Lobos Head to Utah for Three-Game Series with BYU
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobo softball team has a brief pause in Mountain West competition and will be tested in a three-game series at BYU starting with a doubleheader on Thursday.
Thursday’s first game will start at 4 p.m. MT with the second game to follow, while Friday’s game will be at 1 p.m. MT. All three games will have live stats available and can be viewed on BYUtv.
New Mexico enters the series coming off of a week in which the Lobos defeated New Mexico State on the road before dropping all three games against Utah State. Peyton Robinson led the Lobos at the plate with a .429 batting average and six hits, while Leslie Romero led with six RBI and Andrea Howard led with two doubles and 10 total bases. In the four games, the Lobos hit five home runs, six doubles and a triple, outhitting their opponents .313 to .291 and had a better on-base percentage (.403-.373) and slugging percentage (.513-.410).
The top of the lineup has continuously produced for UNM, as the top three hitters have on-base streaks larger than 10 games. Robinson and Ashley Archuleta currently have streaks of 20 games, hitting first and second, and Howard has a 14-game streak while batting third. Further, Robinson has a 20-game hitting streak, followed by five for Howard and three for Archuleta.
Archuleta has been solid for the Lobos this season, with the freshman second baseman starting all 32 games and is third on the team in batting average (.349), second in on-base percentage (.434) and fourth in slugging percentage (.415). She is also second in hits (37), doubles (five) and total bases (44), third in walks (14) and runs scored (17). The New Mexico native has 10 multiple-hit games (seven with two hits and three with three hits) and has a 20-game streak of reaching base.
In conference games, Archuleta leads the conference with a .579 batting average and a .636 on-base percentage, and is tied for the lead in hits with 11.
Robinson is second on the team in batting average (.385) and runs scored (25) and third in slugging percentage (.448) and in on-base percentage (.433), total bases (43) and hits (37). The outfielder leads the team in sac bunts with seven and in stolen bases with seven.
Howard has hit 11 home runs this season, breaking the program record in career home runs at 40 with a two-run home run in Sunday’s game against Utah State. Besides leading in home runs, Howard leads the Lobos in batting average (.398), slugging percentage (.845), on-base percentage (.484), RBI (37), hits (41), doubles (seven), triples (three), runs scored (27) and total bases (87). She is also second in walks. The Lobo outfielder also leads the team with 13 multiple-RBI games, with eight games of two RBI and five games with three RBI and has 13 multiple-hit games with 11 games with two hits and two games with three hits.
Howard ranks seventh in the NCAA in total bases, 13th in RBI, 14th in home runs, 27th in hits and 32nd in slugging percentage. In the MW, the Albuquerque native is second in the conference in total bases, tied for second in RBI and home runs, third in slugging percentage, fourth in batting average and fifth in on-base percentage. She is tied for the conference lead in hits and tied for third in triples.
In the other dugout, the Cougars are 22-7 on the season and have won their last three games and eight of their last nine. In their last series, the Cougars swept Iowa State (11-7, 5-0 and 11-3 (5)). BYU is 7-1 at home this season.
BYU has eight opponents in common with the Lobos in UNLV (lost 5-3), San José State (won 8-5), San Diego State (won 2-1 (8)), Maine (won 14-0 (5)), Southern Utah (won 7-0 and 8-0 (6)), Dixie State (to be played April 12 and April 26), Santa Clara (to be played April 29-30) and Utah State (to be played May 10).
Violet Zavodnik leads the Cougars with a .419 batting average, 36 hits, nine doubles, 28 RBI, 69 total bases, an .802 slugging percentage and 24 runs, while also having a team-high 23 strikeouts. She is tied with Huntyr Ava for the team high in home runs with eight. Three Cougars have 13 walks on the season (Martha Epenesa, Brooke Barrington and Alyssa Podhurcak), with seven players having 10 or more walks. Three players also have 20-plus RBI this season in Zavodnik (28), Ava (25) and Macy Simmons (23). The Cougars are 31-36 in stolen bases, led by Taylei Williams going 7-7, Alexis Gilio at 8-9, Zavodnik at 5-6 and Lauren Flanders at 5-6.
BYU has used four pitchers with Autumn Moffat-Korth appearing in a team-high 18 games with 14 starts. The senior has thrown 77.0 innings, allowing 76 hits, 40 runs (29 earned), while walking 22 and striking out 50. She carries a 2.64 ERA and has thrown seven complete games with two shutouts and a save. Chloe Temples has appeared in 15 games with nine starts, with four complete games and a save in 64.0 innings pitched. A junior, Temples has allowed 54 hits, 20 runs (18 earned), striking out 73 and walking 16. She has a team-best 1.97 ERA. Carley Brown has appeared 11 games with five starts and two complete games, throwing 39.0 innings. Brown has allowed 39 hits, 23 runs (18 earned), walking 10 and striking out 31, carrying a 3.23 ERA. As a staff, BYU pitchers have a 2.51 ERA with 174 hits allowed, 84 runs (66 earned), 156 strikeouts and 54 walks. They have thrown seven shutouts.
BYU is fourth in the NCAA in double plays per game (0.59), 13th in on-base percentage (.414), 20th in walks (113), 29th in slugging percentage (.518), 30th in scoring (6.17), 32nd in batting average (.311) and 34th in home runs per game (1.14).
Individually, Zavodnik is 28th in the NCAA in home runs and slugging percentage, 27th in RBI, 25th in RBI per game and 18th in total bases.
BYU was picked to win the West Coast Conference preseason poll, earning five out of six first-place votes. Ava, Marissa Chavez, Martha Epenesa, HannaJo Mills and Zavodnik were named to the 2022 All-WCC Preseason Softball Team, and Moffat-Korth was added to the 2022 All-WCC Preseason Softball Team for pitchers. BYU led all conferences in preseason awards with six total nominees. Last season, BYU made the NCAA Tournament, losing to Virginia Tech in the regional opener 5-3, beating Southern Illinois (7-2) and Arizona State (9-8) in the elimination games and losing to Virginia Tech (11-3 (5)) in the NCAA Regional Final.
Following the series with the Cougars, the Lobos will resume conference play on the road at Colorado State, with the three-game series starting on April 8 at 4 p.m.