UNM Heads to Abilene for ACU Tournament

ABILENE, Texas— The Lobos resume their stay in Texas with the ACU Tournament set to begin on Friday afternoon, the start of five games in three days.

Of note, there was a slight adjustment to the tournament schedule due to projected cold weather on Saturday night, which impacted two of UNM’s games.

SCHEDULE:
Friday @ 12 p.m. MT vs. Marist
Friday @ 6 p.m. MT vs. Abilene Christian
Saturday @ 1:30 p.m. MT vs. Houston Christian
Sunday @ 8:30 a.m. MT vs. Marist
Sunday @ 11:30 a.m. MT vs. Abilene Christian

All games will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network with live stats available.

THE HISTORY
UNM has historically only faced one of the three opponents on the schedule this weekend, and that was one game against Marist in 2015.

STEAL YOUR BASE
Keyannah Chavez’s three stolen bases against Tennessee State were the most for a Lobo in a single game since 2017, when D’Andra DeFlora had three against Santa Clara on 3/11/17.

UNM’s six stolen bases were the most in a game since 2018, when UNM had six against Howard on 3/10/18. In addition to Chavez’s three, Ashley Archuleta had two stolen bases and Katherine Brunner had one stolen base.

UNM is 13-13 on the season in stolen bases with seven different players recording at least one.

• Chavez and Archuleta are tied for the team lead with three stolen bases with Rachael Hathoot and Emma Bramson each stealing two and Brunner, Sydney Carithers and Gabrielle Briones each with one.

GUEST APPEARANCE
In her first collegiate appearance, freshman pitcher McKenna Guest entered in the fourth inning with bases loaded and struck out the first two batters she faced. She then limited the Tigers to one hit in both the sixth and seventh innings to keep the Lobos within reach, recording a strikeout in each inning.

Guest finished with 4.0 innings pitched, no runs or walk allowed with four hits and four strikeouts.

The RHP appeared in four games with two starts, throwing the second-most innings at 8.0 and finished the weekend with seven strikeouts.

The Pattonville, Texas native followed the first weekend up with a complete game in the first game at UTEP on Wednesday and struck out a season-high nine Miners, which included striking out the side in the sixth. Guest retired the side in order in both the fifth and sixth.

To date, Guest leads the Lobos with the most starts (three), as well as with a 6.26 ERA and is tied for the team high in strikeouts with 16. In addition, she has thrown the second-most innings at 15.2.

KEEP THEM GUESSING
In the first seven games, the Lobos have repeated the same batting order only twice.

• Three different players have hit in the leadoff spot, four in the second spot, two in the third spot, four in the cleanup spot, five in the five spot, two in the six spot, three in the seventh spot, three in the eighth spot and three in the ninth spot.
• Rachael Hathoot has led off in five games with Chloe Yeatts hitting third in six games for the most frequency in the lineup.
• The Lobos have also used four different players at the DP spot, led by three games by Katherine Brunner, before she moved to starting at third.

FRESH PERSPECTIVE
The Lobos revamped their roster with 12 freshmen and a total of 15 newcomers.

Of the freshmen, UNM added four pitchers, three outfielders, three utility players and two infielders.

UNM also added three transfers in junior catcher/ infielder Sydney Carithers, junior pitcher Emily Brouse and sophomore outfielder Taylor Morgan.

Of the freshmen, Katherine Brunner has started all seven games, four games at third and three in the designated player spot. Macie Andrews has started four games, all in left, and Gabrielle Briones and DeNae Vasquez-Dickson each starting in one game at second and left, respectively. McKenna Guest leads the Lobos’ pitching staff with three starts and has the second-most appearances with five. Carithers has started all seven games at catcher.

LIFE ON THE ROAD
The Lobos have 13 of 54 total games at home.  UNM’s first 17 games of the season will be on the road, taking the Lobos to Louisiana and three times to Texas before the home opener on Feb. 28 against Texas Tech. Following the Feb. 28 home game, the Lobos don’t have another home game until the MW series against UNLV starting on March 22, which includes a prolonged stay on the road with a tournament in Phoenix and the Lobos heading straight to Honolulu.

ABOUT MARIST
Marist opens its season at the ACU Tournament after going 29-30 last season, 12-8 in the MAAC. Marist won the MAAC Championship in 2023 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, going 0-2 against Florida State and South Carolina.

The Red Foxes return 11 players from a season ago, while adding two transfers and five freshmen.

Marist was picked as the MAAC preseason favorite with eight first-place votes and Maddie Pleasants named the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year and four named to the Preseason All-MAAC team.

Pleasants hit .340 last season on 55 hits, 11 doubles, nine home runs and 93 total bases, accounting for 45 RBI. Haley Ahr led the team in hits (67), doubles (18), RBI (49) and with a .379 batting average. Ahr also led the Red Foxes with a .449 on-base percentage.

Kiley Myers returns as the top pitcher with 146.1 in the circle last season, going 13-7 with a 2.58 ERA. She finished with 98 strikeouts to 28 walks.

ABOUT ABILENE CHRISTIAN
ACU went 0-5 in its opening weekend, losing to Western Michigan, UTEP and New Mexico State.

Kaydee Bennett was the leading hitter with five hits, a home run and a .385 batting average and .615 slugging percentage. As a team, ACU scored four runs with three different players registering one RBI.

The Wildcats used five pitchers in the circle, led by Ella Beeman and Lina Russo who each started two games and made three appearances, as well as pitched 8.0 innings apiece. As a pitching staff, ACU allowed 38 runs on 34 hits and compiled a 7.54 ERA.

ABOUT HOUSTON CHRISTIAN
Houston Christian went 2-1 on its opening weekend with wins over Purdue Fort Wayne and Alabama State and a loss to Western Carolina.

Keely Castillo led the Huskies with a .500 batting average and was one of three players to finish with four hits on the weekend. Maggie Childs and Haylie Savage each hit two doubles with Maddy Bailey and Kaicey Hagler hitting a home run. Bailey led the team with eight total bases, an .889 slugging percentage and five RBI.

AB Garcia went 4-4 in stolen bases to account for all four stolen bases the team recorded.

In the circle, HCU utilized five pitchers with Ronni Grofman throwing a team-high 7.0 innings. Kynleigh Evans started one game and went 5.0 innings, allowing two runs (all unearned) on seven hits and struck out three without allowing a walk. Katy Evans started the other two, going 0.2 innings. Lyndie Swanson and Grofman was the pitcher on record in each of HCU’s wins while Addy Prasifka took the loss. Of the team’s 15 runs allowed, only seven were earned.