Lobos Lose Leads Late in Losses to UTEP

EL PASO, Texas— The Lobos held leads late in both games at UTEP on Wednesday, but dropped both to the Miners with the first game going eight innings with UTEP walking off for the 4-3 win and the Miners scoring four runs in the bottom of the sixth for the 4-2 final.

Chloe Yeatts contributed two RBI between the doubleheader, while Rachael Hathoot accounted for another RBI.

GAME 1: UTEP 4, UNM 3 (8)
McKenna Guest retired the first four batters she faced and allowed only a walk through the first two innings, recording two strikeouts in that span.

The Lobos had the first opportunity to get on the board in the top of the second as Emma Bramson reached on a single to center, stole second and tagged up on Elizabeth Baylor’s fly ball to center, where she was left stranded.

UTEP had its first opportunity in the third, loading the bases with two outs, but a grounder back to Guest got the Lobos out of the inning to keep the game scoreless.

The first runs of the game came in the bottom of the fourth as UTEP hit a two-run home run to go ahead with the Lobos answering with two runs in the top of the fifth.

Baylor started the inning with a one-out single to left, taking second on a fielding error, and Sydney Carithers followed with a single to third with Baylor moving to third. Carithers reached second on DeNae Vasquez-Dickson’s at-bat to put the tying run in scoring position with the top of the order due up. Hathoot drove in the first run of the inning on a hit back to the pitcher, hitting off the pitcher and trickling towards first as Baylor scored and Carithers moved to third. On the following at-bat, Hathoot stole second with Carithers stealing home to tie the game at two.

Guest retired the side in order in both the fifth and sixth innings, including striking out the side in the sixth.

After the Lobos were unable to get anyone on in the top of the seventh, the Miners had runners on first and third with one out. However, a double play in which Vasquez-Dickson caught a fly ball in left and threw home to get the runner trying to tag sent the game to extra innings.

A Hathoot double to the gap in right center put the go-ahead run in scoring position, with Keyannah Chavez moving her to third on a grounder to second. Yeatts broke the tie on the second pitch of her at-bat, driving the ball to the gap in right center for a double and scoring Hathoot for UNM’s first lead of the game.

Guest got the first out of the inning before a solo home run tied the game following a full count, with the Miners then hitting a single to left, stealing second and a single to center field scoring the winning run.

Guest finished with a season-high nine strikeouts in 7.2 innings of work.

GAME 2: UTEP 4, UNM 2
Game two was scoreless until the top of the sixth, with UNM breaking through first.

Entering to pinch hit, Vasquez-Dickson started off the inning with an infield single, and moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt by Hathoot at the top of the lineup. Bramson singled to left field to put runners on the corners, with the Lobos taking the lead on a wild pitch to score Vasquez-Dickson. During the play, Bramson, who was in the process of stealing second, took third, later coming in to score on a sacrifice hit by Yeatts.

UTEP scored four runs on five hits in the bottom of the with the Lobos retired in order in the top of the seventh for the 4-2 final score.

UP NEXT: The Lobos remain in Texas for the ACU Tournament, starting with two games on Friday.