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Braydon Runion was 4-for-4 with five RBIs in the Lobos' 20-3 win in Game 2 on Saturday.

Bats come alive in Game 2 as Lobos split DH with St. Bonaventure

by Evan O'Kelly

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Responding to a Game 1 loss to visiting St. Bonaventure on Saturday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field, the New Mexico Baseball team’s bats came alive in the nightcap of a doubleheader split.

The Bonnies (1-6) jumped on the Lobos for a 17-8 win in the opener, before UNM responded with a resounding 20-3 triumph to move its record on the season to 8-2.

Dylan Ditzenberger and Braydon Runion each went 5-for-8 in the doubleheader, with the latter driving in six runs and hitting his third home run of the season. Jake Holland was 3-for-9 in the doubleheader with his third home run of the series and fourth of the season, and Chase Weissenborn went 2-for-5 with four runs scored and 10 plays without an error on defense.

Jaren Jackson earned his first win in a Lobo uniform, going six strong innings in the nightcap to lead his team to victory.

Game 1 – St. Bonaventure 17, New Mexico 8

SBU’s Danny Manion was 5-for-5 with seven RBIs, homering twice to help the Bonnies set the tone and run away with the opening game of the doubleheader.

UNM starter Tristin Lively battled early command struggles in the top of the first, using a double play turned by Jeffrey David and Weissenborn to work around a walk and a hit batter.

SBU starter Gabe Watts worked around an error in the bottom of the first, and got through a bases-loaded jam with a pair of strikeouts and a ground out to keep the game scoreless.

Just as they did on Friday in the series opener, the Bonnies struck first in the top of the second inning. Manion’s first hit of the season was a loud one, as he crushed a two-run home run over the fence in left field to put SBU up 2-0. Jayce Tharnish followed with a ground-rule double on a deep drive to left-center, Adam Rankie drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center, and Jack Putney made the score 5-0 with a two-out, RBI-double that reached the wall in left. The big blow proved to end Lively’s day early, as the senior righty went two innings in his second start of the year.

Manion struck again in the top of the third, hitting an 0-2 pitch well over the fence in left to up his team’s lead to 7-0. After a clean bottom of the third by Watts, his offense rewarded him with two more runs including Manion’s fifth RBI of the game on a single.

Holland’s third home run of the series kick-started a five-run fourth inning, as he turned around on an inside pitch for a two-run shot to left field. Lenny Junior Ashby extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a clutch, two-out two-run single, and Runion capped the rally with an RBI-single to cut the deficit to 11-5 after the fourth inning.

Manion came inches away from his third home run in the top of the sixth, blasting a deep drive off the top of the wall in center. The two-out hit ended up scoring a run, but a top-notch relay from Deylan Pigford to David to Ditzenberger cut down the SBU slugger trying to stretch it to a triple.

A two-run double by Ashby in the sixth cut the deficit to 12-7, but the Bonnies added five runs late to keep the Lobos out of it. Ryan O’Connell allowed two runs on five hits with a strikeout and no walks in his 2 1/3 innings, and Liam Devine threw the final 3 1/3 innings allowing one run on two hits with four strikeouts and four walks.

The Lobos used the combination of Jordan Martinez, Alec Stanfield, and Trent Dewyer to get through the final five innings of the game on the mound. In his UNM debut, Dewyer allowed just one hit in 1 2/3 shutout innings of relief.

The Lobos stranded a dozen runners on base in the opening game of the doubleheader, while SBU left seven runners on.

Game 2 – New Mexico 20, St. Bonaventure 3 (7 Innings)

Runion was 4-for-4 with five RBIs by the fourth inning, as he stood out in a game where UNM was ahead 11-2 after the first inning and never looked back. Jackson allowed three runs – two earned – on three hits with four strikeouts and one walk in his six innings of work. Wil Bannister finished the game off with a perfect seventh inning, as UNM claimed the run-rule victory for the second day in-a-row.

Tharnish led off the game with a double to right field, helping the Bonnies capitalize for a pair of runs early to take a 2-0 lead.

The early mishap was quickly brushed away however, as UNM scored a season-high single-inning total of 11 runs in the bottom of the first. The frame included RBIs by five different players, six hits, and two errors by the Bonnies. SBU starter Noah Czajkowksi was driven from the game after recording just one out.

UNM added three more runs in the second, with Runion crushing his second double of the game off the wall in right to make him 3-for-3 with three RBIs through the first two frames of the game. The senior slugger blasted a two-run home run over the fence in left in the bottom of the fourth, amid a three-run inning to make the score 19-2.

Jackson put together a stretch of 11 consecutive batters retired in the first-through fourth innings, before using a double play turned by Weissenborn and Konner Kinkade and his third strikeout of the day to get through the fifth.

LOBO NOTES: UNM is now 2-1 all-time against St. Bonaventure…the first inning in Game 2 was the second time this season UNM has scored 10 or more runs in an inning…the Lobos plated 10 runs in the bottom of the third inning against Northern Colorado on Feb. 24…the 11 runs tied the program record for most runs scored in the bottom of the first inning, matching the mark set by the team on March 25, 1976 against Colorado State…Ditzenberger extended his reached base streak to 24 games, as he reached in both ends of the doubleheader…Ashby’s hitting streak came to an end in Game 2, as he went 0-for-1 with a pair of walks.

UP NEXT: The series concludes on Sunday with a noon first pitch scheduled for the fourth and final game. The Lobos will then face a quick turnaround with a Tuesday afternoon road game at No. 24 Texas Tech – their final game before beginning Mountain West Conference play next week at home against Air Force.