pinch-hit. The game would end with the bat in Rust’s hands as Campa struck him out looking for the final out.
 

 
Makil earned the win, his second of the season, while Campa notched his first save.
 
As a team, the Lobos had 12 hits and three players with multiple hits. Castillo paced the offense with a 3-for-5 game. Mang was 2-for-5 with a double, a triple and a RBI. Fullerton was 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and two RBIs.
 
The Lobos and Bears are scheduled to play the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon with a first-pitch slated for 3 p.m.
 

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