Lobos return home against Hofstra
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| NEW MEXICO LOBOS 9-4 |
HOFSTRA PRIDE 3-7 |
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Friday, March 6 | 3 p.m. (MT) | Saturday, March 7 | Noon (MT) | DH |
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Leading Off
Coming off their first true road games of the season earlier this week, the University of New Mexico baseball team returns home for a three-game weekend series against Hofstra beginning on Friday, March 6.
The Lobos will enter the weekend series with the Pride with a 9-4 overall record after splitting their mid-week series at Grand Canyon. In that series, the Lobos dropped the first game 5-1, but bounced back a day later and used a six-run first inning to propel them to a 7-3 win.
This will be the second time in program history that the Lobos will take on Hofstra. The first was a two-game series that took place in Albuquerque in 2001. The Lobos won both of those games.
For the weekend series, the Lobos are scheduled to use a three-man rotation of Aaron Makil, Justin Armbruester, and Nathaniel Garley. Makil and Armbruester have been a part of the weekend rotation all season long while Garley is coming off of his season debut last week.
Despite just the one start thus far for Garley, he Armbruester and Makil have been significant cogs in the Lobo pitching wheel that has gotten off to a great start. Coming into the weekend, the Lobos team ERA is 3.38 and all three of the projected starters are below that mark. Additionally, the trio have combined for a 4-0 record and 48 strikeouts in 41.1 innings of work.
Offensively, the Lobos enter play with a .266 batting average (115-for-433). The leading hitter is Kyler Castillo at .377 (20-for-53). Harry Fullerton is the team-leader in home runs with two. Fullerton is also tied with Ediberto Reyes for the most RBIs on the team with 10Scouting Hofstra
Hofstra enters play this week 3-7 overall. The Pride are coming off a weekend in which they played Wichita State and Nevada. Hofstra went 2-1 over that stretch losing to Wichita State on Friday, 19-10, and then bouncing back to beat Nevada 2-1 later that day and capping the weekend with a 7-2 win.
Entering this weekend series, the Pride are hitting .280 as a team (96-for-343) and are led by Anthony D’Onofrio at .500 (19-for-38). Austin Gauthier and Vinnie Costello are tied for the team-lead in home runs with two. D’Onofrio is the also leading RBI man with 10.
On the mound, the Pride have a team ERA of 6.08 entering this weekend’s action. Slated to get the ball against the Lobos will be the three-man rotation of Jack Jett, Jimmy Joyce and Ryan Rue. Jett has pitched the fewest innings among the three with 7.2 in two starts, but has yet to give up an earned run and has nine strikeouts and only one walk. Rue, who is 1-1 with a 2.37 ERA has the most innings at 19.0 and the most strikeouts with 15. As a team, the Pride have yet to register a save.
In the dugout, Hofstra is led by John Russo, who is now in his ninth season at the helm. In his time as the head coach
at Hofstra, Russo has amassed a 172-237-1 record.