Lobos Head to Hawai'i for Rainbow Wahine Classic
HONOLULU, Hawai’i — The Lobos close out the tournament portion of their schedule at the Rainbow Wahine Classic in Honolulu, starting on Wednesday. New Mexico will play five games in three days with two games against UConn and two games against host Hawai’i after opening with Cleveland State.
SCHEDULE:
Wednesday @ 6:30 p.m. MT vs. Cleveland State
Thursday @ 5 p.m. MT vs. UConn
Thursday @ 10 p.m. MT vs. Hawai’i
Friday @ 4 p.m. MT vs UConn
Friday @ 9 p.m. MT at Hawai’i
All games will have live stats available, but no games will be streamed. The game against Hawai’i on March 7 will have a radio option available.
HISTORY
The Lobos will face Cleveland State for the first time in program history, and both UConn and Hawai’i for the first time since 2019. UNM is 1-3-1 against UConn with the last meeting on March 3, 2019 and the last win on March 22, 2003. The Lobos are 7-16 all-time against UH, 2-3 in the last five games, with the last meeting on Feb. 23, 2019, a 3-2 win in Honolulu.
KEY CONTRIBUTOR
Keyannah Chavez leads the team in batting average (.431), slugging percentage (.655), on-base percentage (.492), hits (25), triples (two) and total bases (38), is tied for the team lead in runs scored (12) and second in home runs (two) and walks (six). The sophomore is 12-24 (.500) as the leadoff, 17-27 (.630) in successfully advancing runners and of her seven RBI, three are with two outs.
She’s reached base in the last seven games and leads the team with eight multiple-hit games (five games with two hits and three games with three), two games with two RBI.
Last week, Chavez led the team with seven hits, 11 total bases, four runs scored, a .438 batting average, .688 slugging percentage and.500 on-base percentage, and tied for second in walks (two) and RBI (two). Chavez had a sensational second week of the season, leading the Lobos with nine hits, two doubles, two triples, 15 total bases, and had a .833 slugging percentage and a .550 on-base percentage. Chavez closed the ACU Tournament going a combined 4-4 on Sunday with a double, a triple, a walk and one RBI, finishing with a 1.750 slugging percentage. Her 3-3 performance against Marist was her second three-hit outing of the season and her team-high fifth multi-hit game of the season.
Among the MW, Chavez is tied for first in sac bunts, tied for second in triples, tied for third in hits, fourth in total bases, sixth in batting average and slugging percentage and seventh in on-base percentage.
SHAKING UP THE LINEUP
In the 22 games this season, the Lobos have used 20 different lineup combinations. UNM has used the same batting order in only the McNeese and Chattanooga games the first weekend and the same lineup in the Montana and Toledo games.
The Lobos have used three different players in the leadoff spot, five in the second spot, three in the third spot, five in the cleanup, seven in the fifth spot, eight in the sixth spot, seven in the seventh spot, seven in the eighth spot and five in the ninth spot in the lineup.
Rachael Hathoot has led off in 13 games and Elizabeth Baylor batting seventh in 13 games for the most frequency in the lineup. Sydney Carithers has batted eighth in 10 games, Ashley Archuleta and Chloe Yeatts third and Emma Bramson fifth in nine games each, Keyannah Chavez second in seven games and Katherine Brunner sixth in seven games for the most appearances in each spot. Carithers has hit ninth in seven games.
Chavez has made the most movement in the batting order, appearing in six different spots, the most often in second (seven games), three times in the cleanup spot, two times in each the sixth and eighth spot, has hit leadoff six times and hit fifth in one game.
In the field, UNM has used five different players in left, four at third, three behind the plate, five in right field, two in center and first base and three at second base. UNM has also had seven as the designated player.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Lobos have twice reached double figures in hits this season: UNM’s win against Tennessee State where the Lobos finished with 12 hits, and 15 hits in the win against Marist on Feb. 16.
UNM is 4-0 this season when scoring at least six runs, 3-1 when outhitting its opponent and 2-2 in one-run games.
If the Lobos can score in the first inning and hold a lead after the first inning, the Lobos are 4-1 when scoring in the first inning and 4-0 when leading after the first, second, third and fourth innings and 5-0 when leading after the fifth and sixth innings.
UNM is 21-37 (.568) with a runner on third and less than two outs, going 5-5 in the first game against Marist, 3-3 in the second game against the Red Foxes and 2-2 in the win against Toledo. UNM also went 3-4 in the win against SFA.
The Lobos have had their leadoff hitter reach 38.6% of the time (56-145), with all seven reaching in the first game against Marist, 4-6 at McNeese and in the second game against Marist, and 5-7 in the game at GCU.
For comparison, UNM was 14-6 when scoring in the first inning and 13-5 when scoring first last season. The Lobos were 11-3 when leading after one, 13-1 when leading after two and 12-1 when leading after three. As the game went on, the Lobos were 13-3 when leading after the fourth inning, 11-2 when leading after five and 12-0 when leading after the sixth inning. UNM was 19-4 when outhitting its opponent last season and had 22 games with double-digit hits and were 16-6 when reaching double figures.
VERSATILE EMMA
Emma Bramson has played a total of four positions this season and a total of six in her three years at UNM.
Bramson has started eight games as the designated player, four games at third, three games in right and the last seven games at first. Last season, the Valencia, California native started 39 games at third and five games at second, and as a freshman started 25 at third and 21 games at shortstop.
ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE
CSU has played nine games to date and is 3-6, 2-4 in neutral games. Brooke Albaugh leads with eight hits, three doubles, six RBI, 11 total bases, a .320 batting average, .433 on-base percentage and .440 slugging percentage.
The Vikings have used five pitchers this season, led by five appearances and five starts with five complete games by Melissa Holzopfel. Holzopfel leads with 36.0 innings, which is more than the other four pitchers combined and 29.0 innings more than the next pitcher.
CSU has stolen three bases, going 3-3 in attempts.
ABOUT UCONN
UConn is 4-11 on the season, 3-8 in neutral games, and has lost its last five following losses to Ole Miss, Miami and then-No. 9 Clemson the weekend of Feb. 23-25.
The Huskies have three players in double digit hits, led by 17 from Grace Jenkins, 15 from Lexi Hastings and 12 from Jana Sanden. Sanden leads with 15 RBI, with Sanden and Jenkins tied in total bases at 26. Jenkins (.378) and Hastings (.306) are hitting over .300. Jenkins leads with six doubles and Sanden leads with four home runs, accounting for four of the team’s 10. Jenkins also leads with a .578 slugging percentage and a .463 on-base percentage.
As a team, UConn has struck out 102 times compared to 39 walks. On the bases, Hastings is 10-12 with UConn 23-26 as a team and eight different players with at least one.
UConn has used six players in the circle, led by Hallie Siems at eight starts and 40.2 innings. Meghan O’Neil has appeared in a team-high 11 games and has a staff-best 3.11 ERA. O’Neil has 30 strikeouts to nine walks, while Siems has struck out 37 to 13 walks.
ABOUT HAWAI’I
Hawai’i enters the tournament 4-11 and 4-6 at home after going 3-2 last week.
Dallas Millwood leads with a .313 batting average and a .410 on-base percentage, while Haley Johnson leads with 13 hits, one of five players with double digit hits. Johnson leads with four doubles and is tied for the team high in total bases at 20. Chloe Borges has hit four of UH’s 10 home runs.
The Rainbow Wahine have had five players make an appearance in the circle, led by seven appearances, six starts, three complete games and a team-high 30.1 innings by Addison Kostrencich. Keyannah Campbell-Pua has made six starts and pitched 26.0 innings with two complete games.