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UNM Run Rules No. 19 Oregon State, Boldt Homers Again Against No. 20 LSU

by Allison Weiss

BATON ROUGE, La. – The Lobos picked up a signature win on Saturday, defeating No. 19 Oregon State 8-0 in five innings.

It was UNM’s first win over a ranked opponent since No. 23 Nebraska back on March 19, 2016 (a 6-3 win) and the first done in run-rule fashion since Feb. 23, 2012, a 15-3 win over another Power 5 opponent in No. 14/16 Texas A&M in six. Historically, it is UNM’s ninth win over a ranked opponent.

The Lobos needed just two innings to produce their eight runs on eight hits, scoring four in the first and four in the third. Six different Lobos contributed a hit with Chloe Yeatts and Maddie Boldt leading with 2-3 outings at the plate with Boldt driving in three RBI, while Olivia Birkinshaw added three RBI on a pinch-hit double in the fourth. Six of UNM’s runs came with two outs.

In the circle, freshman Emmalyn Brinka threw a complete game to earn her first collegiate win, striking out four and allowing two hits on 20 batters faced.

After Brinka worked around a hit and a walk at the top of the first, the Lobos were quick to put pressure on the Beavers as Peyton Robinson and Ashley Archuleta both singled through the infield to start the inning. After advancing on a wild pitch, a Beaver fielding error scored Robinson from third and following another wild pitch to put two runners in scoring position, Emma Bramson flied out to center for the sacrifice fly and second Lobo run. Reyan Tuck was hit by a pitch to put two runners on and Boldt cleared the bases on the next at-bat with a triple to left center. UNM scored four runs on three hits.

Oregon State threatened in the third with a leadoff double and had runners on the corners, but Brinka and the Lobo defense got out of the inning with a groundout to Rachael Hathoot at short to preserve the shutout.

UNM got back on the board in the third with Leslie Romero and Yeatts getting on to start the inning with back-to-back singles. OSU recovered to get the next two outs but couldn’t get out of the inning before Boldt doubled to left center to score Romero and started the two-out rally. Keyannah Chavez reached on a hit-by-pitch to load the bases, which pinch hitter Olivia Birkinshaw promptly cleared following a 3-2 count in which she worked back from down 0-2.

The Lobos scored four runs on four hits in the third to take the 8-0 lead.

Brinka retired the side in the fourth, and while the Lobos had two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the fourth after a single by Yeatts and a walk by pinch hitter Janae Cameron followed by a double steal, they couldn’t add to their lead.

With the run-rule in effect, the defense didn’t allow any opportunity for OSU in the top of the fifth with two groundouts to Archuleta at second and Brinka closing the game on a strikeout.

GAME 2: LSU
The Lobos tallied 10 hits in the second game against No. 20 LSU and were within two runs twice with the tying run in scoring position in the fifth inning, but the Tigers scored six unanswered runs between the fifth and sixth innings to win 11-3 in six.

Yeatts and Bramson each finished with two hits with eight Lobos in total registering at least one hit, while Boldt accounted for all three runs scored with a two-run home run and a RBI on a groundout in the fifth inning.

UNM had three runners reach base in the top of the first, all with two outs, as Birkinshaw was hit by a pitch and Bramson and Yeatts both singled with all three left stranded. LSU got on the board in the bottom half of the inning and took advantage of two errors in the bottom of the second to add three more runs.

After the first two hitters in the top of the third were retired, Archuleta kept the inning going with an infield single to bring up Boldt, who worked a full count before driving the ball over the wall in left for her third home run of the season, cutting the deficit in half.

The Tigers got a run back in the bottom of the fourth with the Lobos matching it in the top of the fifth. Yeatts and Bramson again got the inning going with singles and Archuleta reached on a fielding error to load the bases for the third inning in the game. Boldt delivered with a hit to second that although it produced an out allowed the runner from third to score to get the margin back to two runs with two runners still in scoring position. However, a grounder to the shortstop ended the Lobos’ at-bat still down two.

Two LSU home runs plated five runs for the home team in the bottom of the fifth with the Tigers ending the game in the bottom of the sixth with an additional run.

Samantha Fohrman took the loss against the Tigers, going 1.1 innings, with Amber Linton throwing 3.1 innings of relief and Taylor Snow throwing 0.2 innings.

UP NEXT: UNM travels to UTEP for the Dr. Natalicio Memorial Tournament to play five games starting on Feb. 17 against Buffalo.