Bats kept silent in 2-0 loss to Aggies

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Despite one of its most well-pitched games of the 2023 season on Tuesday night at Santa Ana Star Field, the New Mexico baseball team came up empty in a 2-0 loss to rival New Mexico State in non-conference play.

New Mexico starter Benjamin Baker-Livingston matched his career high with five stellar innings pitched, allowing just one run on four hits with a strikeout and a pair of walks. The right-hander threw a season-high 78 pitches in his first start of the year, but suffered a tough defeat. Relievers Brian McBroom, Justin Still, and Terrell Hudson combined to allow just one run over the final four innings, but the mighty Lobo offense failed to fire on Tuesday.

NMSU starter Darius Garcia, an Albuquerque native, tossed 5 2/3 shutout innings to collect his second win of the season, allowing just two hits and two walks while striking out two hitters in his hometown start. Noah Estrella followed with 2 2/3 shutout innings, and Matthew Maloney claimed his first save of the year by collecting the final two outs in the ninth. NMSU improved to 3-15 on the season, and beat UNM for the first time since April 16, 2019.

Kyle Smith smoked a one-out double to the wall in the right-field corner in the bottom of the ninth, moving Reed Spenrath to third and putting the tying run in scoring position. A pop up and a strikeout ended the game however, as the Lobo bats remained quiet.

Baker-Livingston needed just seven pitches to work through the top of the first inning, on his way to a season-high 78 pitches in his five frames of work.

Dylan Ditzenberger kept his reached base streak alive with a four-pitch walk in the bottom of the first inning, before stealing his fourth base of the season. Garcia stranded the Lobo leadoff man at third however, keeping the game scoreless after one inning of play.

Despite a double play turned by Devon Dixon and Chase Weissenborn in the top of the second, the Aggies took the lead with a two-out, RBI-single off the bat of Nick Gore.

Garcia didn’t allow a hit until the third inning, when Ditzenberger punched a one-out knock into right field. The left-hander once again stranded the runner by pitching to contact, as the Lobos had eight fly outs in the first three frames.

Aggie centerfielder Cal Villareal had a busy night with a career-high nine catches, with his best one coming in the bottom of the fourth when he robbed Braydon Runion of a leadoff double in the right-center gap.

Villareal made his sixth catch of the game in the bottom of the fifth, and Aggie second baseman Kevin Jimenez ended the inning with a sliding play to take away a hit from Ditzenberger.

McBroom picked up right where Baker-Livingston left off in the top of the sixth inning, collecting his first strikeout of the night on the way to a clean inning. McBroom had a good reaction play in the seventh, knocking down a comebacker and firing to Spenrath in time to prevent a base hit. Still worked out of a tricky spot in the top of the eighth, stranding runners on the corners with a big strikeout to keep the game at 1-0.

Villareal capped his big day with a solo home run in the ninth to double the Aggies’ lead, and keep momentum on the side of the visitors. The veteran led the Aggies going 3-for-4, and was NMSU’s lone player with multiple hits in the game.

New Mexico managed just five hits – a season low – while stranding eight runners on base in the team’s first shutout loss since a 10-0 loss to Air Force in the 2022 season finale on May 21. Smith finished the game 2-for-3 and was the lone Lobo with multiple hits.

LOBO NOTES: The Lobos’ previous season low in combined scoring in a game was four runs, when UNM beat UC Santa Barbara 3-1 on Feb. 18…Tuesday was just the second time this season UNM has been involved in a game with less than five runs scored…UNM’s season-low in scoring was three runs, which it did on three occasions…UNM is now 164-92 all-time against NMSU and is 76-34 in games played at Santa Ana Star Field…UNM snapped a four-game winning streak in the series, after it won all four meetings between the teams in 2022…Ditzenberger’s reached base streak extended to 34 games, and his hitting streak reached 16 games.

THIS WEEKEND: The Lobos jump back into Mountain West play this weekend, with a three-game road series against Nevada scheduled to kick off on Friday night in Reno. Five of the seven MW teams have a .500 record after the first three weeks of league play, with UNM sitting tied for second at 3-3 in league contests.