Lobos Fall to No. 11 Washington and GCU Saturday

PHOENIX, Ariz.— Errors proved costly for New Mexico on Saturday as the Lobos fell to No. 11 Washington 3-0 and GCU 6-1.

The Lobos held the No. 11 Washington Huskies scoreless for the first four innings, and five innings overall, and didn’t allow a baserunner until the fourth, but three runs in the fifth proved to be the difference in the game. Two Washington runs came as a result of two Lobo errors.

Taylor Snow retired the first 10 Washington batters which included two strikeouts, while Lauren Garcia was the only hitter to reach base in the first three innings after leading off the second with a single.

Rachael Hathoot was the second player to reach base on a walk in the top of the fourth and stole second to get in scoring position, but was left stranded.

Washington had its first baserunner in the bottom of the fourth on a single, and the Huskies took advantage of two errors to put runners in scoring position, but Snow and the defense got out of the inning to keep the game scoreless.

Maddie Boldt hit a two-out infield single for UNM’s third baserunner and was the third Lobo to be left on base before Washington got on the board in the bottom of the fifth on a single, a stolen base and another single to the outfield. UW added two more runs on a couple of Lobo errors for the final runs of the game.

Snow pitched her first complete game of the season, striking out two, and at the plate, Garcia and Boldt accounted for the two UNM hits with Hathoot the third Lobo to reach.

GAME 2: GCU
GCU got on the board with three runs in the first, all coming with two outs after consecutive Amber Linton strikeouts.

UNM had runners on in the second and the third with Emma Bramson reaching on a single in the second and Ashley Archuleta hitting an infield single in the top of the third, and in both innings the Lobos had a runner reach second when the inning came to an end.

Still trailing 3-0, the Lobos had their best chance to get back in the game in the fifth inning with Jenna Trim, Elizabeth Baylor and Archuleta all reaching on singles to start the inning, loading the bases with no outs. A fly out to left wasn’t deep enough to allow Trim to tag, but Keyannah Chavez brought her in on the next play on a grounder to second. The Lobos still had runners in scoring position with the tying run on second, but a popup to first ended the threat.

UNM had two more reach in the top of the sixth after pinch hitter Olivia Birkinshaw was hit by a pitch and Chloe Yeatts drove the first pitch of her at-bat through the right side. A fielder’s choice moved both runners over, but a strikeout was the third out and left two more runners on in scoring position. The Lopes added three runs in the bottom of the sixth for the final runs of the game.

Linton threw 5.1 innings, striking out five, before Emmalyn Brinka entered in relief to get the final two outs of the sixth inning.

The Lobos recorded eight hits in the game with Archuleta going 2-3 in the nine spot, while six other Lobos finished with a hit.

Up next: UNM closes the weekend with a final game on Sunday morning at 9:30 a.m. against Charlotte.