Lobos Drop Two to Aggies on Saturday
LOGAN, Utah— The Lobos dropped both Mountain West contests to Utah State on Saturday, falling 5-4 in the 10th inning in the continued game from Friday before losing 8-0 in five innings in the second game.
Between the two games, Ashley Archuleta led UNM at the plate with three hits, with Rachael Hathoot and Peyton Robinson registering two hits apiece.
In the circle, Amber Linton threw her 10th complete game of the season after closing out the remainder of game one, setting a new career high in strikeouts with 14 with three of the strikeouts coming on Saturday.
Of note, Hathoot extended her hitting streak to nine games and her on-base streak to 14 games, while Robinson extended her hitting streak to seven games and Keyannah Chavez extended her on-base streak to eight games.
GAME 1: EXTRA INNINGS CONTINUED FROM FRIDAY
When Friday’s game ended, the Lobos had runners on first and second with two outs in the top of the eighth inning. The continuation on Saturday started with a strikeout to end the Lobo at-bat and USU had two runners reach on a hit-by-pitch and a bunt, with both runners ending up in scoring position before Linton extended the game with a strikeout, her second of the inning.
After neither team was able to produce a run in the ninth, the Lobos had an opportunity in the top of the 10th with Archuleta leading off with a single to left and Emma Bramson followed with a walk after working a full count. After an unsuccessful bunt attempt, Robinson was able to move both runners over into scoring position, but with two outs, a strikeout ended the top half of the inning with two more left stranded.
USU led off the bottom half of the inning with a double, with the runner moving over to third on a grounder to Hathoot at short for the first out. A ground ball on the next play to Archuleta scored the winning run after the throw home wasn’t in time.
While the Lobos reached base on a season-high 11 walks, UNM also left 13 runners on base, compared to three walks and 11 runners left on base for the Aggies. Bramson and Chavez both walked three times in the game, which set a season high for both and tied a career high for Bramson.
GAME 2
The Lobos drew two walks in the top of the first with Robinson and Chavez reaching to start the game, however Robinson was thrown out trying to steal during Chavez’s at-bat. Hathoot singled through the left side to put two runners on and a fielder’s choice put runners on the corners where they were left stranded.
A leadoff double and single up the middle scored the first run of the game in the bottom half of the inning and the Aggies added two more runs in the bottom of the second on a double and single to right and a fielding error that allowed a runner from third to score later in the inning.
Following a scoreless third from both teams and trailing 3-0, UNM had its best chance to cut into the deficit and get on the board in the fourth on an Archuleta triple and a walk for Maddie Boldt, however a liner to first and a grounder back to the pitcher ended the inning with runners left on the corners.
USU scored two runs in the fourth and three runs in the fifth to enforce the run rule.
The Lobos added four more walks in the second game with Robinson, Chavez, Boldt and Chloe Yeatts all walking once. UNM left six more runners on base in the second game.
Taylor Snow got the start in the circle, going 4.0 innings before being replaced by Emmalyn Brinka, who faced the final four Aggies in the game.
UP NEXT: UNM closes out the series at Utah State with a final game against the Aggies on Sunday at 12 p.m. MT.