UNM Closes Purple Classic with Split Saturday
PHOENIX, Ariz.— The Lobos closed the Purple Classic with another split, getting the 5-1 win against Toledo to start Saturday before battling with host Grand Canyon in a 5-2 loss.
New Mexico registered a combined 12 hits on the day, led by three hits from Keyannah Chavez and two hits apiece from Emma Bramson and Chloe Yeatts. Yeatts led with two doubles and three RBI on the day.
UNM utilized four pitchers between the two games, with McKenna Guest throwing her fifth complete game of the season in the win, and Taylor Snow, Brooke Umali and Emily Brouse throwing in the second game against GCU.
GAME 1: UNM 5, TOLEDO 1
The Lobos scored two runs in the bottom of the first and never trailed, adding two more runs in the second and a run in the fifth for the 5-1 win over Toledo.
UNM finished with just five hits in the contest, but three were extra-base hits with two doubles and a triple, with New Mexico also aided by four Rocket errors.
After Guest faced the minimum in the top of the first with a runner caught stealing by Yeatts and two grounders, the Lobos needed three at-bats to get on the board. Chavez led off with a four-pitch walk, Rachael Hathoot reached on a throwing error with Chavez advancing to third and after Hathoot stole second, Ashley Archuleta opened the scoring with a groundout to second with Chavez coming home on the play. A ground ball to shortstop on the next play scored Hathoot from third to make it 2-0.
The Lobos are now 4-1 when scoring in the first inning and 4-0 when leading after the first inning.
Guest retired the next three Rockets in order in the second, with the Lobos doubling their lead in the home half on three hits. Bramson led off with a single to center and two at-bats later, Hayden Luderer singled through the right side to put two runners on. Sydney Carithers cleared the bases on a double down the left field line, working out of an 0-2 count after fouling off the first three pitches and fouling off a total of four pitches before putting the ball in play.
A flyout to left to start the third made it six consecutive hitters retired before Toledo had a runner reach on a single. With two outs, a double to left center put the Rockets on the board as the runner on first scored.
Following a defensive double play and flyout in the fifth, the Lobos added a final run in the bottom of the inning with Archuleta hitting a triple to center and Yeatts driving her in on a double down the right field line, all occurring with two outs.
Toledo had a runner reach in the sixth before a strikeout looking ended the inning, and its leadoff hitter reached on an error in the seventh before a flyout to right, another strikeout looking and a foul out to Bramson at first ended the game.
Yeatts and Carithers led the Lobos with two RBI apiece, with each hitting a double, while Archuleta added a triple and one RBI.
Guest went 7.0 innings with one run allowed on five hits and struck out four while not allowing a walk.
GAME 2: GCU 5, UNM 2
The Lobos had a chance to strike early after a leadoff double down the right field line by Chavez to start the game with Hathoot moving her to third on a sacrifice bunt, however she was left stranded. GCU put a run on the board in the bottom of the first with UNM loading the bases in the second after a Bramson single, walk by Luderer and hit-by-pitch for Carithers. With the lineup turned over, Chavez sent the 1-2 pitch to the gap in left center with the GCU centerfielder tracking it down for the third out.
After UNM starter Snow sat the Lopes down in order in the second on 11 pitches, the Lobos had their third leadoff hitter reach as Hathoot hit it back up the middle. UNM tied the game on the next at-bat as Yeatts drove her in on a double down the left field line. Following a GCU pitching change, DeNae Vasquez-Dickson moved pinch runner Macie Andrews over on a sac bunt, but a liner to centerfield again left the go-ahead run on third.
GCU added two runs on three hits in the bottom of the third to retake the lead with the Lobos getting back within a run in the top of the fifth, orchestrated by the top of the lineup.
Chavez led off with a hit that fell in shallow left field and a fielder’s choice by Yeatts in which the Lopes unsuccessfully tried to get Chavez at second led to UNM’s second run as Katherine Brunner’s hit to the GCU shortstop went off of her glove and into center, allowing Chavez to come around to score. A grounder to second put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position as Yeatts moved to third and Brunner to second, but a grounder to third ended the opportunity.
The Lopes extended their lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on a two-out, two-run home run, with the Lobos then going to the bullpen to bring in Brouse to replace Umali. Brouse got the Lobos out of the inning on a ground ball, and proceeded to record outs against the next three GCU batters to keep the score at 5-2.
Chavez reached on a single to start off the top of the seventh for her third, three hit game of the season, but the Lobos couldn’t add on to it as GCU got the next three batters out to end the game.
UNM had its leadoff batter reach in five of the seven innings, with the leadoff coming around to score in two of the innings.
Of note, Chavez went 3-4 from the leadoff spot in the lineup, accounting for three of UNM’s seven hits in the game. Chavez has safely reached base in each of the last seven games, Carithers in the last four and Yeatts extended her hit streak to five games following the game against GCU.
Snow got the start in the circle, going 3.0 innings with one strikeout and three earned runs on four hits before being replaced by Umali to start the fourth. Umali went 1.2 innings with a strikeout and allowed two runs on four hits before being replaced by Brouse, who pitched 1.1 clean innings, not allowing a hit with one strikeout on four batters faced.