BATON ROUGE, La. – The Lobos scored three runs behind two home runs in Friday night’s game against No. 20/25 LSU before falling 11-3 in six innings and held No. 25/19 Oregon State to two runs in a 2-0 final on the first day of the LSU Invitational.
Peyton Robinson led the Lobos with three hits on the day, while Emma Bramson tallied two hits including a solo home run. Maddie Boldt hit her second home run of the season to start the scoring against the Tigers and Robinson was responsible for the third run on the day.
In the circle, Amber Linton got the ball against Oregon State and pitched another complete game, striking out four and allowing two walks and two earned runs. Louisiana native Taylor Snow got the start in the second game against the Tigers, going 3.0 innings before Emmalyn Brinka entered and pitched for the remainder of the game in their Lobo debuts.
GAME 1: OREGON STATE
The Lobos had several chances against the Beavers, leaving eight runners on including four in scoring position. UNM recorded three hits in the contest with the top of the lineup accounting for all three as Robinson recorded two hits and Ashley Archuleta responsible for the other.
Designated as the visitors in the first game against the Beavers, UNM had a runner reach base after Archuleta walked but was left standing on first. OSU broke through in the bottom of the inning to take the early 1-0 lead and the Lobos had a chance to bring in the equalizer in the third inning when Robinson reached on an infield single, stole second and moved to third on an Archuleta single to left field. However, the inning came to an end with runners left on the corners.
OSU added another run in the fourth and again, the Lobos had a runner in scoring position in the top of the fifth with Keyannah Chavez moving all the way to third after leading off with a hit-by-pitch. Two more runners reached scoring position in the sixth following back-to-back walks by Lauren Garcia and Chloe Yeatts, a fielder’s choice and a groundout, however, UNM was unable to capitalize. Down to the final three outs, Robinson hit an infield single to bring the tying run to the plate, but with two outs, the Lobos couldn’t extend the game.
GAME 2: LSU
LSU scored two in the bottom of the first on two hits with the Lobos responding in the top of the second on a two-out home run to left by Boldt to cut the deficit in half.
The Tigers scored two in the third and four in the fourth to create some separation, but UNM answered back with two runs in the top of the fifth on three hits. Bramson led off the inning with a home run, her first of the season, fouling off four-straight pitches before working a full count to lead to the solo shot. Two at-bats later, Chavez singled up the middle and moved to second on a Leslie Romero walk, also occurring on a 3-2 count after fouling off five pitches. A wild pitch put both runners in scoring position, to which Robinson delivered a single to left to score Chavez.
LSU scored three runs on five hits in the bottom of the sixth to enforce the run rule.
The Lobos finished with five hits between four players, led by two for Bramson and one each by Robinson, Boldt and Chavez.
UNM (1-2) closes out the LSU Invitational on Saturday with another game against Oregon State (11 a.m. MT) and LSU (4 p.m. MT).