LAS VEGAS – Chase Weissenborn’s first collegiate home run gave the New Mexico baseball team a lead that it never relinquished on Friday night at Earl E. Wilson Stadium, as the Lobos beat host UNLV 13-5 in the opening game of a Mountain West series.
Weissenborn cleared the fence in left-center in the top of the fourth inning to give UNM a 2-1 lead, sparking a scoring burst of 11 unanswered runs over the course of three innings that ultimately decided the ballgame. “It was a special moment,” said the junior shortstop. “I didn’t know it was out until I heard (first base coach Matt) Risdon go crazy. I looked up and saw the umpire was saying it was a home run. Hearing the team be behind me was pretty special.”
The Albuquerque Academy product’s long-awaited first round tripper was just the beginning of his night, as he followed with a pair of doubles and drove in three runs to lead the Lobo offense. “In my first at-bat I wanted to be ready to hit, but I was rushed,” Weissenborn said referring to being jammed on a fly out in his first at-bat of the day. “I felt good in the box, but I didn’t like the timing I had. The next at-bat I made sure no matter what that I was not going to get beat by a fastball. I saw the pitch I wanted to hit, and put a good swing on it.”
While Weissenborn and the nation’s top hitting team put together another signature performance, senior starter Riley Egloff returned to the mound with one of the best starts of his collegiate career. The right-hander pitched into the eighth inning for the first time this spring, matching his career high with nine strikeouts on the way to his conference-leading sixth win of the season. “I felt like I had all my pitches working, and could throw them in any counts,” Egloff said after securing the 19th win of his collegiate career. “I was getting ahead, and it was helping me a lot. I could throw pitches at different eye levels and change speeds.”
Reed Spenrath hit his team-leading 16th home run of the season, and Devon Dixon added his sixth of the year on a night where UNM racked up 15 hits. “When you get a multi-run lead like we had there and once you start opening the game up, you can be more aggressive,” said UNM head coach Tod Brown. “It’s a chance for the pitcher to settle in and throw strikes. Once our guys started getting confidence at the plate, we just kept putting really good swings on them.”
The Lobos improved to 24-17 with the victory, and gained ground in the conference standings moving to 11-10 in league play.
The Rebels (17-26, 8-14) took the lead in the bottom of the second, when Austin Kryszczuk lifted his fifth home run of the year over the fence in left-center. Egloff shook off the early long ball, striking out four hitters in-a-row to keep the deficit at 1-0 through the third inning. “He pitched his tail off tonight,” Weissenborn said of the senior ace. “I knew from the jump that he was locating well in the zone and with his changeup. I knew he was going to be hard to hit from his first pitch to his last. We just played behind him well and he led us on the hill so hat’s off to him.”
The Lobos created a chance in the top of the first inning, loading the bases with a single by Jeffrey David and a pair of walks. UNLV starter Noah Carabajal got out of the jam, striking out a pair of Lobos and ending the threat with a fly out off the bat of Justin Olson to keep the visitors off the scoreboard.
An error by the Rebels helped the Lobos score four times in the top of the fourth to take their first lead of the weekend. Weissenborn crushed his first collegiate home run over the fence in left-center, with the two-run shot bringing home Jake Holland. After a single by Dylan Ditzenberger, back-to-back RBI-doubles by David and Lenny Junior Ashby made the score 4-1. “Everyone went crazy in the dugout when Cheesy did that,” Egloff said on the reaction to Weissenborn’s home run. “I looked at him before that and said, ‘I need you to give me some,’ and then he went out and hit it. We talk about (him hitting a home run) a lot and guys are joking, and tonight he finally got it.”
Spenrath led off the fifth with his fourth triple of the season, before Holland made the score 5-1 with an RBI-single to right field. An ensuing walk issued to Olson and a single by Dixon drove Carabajal from the game, with the bases loaded and no outs. A ground out by Weissenborn and a wild pitch put the Lobos ahead 7-1, and Egloff followed with a 1-2-3 shutdown inning. “As a pitching staff we know if we can keep it close, we know we can scratch away and get runs back easily,” Egloff said. “As a staff we talk about leaving it at ones and zeroes. When we do that and give the offense a chance, we know it’s going to turn on quickly.”
Spenrath hit his 16th home run of the season in the sixth, a no-doubt shot to right-center that brought home two runs. Dixon’s sixth of the season made the score 11-1, before Weissenborn came a few feet away from his second home run with a double off the wall in center field. “They were really excited,” Brown said on the energy surrounding Weissenborn’s career day at the plate. “Chase is a steady eddy player. He has hung in there, and got to work in the cages and with Coach (Nate) Causey. If you keep working hard good players come around, and that’s what he did tonight.”
Egloff built off the momentum his offense supplied him with, picking up his sixth and seventh strikeouts of the night on the way to another zero in the bottom of the sixth. The senior matched his season high with his eighth strikeout in the bottom of the seventh. UNLV finally made some noise offensively with a two-run home run off the bat of Jason Sharman, but Egloff got the next two hitters on ground outs to limit the damage. “This was a great bounce back for Riley,” said Brown after Egloff failed to get out of the third inning in his most recent start. “He had a tough one last time, but tonight he was locked in and focused, and his command with three pitches got him off to a good start. Once we started scoring runs for him, he settled in and put up some big zeros. It was an excellent start and a great bounce back.”
Deylan Pigford brought home a run with a pinch-hit, RBI-ground out in the eighth after Weissenborn’s second double, as the Lobos ensured the victory by continuing to add to their lead. “I have been going through a slump the last three weeks, and the other day during one of my at-bats last week Pigford saw I was dropping my back shoulder,” Weissenborn said on a tip he received from the senior. “I looked at film, made a small adjustment on my back side, and I feel like I’m able to see the pitches better. Making that adjustment has made me feel better, and today that translated into the stat sheet.”
In his seven-plus innings, Egloff allowed five runs on seven hits, while walking just one hitter. “It was awesome,” Egloff said about shaking off last Friday’s rough outing. “It was more about flushing it than anything. Today was just one pitch and one inning at a time, and the mindset to go get them. I went right into attack mode from the beginning.”
Arthur Steinkamp turned in his third shutout performance in-a-row, striking out two and allowing just two hits over the final two innings. The left-hander’s scoreless inning streak reached 7 1/3 with Friday’s effort.
Carabajal took the loss for the hosts, allowing seven runs – three earned – on nine hits with two strikeouts and three walks in his four-plus innings. UNLV used four relievers over the final five innings in the series opener.
LOBO NOTES: New Mexico is now 86-100 all-time against UNLV and is 42-71 in games played in Las Vegas…Weissenborn’s first collegiate home run came in his 371st at-bat…Friday was Weissenborn’s second-career multi-double game, after he had two on May 2, 2021…Spenrath’s home run was the 40th of his collegiate career…Dixon’s home run was the 12th of his collegiate career…Runion’s double was the 47th of his collegiate career….Egloff also reached nine strikeouts in a game on March 18, 2022 at Wichita State.
UP NEXT: The series continues on Saturday with a 2:05 p.m. MDT first pitch from Wilson Stadium.