Lobos Head to Boise State for Final Road Series
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The Lobos head to the road for one final time this season, set to face Boise State in a three-game series starting Friday, May 6.
Friday and Saturday both have 4 p.m. start times, while Sunday’s game is set to start at noon. All three games will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
Boise State will be another tough test for UNM, with the Broncos sitting at 13-5 in the conference and tied with UNLV for second. Boise State also enters the series on a six-game win streak, beating both Utah State and San José State. The Broncos’ losses have been to UNLV (9-0 (5), 7-3 and 8-5) and San Diego State (3-2 (13) and 3-2) and have swept Nevada, Fresno State, San José State and Utah State. The Broncos share two non-conference opponents with the Lobos in UC Santa Barbara and Arizona, beating UCSB 6-3 and 20-7 and losing to the Wildcats 5-4.
For UNM, the Lobos are looking to rebound after being swept by UNLV in their last series. Peyton Robinson and Ashley Archuleta led the Lobos at the plate with three hits in the series, with Robinson also leading in on-base percentage at .500. Andrea Howard led the team with three RBI and had a .625 slugging percentage against the Rebels. Taryn Young, Howard and Janae Cameron each added to their season home run total in the series, with Young hitting her seventh, Howard her 17th and Cameron her second in Saturday’s game. Further, Howard has hit at least one home run in the last six series and has two home run in the last four games, while Young has hit four home runs in the last six games and five home runs in the last nine.
In conference games, the Lobos have moved the top of the lineup around to adjust to team’s strategies surrounding Howard, but the top of the lineup continues to find ways to produce. The Lobos are led by Young (hitting in the cleanup spot in 13 games) and Howard with each hitting five home runs, with Young accounting for 12 RBI and Howard a team-high 14 RBI. Hitting out of the leadoff spot in 10 games and the two spot in eight, Archuleta is hitting a team-high .386 with a team-high 22 hits and has an on-base percentage of .470 and slugging percentage of .544. Leslie Romero leads with six doubles in MW games, accounting for half of her total hits, and Briana Martinez has nine RBI with four home runs and two doubles.
On the other side of the diamond, Kelsey Hall leads Boise State at the plate with a .389 batting average and .769 slugging percentage, while Kelsey Lalor leads the team with 49 hits, 12 doubles, 12 home runs and 41 RBI. The Broncos have three players with 40-plus hits in Lalor, Alycia Flores (47) and Hall (42). BSU is 31-38 on the base paths with Hall 5-6 in stolen bases and Autumn Bennett 4-5, and 12 different players have stolen at least one base, with 10 having multiple stolen bases on the season. In MW games, the Broncos are 8-12 with Megan Lake 2-3 and seven different players stealing at least one base. In conference games, Lalor leads with 23 hits while Eliyah Flores has 20 hits. Flores is hitting .392 with six doubles and Lalor has hit nine home runs and has 24 RBI. Hall has been walked a team-high 12 times. Lalor is second in the MW in slugging percentage (.857) in conference games and Flores is third in on-base percentage (.500). Lalor is tied for the conference lead in RBI and home runs.
Boise State has used five pitchers on the season, led by Hannah Bailey. Bailey has appeared in a team-high 29 games with 18 starts and has pitched a team-high 125.1 innings with 11 complete games and two saves. A RHP, Bailey has a 2.23 ERA with 104 and 45 runs allowed (40 earned), striking out 111 and walking 45. Taylor Caudill has pitched 95.1 innings and has appeared in 23 games with 20 starts. Caudill has thrown five complete games with a save, and has a 3.23 ERA. Also a RHP, Caudill has allowed 77 hits, 45 runs (44 earned) with 117 strikeouts and 49 walks. Sara Johnson has thrown 65.2 innings on 17 appearances and six starts. Johnson has a 2.24 ERA, allowing 57 hits, 21 runs (all earned), striking out 60 and walking 18. As a staff, BSU has a 2.70 ERA.In conference games, the Broncos have gone with four pitchers with Bailey appearing in 13 games with eight starts, Caudill starting nine games and Johnson starting one. The staff has a 3.16 ERA in conference games, allowing 109 hits, 58 runs (55 earned), striking out 106 and walking 57.
Boise State is second in the MW in ERA (2.70), opposing batting average (.226), batters struck out (292) and fielding double plays (23) as well as batting average (.312), RBI (273), hits (383) and on-base percentage (.399), while leading in slugging percentage (.550), doubles (81), total bases (674), home runs (64, runs scored (295) and fielding percentage (.983).
The last time the Lobos faced the Broncos, UNM won the series winning games one (6-4) and three (6-3) and dropping game two (4-3). Emma Guindon earned both wins in the series, throwing one complete game.
Following the series with the Broncos, the Lobos close the season at home with San Diego State with the series starting Thursday, May 12. Both Thursday and Friday will have 6 p.m. start times with Saturday being at noon.