Lobos plate 12 to back another stellar start from Lively

RENO, Nev. – Seven shutout innings from starter Tristin Lively was more than enough to propel the New Mexico baseball team to its third consecutive Mountain West victory on Saturday at Don Weir Field, as the Lobos raced past host Nevada 12-1 to secure their second conference series win of the year.

Lively struck out a season-high eight hitters in another dominant performance, and picked up his fourth win of the season. “He was outstanding today,” UNM head coach Tod Brown commented on the senior right-hander. “He commanded all of his pitches and set the tone for us. He was on point right from the get-go.”

Lively allowed just two hits and two walks in his seven brilliant innings, while throwing 110 pitches. The Lobos improved to 14-8 on the season and are now 5-3 in Mountain West games. New Mexico played error-free defense for the second day in-a-row, and for the 14th game overall this season. “Our pitchers know we have an excellent defense behind them, and it is just a matter of throwing strikes and creating weak contact,” Brown said. “We have an excellent defense all around, and a lot of credit goes to those guys. When you pitch well with strikeouts and soft contact, it makes playing defense a lot easier as well.”

Like it did in its 9-5 win in the series opener on Friday afternoon, New Mexico scored early and continued to add on in the lopsided victory. Reed Spenrath hit his Mountain West-leading eighth home run of the year, and went 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs. Dylan Ditzenberger went 3-for-6 with three RBIs and three runs scored, and Devon Dixon was 3-for-5 with two RBIs. New Mexico totaled 17 hits on the day, while leaving nine runners on, striking out four times, and drawing a pair of walks. “We have been doing that a lot, and this entire season we have started out fast,” said Brown. “Lately, we have been kind of off the gas for 3-4 innings before getting hot late. We addressed it, talked about it, and we put pressure on them today right from the start.”

Lenny Junior Ashby had UNM’s first hit with a two-out double in the top of the first, but Nevada starter Jason Doktorczyk stranded the runner in scoring position.

Spenrath led off the second with a single, and Kyle Smith was hit by a pitch to set the table for the Lobos with no outs. Deylan Pigford was robbed of extra bases on a leaping snag by Pack leftfielder Taylor Holder, but an RBI-single by Dixon followed by an error by Nevada spotted the Lobos a 2-0 advantage.

Lively faced his first jam of the day in the bottom of the second, when Nevada loaded the bases with one out. The senior shook off the trouble with back-to-back strikeouts to strand all three runners and keep the Lobos ahead. “It’s nothing new – he has been awesome all year,” Ditzenberger said on Lively. “As we get into conference games it becomes more and more important. It really makes us as hitters confident, because we know how good he is on the mound.”

Spenrath’s solo home run came in the top of the third, helping the Lobos continue to build their early advantage and pull ahead 3-0. Lively responded with his first 1-2-3 inning of the game, using a big catch by Jeffrey David in the right-center gap to help keep Nevada off the bases.

Spenrath used his full wingspan to haul in a throw from Ditzenberger in the bottom of the fourth, and Lively ended another scoreless frame with his fifth strikeout of the day. Ditzenberger then led off the fifth with his fifth double of the year, before an RBI-double by Braydon Runion increased UNM’s advantage to 4-0. “Everyone sees the home runs, and he’s an awesome hitter,” Ditzenberger said on Spenrath. “The defense he plays flies under the radar. Many times he picks balls that are in the dirt, and in the stat sheet that doesn’t show up. What he means to us, you can’t explain it. His big body and big frame for us is huge as infielders.”

Ditzenberger struck again in the sixth, driving in a pair of runs with his second double of the day. The shot to right field drove Doktorczyk from the game, with his final line readying six runs on nine hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 5 1/3 innings of work. David followed with an RBI-single, pushing the Lobos ahead 7-0. “We all have our own spot in the lineup, but we don’t look at it like that,” Ditzenberger said on the success up and down the lineup.” Wherever anyone hits, we know anyone at any time they can do damage. It makes us all confident to hit behind people that we know are really good.”

Runion had the defensive play of the day in the bottom of the sixth, racing to his left and sliding to take away a two-out hit and keep Nevada off the scoreboard. Pigford hit UNM’s 13th triple of the season in the top of the seventh, and Dixon came through with his second RBI-single of the day to make the score 8-0.

Another RBI from Runion and a defensive miscue by the Pack in the top of the eighth upped the spread to 10-0, as UNM scored in 7 of 9 innings in the runaway victory.

Nevada finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the eighth inning, loading the bases with one out and pushing across one run before Ditzenberger ended the threat with a double play.

Pinch hitting in the ninth, Konner Kinkade delivered his third double and second RBI of the season to score Dixon from first base.

Nevada managed just three total hits in the loss, while stranding nine runners and striking out eight times.

LOBO NOTES: The Lobos are now 26-29 all-time against Nevada and are 13-11 in road games against the Wolfpack…Ditzenberger’s reached base streak extended to 36 games and his hitting streak reached 18 games with his double in the fifth…Lively’s win was the 10th of his career…it was the second time this season he pitched at least seven innings in a start…his previous season high in strikeouts was seven, which he achieved on Feb. 18 against UC Santa Barbara…Spenrath’s home run was the 32nd of his collegiate career…Pigford’s triple was his third of the season and the eighth of his collegiate career…Spenrath kept his season-long errorless streak alive on Saturday, and he has now made 206 plays without a miscue.

COMING UP: The series concludes on Sunday, as the Lobos look for their first Mountain West sweep of the season. First pitch is at noon MDT.