Rio Grande Rivalry Round 2 kicks off road stretch

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Round 2 of the Rio Grande Rivalry signals the start of a five-game road stretch for the New Mexico baseball team, which returns to the diamond on Tuesday after its bye week from Mountain West play.

The Lobos (17-14) play at New Mexico State (9-22) on Tuesday night in Las Cruces, before returning to conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. The season-long road stretch wraps up on April 25, with a matchup at Arizona in Tucson.

Lobo Baseball Weekly Schedule
All times listed are Mountain Daylight Time
Tuesday, April 18 – at New Mexico State – Las Cruces, N.M. – 6 p.m.
Friday, April 21 – at Air Force – Colorado Springs, Colo. – 3 p.m.
Saturday, April 22 – at Air Force – Colorado Springs, Colo. – Noon
Sunday, April 23 – at Air Force – Colorado Springs, Colo. – Noon

LAST WEEK: The Lobos split a pair of midweek games against Colorado State Pueblo, winning 8-7 last Tuesday before an 8-6 defeat last Wednesday. The two-game set wrapped up a season-long nine-game home stand at Santa Ana Star Field. The Lobos will next play at home on April 28-May 2 with a four-game home stand against Fresno State and New Mexico State.

MOUNTAIN WEST STANDINGS: The Lobos enter the week in fifth place in the conference standings with a league record of 6-8. Air Force is directly ahead of UNM at 9-9 in league play, while Fresno State is third a 9-8, San Diego State is second at 8-5, and San Jose State leads the conference at 11-4. With 15 conference games remaining, the Lobos are in the thick of the race for a top-four spot in the regular-season standings to earn a berth into the conference tournament on May 25-27 at Fresno State.

LOBOS IN THE NCAA STAT RANKINGS: New Mexico enters the week ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in batting average, as the team has maintained a mark of .333 through the first 31 games of the 2023 season. UNM also ranks eighth in triples with 16, 11th in runs per game with 9.0, 16th in total hits with 384, and on the pitching side 12th in walks per nine innings at 3.07.

KINKADE THE WALK-OFF HERO: For the second time in his collegiate career Konner Kinkade delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly, as he had the winning swing of the bat in last Tuesday’s 8-7 come-from-behind triumph. It was the newcomer’s seventh RBI of the season – six of which have come in his last nine games as he has seen a spike in playing time. Overall Kinkade owns a slash line of .324/.478/.500 in 22 games played.

ASHBY DOUBLING DOWN: With doubles in each of his last three games, Lenny Junior Ashby upped his season total to 11 which leads the team. Overall during his current eight-game hitting streak, Ashby owns a slash line of .450/.510/.670 which has elevated his season slash line to .357/.432/.516. With just 12 strikeouts on the season, Ashby ranks 52nd in the nation in the toughest to strike out category with a mark of 10.5.

DAVID HAS 2ND 4-HIT GAME: Jeffrey David notched his second four-hit game of the season last Wednesday, finishing with a line of 4-for-5 with his third home run of the year and a pair of doubles. David also drove in a pair of runs, giving him 32 total which slots him sixth in the conference. David played third base for the first time this season, and handled four tricky chances without a miscue in his start last Tuesday.

SPENRATH ADDS TO RBI TOTAL: Reed Spenrath drove in four runs in the Lobos’ two games against CSU Pueblo, upping his season total to 36 which ranks him tied for second in the conference entering this week. Spenrath hit a triple in his second straight game, before adding his eighth double of the year in a 3-for-9 series performance. Spenrath has raised his batting average 65 points over the last nine games, with his slash line now reading .312/.426/.661 and his slugging percentage leading the conference.

EGLOFF TIED FOR MW WINS LEAD: Riley Egloff pitched five solid innings in the series opener against San Jose State on April 6, keeping pace as the Mountain West leader in both wins with five and innings pitched with 48 2/3 on the season. Egloff added four more strikeouts to his tally to give him 42 on the season, and he enters this week needing two more victories to give him 20 wins in his collegiate career.

MCBROOM PICKS UP SECOND WIN: Brian McBroom was the pitcher of record when Kinkade ended the game with a fly ball last Tuesday, as he picked up his second win of the season after authoring two stellar innings in relief. The lone run the ThunderWolves managed off the righty came after a bloop fly ball fell untouched in the outfield, and McBroom had three strikeouts to up his season total to 24 in 27 1/3 innings pitched.

OLSON KEEPS SLUGGING: Justin Olson kept his recent hot streak going last week, connecting on his fourth home run of the year and his third in four games last Tuesday. Olson is slashing .371/.511/.743 across 35 at-bats this spring, while driving in 12 runs on 13 hits.

PIGFORD HITS FIFTH HOME RUN: Deylan Pigford hit his fifth home run of the season and the 17th of his collegiate career last week, making 2023 the highest yielding long ball season of his five-year collegiate career. Pigford hit four home runs each in 2019 and 2020 while at Midland College, before adding three in 2021 and one more in 2022 at Cal State Fullerton. This spring, the trusty outfielder is hitting .333 with eight doubles and three triples aiding his .595 slugging percentage.

RUNION’S STREAKS SNAPPED: Braydon Runion saw his season-long reached base streak of 15 games and hitting streak of 13 games come to an end last Wednesday, after he added his 29th RBI of the year and upped his hit total to a team-leading 47. Runion holds a slash line of .367/.401/.562 this season, and defensively he has committed just one error in 41 chances in the outfield.

SMITH’S REACHED BASE STREAK INTACT: Junior catcher Kyle Smith has reached base in all 13 games he has played this spring, keeping the streak alive by getting on in 2 of 5 plate appearances last Wednesday. Smith holds an on-base percentage of .422 across his 48 at-bats, and five of his 11 hits have gone for extra bases.

DITZENBERGER RANKS AMONG NCAA LEADERS: Senior third baseman Dylan Ditzenberger enters the week ranked third in the NCAA in hits per game with 1.88, sixth in batting average at .450, and sixth in runs per game with 1.54. His on-base percentage of .500 ranks second in the conference, as do his 37 runs scored on the season.

DIXON STAYS ELITE WITH GLOVE: Devon Dixon had another error-free week, making seven plays without a fielding miscue. Dixon has just four errors in 129 chances this season, as he holds a .969 fielding percentage and has been part of 16 double plays.

MR. HOLLAND’S OPS: Jake Holland connected on his eighth home run of the season last Wednesday, as he maintained an OPS of 1.011 to rank seventh in the Mountain West. The first-year Lobo is hitting .348 on the season, while slugging .630 and driving in 27 runs in 21 games started behind the plate.

STEINKAMP SCORELESS AGAIN: Arthur Steinkamp logged 1 1/3 scoreless innings in his appearance last week, lowering his season ERA to 3.24 across his six appearances out of the bullpen. Four of those six outings have been scoreless affairs for the senior left-hander.

WEISSENBORN PRODUCTIVE AT PLATE, IN FIELD: Junior shortstop Chase Weissenborn went 3-for-6 and reached base in 5 of 8 plate appearances last week, and he hit his fifth double of the season. Defensively, Weissenborn was flawless in eight chances, and has committed just two errors in his last 53 chances across 12 games up the middle.

GALLEGOS REACHES 250 CAREER STRIKEOUTS: Junior right-hander Isaac Gallegos upped his collegiate strikeout total to 253, fanning six on April 8 in the Lobos’ loss to San Jose State. Only two of the eight runs he surrendered were earned, as Gallegos kept his ERA at 3.18 and continues to rank second in the Mountain West with an opponents’ batting average of .227 on the season.

New Mexico State Aggies

2023 Record: 9-22, 7-11 WAC
Interim Head Coach: Keith Zuniga (1st season)
All-Time Series: UNM leads 164-92
In Las Cruces: UNM leads 62-49
First Meeting: 1948
Last Meeting: NMSU 2, UNM 0 (March 21 at Albuquerque)

New Mexico State enters Tuesday’s contest on a season-high three-game winning streak, after sweeping Stephen F. Austin in a three-game home series over the weekend. The Aggies have won five of their last eight games overall, and have gone 6-7 since their 2-0 win over the Lobos on March 21.

NMSU has slugged its way to stabilizing its season after an 0-7 start, with 46 home runs and 46 doubles in its 30 games played thus far. Kevin Jimenez leads the team with seven long balls and 24 RBIs, while Nick Gore has left the park six times and Keith Jones II has a team-high .370 batting average. As a team, NMSU averages 6.0 runs per game and holds a batting average of .268.

Treyjen Meza has been the most consistent start for the Aggies, holding a 5.66 ERA across nine starts and a team-high 53 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings. Pablo Cortes has started six games, and Darius Garcia and Tyler Hoeft have each started five on the hill. Noah Estrella has a team-best 3.16 ERA in 13 outings, with 25 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings primarily out of the bullpen. As a staff, NMSU holds a 6.62 ERA and an opponents’ batting average of .312.