Lobos Travel to Face NMSU Wednesday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico softball team travels to Las Cruces to face New Mexico State in the final game before Mountain West competition starts this weekend.
Wednesday’s contest will be the first of two between the in-state rivals, with first pitch scheduled for 5:30 p.m. MT. and will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
UNM GAME NOTES | NMSU GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS | LIVE STREAM
WEEK 5 RECAP
The Lobos closed out the tournament portion of their schedule at the Longhorn Invitational, where they went 1-4. UNM went 1-1 against Texas Southern, 0-2 against Liberty and 0-1 against No. 3/2 Texas.
UNM was led at the plate by Andrea Howard, who hit .364 with four hits on 11 at-bats and had an on-base percentage of .500. Rachael Hathoot led with five hits, four of which were doubles, and three runs batted in. Hathoot also posted a team-high .563 slugging percentage.
Howard and Taryn Young each had three walks, with a total of seven Lobos reaching base on walks. Cameryn O’Grady added two doubles to her season total, bringing it to 15, one shy of her overall total last season.In the circle, Kennedy Ferguson pitched a complete-game shutout against Texas Southern on Saturday, allowing just two hits and striking out six. Hathoot was 2-for-2 as the leadoff hitter in an inning and was 4-for-7 in advancing runners, including 3-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
LOOKING AHEAD TO WEEK 6
UNM travels to Las Cruces for a Wednesday game against New Mexico State before opening conference play at San José State starting on Friday.
PATIENCE AT THE PLATE
UNM earned its way on base via a walk in 104 of the 618 at-bats to date. In 111 at-bats, the Lobos had full counts and of those, 53 resulted in walks. In addition to the 53 full count walks, 16 walks were of the four-pitch variety and 35 were five-pitch walks.
UNM had a season-high 12 walks against La Salle, with two each from Cameryn O’Grady, Briana Martinez and Taryn Young. Against WSU in the first game, the Lobos had eight full counts with six of those resulting in walks.
UNM is fourth in the country in walks, trailing just Arizona State (128) and Southern Miss. (112) and Northwestern State (108).
Martinez leads the Lobos in walks with 20. In the Feb. 15 game against Northern Colorado, the freshman drew a walk following a 10-pitch at-bat after falling behind 0-2 (KKBBFFFFBB). In the third inning against Northern Colorado on Feb. 15, Martinez hit a home run following a 3-2 count. In the game against Cal, Andrea Howard walked on a 12-pitch at-bat after falling behind 0-2 (KFFBFBFFBFFB) in the sixth inning. In the fifth inning, Taryn Young hit a home run on a full count after fouling off two pitches. O’Grady is second in walks with 15 with Howard and Young tied for third with 12.
NATIONALLY RANKED
Through the first 25 games of the season, UNM is ranked among the top 30 in a trio of categories.
The Lobos rank fourth in the NCAA in walks with 104, 12th in doubles with 43, 19th in double plays per game at 0.52 and 24th in the country in doubles per game at 1.72.
Individually, Cameryn O’Grady leads the NCAA in doubles (15) and is fourth in doubles per game (0.60). Andrea Howard is 41st in home runs (seven), and ninth in sacrifice flies (three). Briana Martinez is 22nd in walks per game (0.80).
The Lobos lead the Mountain West in home runs with 21, doubles (43) and walks, is tied for first in fielding double plays (13), fourth in on-base percentage (.369) and slugging percentage (.435).
DOUBLE UP
UNM has recorded 13 double plays this season, already surpassing the total number the Lobos had in 2019 (six) and matching the number in 2018.
The Lobos had three in the first game of the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic against UC Riverside in the second, third and fifth innings with Rachael Hathoot accounting for two of them at third.
Hathoot and Reyan Tuck have recorded six double plays, Cameryn O’Grady has been involved in four double plays and Gavyn Shafer has been a part of five double plays. Brianna Sanchez, Leslie Romero and Lauren Wilmert have been involved with two double plays and Sydney Broderick, Andrea Howard and Taylor Jones have each been involved in one double play.
UNM recorded three double plays at the Lobo Classic, two of which came in games against La Salle.
The Lobos lead the Mountain West is double plays per game with 0.52.
SCOUTING NEW MEXICO STATE
The Lobos have played the Aggies 150 times previously, with the Lobos holding an 83-67 advantage in the series. However, NMSU has won the last four meetings and 13 of the last 15.
UNM and New Mexico State have six common opponents in Grand Canyon, Arizona, UTEP, Texas Tech, Arizona State and UNLV. The Aggies enter the game 14-8 on the year and 3-2 in their last five games. They are coming off of wins over then-No. 17 Arizona State (2-0), Oregon State (4-2) and Nebraska (4-1) with losses to Wright State (11-3, 5) and Lehigh (7-4). NMSU is 5-3 at home to date.
Overall, New Mexico State is hitting .315 with 150 runs, 176 hits, 21 doubles, five triples and 40 home runs. The Aggies are 17-for-24 in stolen bases and have an on-base percentage of .416.Ramsay Lopez leads the team in batting average (.451), slugging percentage (1.039) and home runs (nine), Matalasi Faapito leads with 24 hits, five doubles and 23 RBI. Jeanelle Medina is 7-for-7 in stolen bases and Keala Brown is 3-for-3. In the circle, the Aggies have used four pitchers, led by Matalasi Faapito. Faapito has started nine games and made 14 appearances, going 3-4 and carries an ERA of 4.52 with two complete games and two saves. In 62.0 innings pitched, the right-hander has given up 75 hits, 45 runs (40 earned) and 22 walks while striking out 37. Felicia De La Torre has a team-best 4.20 ERA with a 1-1 record on nine appearances and one start. The freshman has pitched 15.0 innings with 15 hits, 12 runs (nine earned) and 13 walks with 14 strikeouts. Analise De La Roca is 6-2 on the year with 10 appearances, eight starts and one complete game, with a 4.56 ERA. In 35.1 innings in the circle, she has given up 40 hits, 25 runs (23 earned) and 14 walks while striking out 16. Chloe Rivas has made an appearance in 12 games with four starts, has a 4-1 record and a 4.89 ERA with one complete game. In 24.1 innings pitched, the sophomore has allowed 32 hits, 17 runs (all earned), with 18 strikeouts and 12 walks.
NMSU is first in the NCAA in home runs per game (1.82) and triple plays (one), eighth in slugging percentage (.584) and ninth in fielding percentage (.978). The Aggies are also 35th in batting average (.314). NMSU leads the WAC in walks with 86, scoring (6.82) and on-base percentage (.415).
New Mexico State was picked to finish third in the WAC with Nikki Butler picked to repeat as the WAC Player of the Year.
SEASON TICKETS
Fans can purchase Lobo Pride Passes for access to all home games this season for $50 by clicking HERE. Other ways are directly through the Lobo Ticket Office in person or on the phone (925-LOBO). The Lobo Ticket Office is located in Dreamstyle Arena and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
Additionally, fans can purchase single-game tickets for all games this season at Lobo Softball Field HERE.