Lobos Drop Saturday Game to SJSU to Even Series

SAN JOSE, Calif.— The fourth inning was the difference in Saturday evening’s Mountain West contest, as both teams had bases loaded but it was San José State that capitalized on it to take momentum in the game in the eventual 8-0 final.

Up until that point, the game had been scoreless, with each team having two hits and leaving runners on.

However, in the top of the fourth, the Lobos looked to break the stalemate, with Ashley Archuleta leading off with a single to right field, followed by an Andrea Howard walk. Leslie Romero drew a one-out walk to load the bases to provide the first opportunity to push a run across, but the next two batters struck out to leave them loaded.

Starting pitcher Emma Guindon got the first out on a grounder to third, but the Spartans hit consecutive singles to put two runners on. A popup to Briana Martinez at shortstop provided the second out, but the Lobos couldn’t record the third out before a walk, and a single scored the first run of the inning. SJSU went on to record five runs on seven hits in the inning before reliever Brianna Sanchez got the final out on a strikeout.

SJSU added a two-run home run in the fifth and three walks and a hit-by-pitch led to the eighth run of the game, to enforce the run-rule.

Peyton Robinson and Archuleta each recorded a hit, while Romero went 2-for-2 with a double and also had a walk. UNM drew four walks, with Archuleta, Howard and Martinez each reaching on a walk.

Guindon pitched a total of 4.1 innings, while Sanchez pitched 1.1 innings and finished with two strikeouts and allowed two runs on three hits.

The Lobos (19-8, 1-1 MW) conclude the series with the Spartans on Sunday at 1 p.m. MT