Lobos Prevail in Series Finale Victory against San Jose State

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico baseball team ended the series against San Jose State with a 9-7 victory to end the weekend on a high note on Sunday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field.

The Lobos once again showed off their resilience and grit in a game where they were down four runs at the half way mark (middle of the fifth). Offensive power was what won the game as six of the starters had multi-hit games.

Braydon Runion and Cody Holtz led the way with three hits apiece as Runion notched three RBI and two runs while hitting his ninth home run of the season and Holtz notched two RBI and a double. Lenny Junior Ashby, Kyle Landers, Willie Cano and Chase Weissenborn recorded two hits each, as well.

On the mound, Terrell Hudson earned his first decision of the season as he went the final 4.1 innings and allowed no runs on just three hits to take the win.

After a scoreless first inning in which starter Justin Still battled through a full count to eventually strike out the first batter he saw, the Spartans opened up scoring to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the second.

The Lobos wasted no time taking their first lead in the bottom of the frame though. After Justin Olson opened the inning with a flyout, Willie Cano was the first Lobo of the game to find a way on base as he singled to right field. Next up, Runion stepped up to the plate and went down 0-2 in the pitch count early as he fouled the first one off and swung through the second one. Runion didn’t let that scare him though as he unleashed on the next pitch he saw, launching it to left field to give the Lobos a quick 2-1 advantage.

In the very next inning, San Jose State responded with two runs to take a 3-2 lead. New Mexico once again responded in the bottom of the third and tied the game up at 3-3. With two outs on the board and Ashby at first, Olson doubled to right center to bring him all the way around.

The fourth frame went scoreless before the Spartans plated a quartet of runs in the top of the fifth to once again take a 7-3 lead. The Lobos began chipping away in the bottom of the frame, plating a single run to then make their deficit 7-4. Ashby launched his 12^th home run of the season, a solo shot to cut the deficit to three runs.

The sixth inning was another scoreless frame as both teams put runners in scoring position but were unable to execute. In the top of the seventh inning, Hudson was dealing to the Spartans as he forced a three up-three down inning on two groundouts and a strikeout.

New Mexico’s powerful offense went to work in the bottom of the frame, bringing home four runs to take a 8-7 lead. A single by Ashby and a double by Landers put runners in scoring position to begin the inning. Olson struck out for the first out but then Cano hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Ashby from third.

With two outs on the board, the Lobos doubled down to get more runners across home plate. Runion doubled to bring home Landers and cut New Mexico’s deficit to a single run.

Then, with two runners aboard, two outs on the board and a full pitch count, Cody Holtz battled back and won as he doubled to left field and brought home Braydon Runion and Kamron Willman to give the Lobos an 8-7 advantage.

Hudson continued to hold up his side of the inning as he allowed just one base runner in the eighth and struck out the first batter to start the inning.

The Lobos brought home an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth frame as Cano singled through the right side to drive in Landers and put the Lobos up 9-7 with just three defensive outs to make to secure the win.

New Mexico did exactly that, as Hudson sat down the Spartans’ final three batters on a groundout and two flyouts to secure the 9-7 victory for the Lobos in the series finale against San Jose State.

New Mexico’s record improves to 17-26 overall and 8-16 in Mountain West action, while San Jose State’s record falls to 24-20 overall and 13-11 in conference play.

For the first time in a month, the Lobos do not play a midweek game this upcoming week. Next weekend, the squad will head to Reno, Nev., to face off with the Nevada Wolfpack, the second-best team in the conference, on May 6-8.

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