Lobos to Close Out Season at Utah State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– Coming off of a series win against San José State, The University of New Mexico Lobos travel to Logan, Utah to close out the 2021 season at Utah State.
The three-game series starts on Friday at noon MT with the second game to follow at 3 p.m. The series finale is set for Saturday at noon MT, with all three games on the Mountain West Network.
A LOOK BACK BEFORE LOOKING AHEAD
The Lobos closed out their home schedule with a series win over San Jose State, winning games two and three to not only snap a 14-game losing streak to the Spartans, but won their first series against SJSU since 1999. Rachael Hathoot and Andrea Howard put up huge numbers at the plate for the Lobos, with Hathoot leading with a .750 batting average, Howard leading with a 2.333 slugging percentage and both Albuquerque natives with an .800 on-base percentage. Hathoot hit three doubles and a home run and Howard hit three home runs and a double. Hathoot and Howard were responsible for five and four RBI, respectively. Briana Martinez also hit over .600 at .625 on five hits, including one double, and tallied three RBI. In the circle, Emma Guindon, Ashlyn Roberts and Kiana Spencer each started a game with Spencer throwing a complete game with four strikeouts on Senior Day.
WE’RE HONORED
The Lobos have had two players selected as Mountain West Player of the Week in the last three weeks in Rachael Hathoot (May 11) and Cameryn O’Grady (April 27).
Hathoot earned her first MW conference weekly award after going 6-for-8 at the plate, with three doubles and a home run as well as reaching on two walks, and finished with a 1.500 slugging percentage and .800 on-base percentage, while accounting for five runs-batted-in. Hathoot finished the weekend with three multi-hit games, going 2-for-3 in games one and three and 2-for-2 in game two, and led the team in hits, runs-batted-in, doubles and batting average, tied for the team high in on-base percentage and was second in slugging percentage and total bases. Additionally, Hathoot was 2-for-3 with runners in scoring position, 3-for-4 with runners on, 3-for-3 with two outs and 5-for-5 in advancing runners in the series, with four of her runs-batted-in occurring with two outs. Hathoot established career highs in RBI (three) and total bases (five) and tied her career high in doubles in a game (two) in game two as the Lobos run-ruled SJSU 10-2 in five innings. More than just the stats that Hathoot produced at the plate, the infielder stepped up for the Lobos in game three and made her first collegiate appearance behind the plate, moving from second base to catcher on short notice.
AND THE AWARD GOES TO…
Senior shortstop Cameryn O’Grady has been selected by the Mountain West coaches to the Mountain West All-Conference First Team, the first time that O’Grady has earned the first team distinction. It is the third time that the Lobo has been named to the Mountain West team, named to the All-MW Second Team as a junior and to the MW All-Conference Team in 2020 in her shortened senior season. In conference games this season (through May 9), O’Grady has been among the best in the conference in several statistical categories. The Orange, Calif., native leads the conference in walks (13), is second in on-base percentage (.480), third in slugging percentage (.767) and RBI (19), tied for third in runs scored, tied for fourth in home runs (six), fifth in total bases (46) and tied for fifth in doubles (five). During the conference season, she had a 14-game streak of reaching base and established a career high of six RBI against Boise State on April 24 and hit two home runs on consecutive plate appearances against Nevada on April 10 to finish with five runs-batted-in. With one series left to play this season, the super senior recorded seven multiple hit games and five multiple RBI games.
THE RETURN OF HOME RUN HOWARD
In the past series against San Jose State, the outfielder hit three home runs, including two no-doubters in Sunday’s game on her first two plate appearances. It was the second time in Howard’s career that she has hit two home runs in a game.
BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE
Beyond just hitting home runs, Howard enters the series with nine multiple hit games and 10 multiple RBI games. The outfielder leads the team in batting average (.322), slugging percentage (.661), hits (37), RBI (28), home runs (nine), total bases (76) and walks (19). She is second in on-base percentage (.413), runs scored (19) and tied for the team lead in triples (two) and tied for second in doubles (eight).
CAM’S GOT THE POWER
Cam leads the team in on-base percentage (.434), hit-by-pitches (12) and runs scored (30) and is second in batting average (.308), slugging percentage (.615), RBI (25), hits (36), home runs (eight), total bases (72) and walks (15). In all games, O’Grady is second in the MW in hit-by-pitches, third in slugging percentage and on-base percentage, tied for fifth in total bases, and fifth in runs scored.
In the field, O’Grady is second with 84 assists in all games and is third in MW games with 44. She has turned eight double plays.
HATHOOT CAN HACK
Rachael Hathoot entered the season with just one home run her freshman year, but has hit a home run in three of the last five series.Hathoot hit her first home run in the second game against Nevada, a one-out, two-run HR that tied the game at 5-all in the sixth inning. Her second home run came in the last game at UNLV, a solo shot that opened the scoring in the fourth inning. The third home run came in the first inning of the first game against San Jose State, a two-run home run to left that tied the game.
On top of hitting home runs, Hathoot has 10 doubles on the season and seven stolen bases to lead the team in both categories, is third in RBI (17), home runs (three), total bases (45) and slugging percentage (.369), fourth in runs scored (15), tied for fourth in hits (26) and fifth in batting average (.213). The Albuquerque native also leads in stolen bases with seven on the season. In the infield, Hathoot is second in assists (79) and third in fielding double plays (seven). Hathoot is 5-for-7 (.714) with runners on third and less than two outs and 27-for-62 (.435) in successfully advancing runners.
The infielder has been featured in several different spots in the Lobo lineup throughout the season. Hathoot has led off in eight games, hit third in three games, fourth in 24 games, fifth in six games and sixth in two games. Currently hitting in the cleanup spot, Hathoot is hitting .269 with 18 hits, eight doubles, three home runs, 16 RBI and a slugging percentage of .522.
In just Mountain West games, Hathoot leads the conference in doubles (eight).
SCOUTING UTAH STATE
The Aggies enter the series 13-28, 3-15 in MW games and are coming off of a 4-0 loss to BYU on Tuesday. In their MW series, the Aggies went 0-3 against UNLV, Boise State and San José State and 1-2 against Nevada, Fresno State and San Diego State.
Gabriella Jimenez leads Utah State with 39 hits, 10 home runs, 27 RBI and 72 total bases, while Zaia Castruita leads with a .351 on-base percentage and two triples. Mazie Macfarlane has hit a team-high seven doubles and Kennedy Hira has a team-high .556 slugging percentage. Castruita has been the toughest to strike out in the MW with just seven strikeouts on the season. The Aggies are 11-16 in stolen bases with Stephanie Reed 5-5 and Tyler Thornton 2-2.
In the circle, USU has used five pitchers, led by Kapri Toone who has appeared in 30 games with 16 starts, eight complete games and one save. The RHP enters with a 4.59 ERA on 117.1 innings pitched, 143 hits, 75 runs (77 earned) with 47 walks and 60 strikeouts. Jessica Stewart has pitched in 20 appearances, 15 starts with four complete games and 88.2 innings. Also a RHP, Stewart has allowed 104 hits, 60 runs (57 earned) with 54 strikeouts and 30 walks and carries a 4.50 ERA. Delaney Hull is the third Aggie pitcher who has started 10-plus games with 10 starts and 20 appearances, throwing three complete games and 64.0 innings, with one save. Chloe Nightingale and Leah Molina have each appeared in one game, with Nightingale pitching 3.2 innings and Molina 0.1. As a staff, the Aggies have a 4.88 ERA.