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Isaac Gallegos earned his third win of the season with six strong innings in Sunday's series-clinching win over Air Force.

Hot start lifts Lobos to series win over Air Force

by Evan O'Kelly

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – An eight-run first inning proved to be the difference on Sunday afternoon at Santa Ana Star Field, as the New Mexico baseball team took down visiting Air Force 11-4 to claim a 2-1 victory in its first Mountain West Conference series of the 2023 season.

Lobo right-hander Isaac Gallegos pitched into the seventh inning on Sunday, striking out six while allowing four runs on five hits with three walks to earn his third victory of the season. Terrell Hudson struck out two hitters in two scoreless frames, and Wil Bannister finished the game with a shutout ninth inning for UNM.



Reed Spenrath hit his team-leading sixth home run of the year in the bottom of the eighth, with the two-run shot clearing the hitter’s eye and giving momentum back to the Lobos after the Falcons had rallied for four unanswered runs. Braydon Runion hit his fourth home run of the year in the fourth inning, highlighting a 17-hit performance by the Lobo offense. New Mexico improved to 11-4 with the victory, and is now 2-1 in conference play.



Air Force starter Shim Seungmin recorded just one out, as the Lobos jumped on the righty with five consecutive hits to start the ballgame. Relievers Duke Benge, Zach Peters, and Ben Weber did well to limit the conference’s leading offense to just four runs the rest of the game, but the damage was done by the end of the first inning. Air Force slipped to 5-11 with the loss, and is now 1-2 in league action.

Gallegos shook off a hit batter in the first inning, fielding his own position and getting help from left fielder Deylan Pigford and second baseman Devon Dixon to put up a zero.

The Lobos were hot from the start, with the first seven batters reaching base and UNM scoring eight runs on nine hits in the lengthy bottom of the first inning. Lenny Junior Ashby drove in the first run of the game with a single to right, and Runion, Jake Holland, Dixon, Chase Weissenborn, and Jeffrey David all had RBIs in the inning as well.



Gallegos fed off the momentum in the top of the second, striking out the side and shaking off the Falcons’ first hit of the game off the bat of Trayden Tamiya.

Benge tamed the Lobo bats after the shaky first inning, allowing just two runs in his 3 2/3 innings of work while striking out three hitters.

Runion added to UNM’s lead in the bottom of the fourth, turning around on an inside pitch for a solo home run that just stayed fair inside the left-field foul pole.



The Falcons broke through in the top of the fifth, when Sam Kulasingam delivered a two-run single to left field. The Falcons’ Chase Spencer had a pair of diving catches in right field on Sunday, the second of which robbed Pigford of a two-run double as he got Air Force out of the sixth inning.

Air Force struck again in the seventh, when a walk and hit batter came back to hurt Gallegos as Kulasingam and Jake Greiving each plated runs with ground outs.

Hudson settled into a groove to get out of the jam in the seventh, and he worked around a one-out single in the eighth and struck out the last two hitters he faced to put UNM three outs away from victory. Spenrath’s second long ball of the series came on a 3-0 pitch with two outs in the eighth, and it made the score 11-4 after Ashby doubled earlier in the frame.



Spenrath then made a pair of defensive plays in the top of the ninth, helping Bannister put up a zero and finish the game. Ditzenberger and Ashby each went 3-for-5, while David, Runion, Spenrath, and Holland collected two hits apiece in the game. All nine Lobos in the starting lineup had at least one hit, and nine different UNM players scored a run in the game.



Kulasingam was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, and Tamiya was 2-for-4 as that duo accounted for four of the Falcons’ seven hits in the game. Air Force stranded eight runners on base, while striking out eight times and drawing three walks.

LOBO NOTES: UNM is now 151-57 all-time against Air Force and is 88-21 in games played in Albuquerque…Spenrath’s home run was the 30th of his collegiate career…Runion’s home run was the 33rd of his career…Ditzenberger extended his reached base streak to 29 games and his hitting streak to 11 games with his single to lead off the ballgame.

NEXT UP: The Lobos play at Grand Canyon on Tuesday afternoon with a 2 p.m. first pitch. UNM returns to Mountain West play next weekend, with a three-game series at Fresno State.