Chavez Hits Home Run as Lobos Drop Doubleheader at Texas Tech
LUBBOCK, Texas— Keyannah Chavez accounted for five of UNM’s six RBI on the day with four occurring in the second game behind a three-run home run and sacrifice fly to tie her career high, while Rachael Hathoot contributed the other RBI in the second game as the Lobos dropped both games of Tuesday’s doubleheader at Texas Tech by scores of 9-1 and 14-5. Hathoot led with a combined three hits with two in the first game.
UNM went with five pitchers between the two games with Emily Brouse getting the start in game one and McKenna Guest in game two, with both pitchers on record. Kenzie Jones made an appearance in both games, pitching a combined 4.1 innings and recorded her first collegiate strikeout.
GAME 1: TEXAS TECH 9, UNM 1 (5)
The Lobos put runners in scoring position early, following a Hathoot leadoff single, a walk for Chavez and a wild pitch that advanced both runners, but two strikeouts left them stranded.
Texas Tech’s three-run home run in the first and a solo home run in the second gave the Red Raiders a 4-0 lead, with the Lobos able to string together hits to produce a run in the third.
UNM had its first three batters reach in the top of the third after Sydney Carithers led off with a ball that dropped in front of the catcher in fair territory, a single to right from Hathoot and a ball hit to second by DeNae Vasquez-Dickson, with the Red Raider missing the tag on Hathoot and unable to get Vasquez-Dickson at first. Chavez drove in the first run on a grounder to shortstop with Carithers coming in to score, but a double play with a popup to the pitcher on a bunt attempt and TTU doubling up at third eliminated the chance to further cut into the deficit.
The Lobos held the Red Raiders scoreless in the third and fourth before TTU hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth, giving way for Brooke Umali to enter in the circle. From there, the Red Raiders had a walk with the runner moving to second on a grounder to third for the first out, a single up the middle that scored the runner and a two-run home run to enforce the run rule.
Hathoot accounted for two of UNM’s four hits in the game with Chavez recoding a walk and RBI.
In the circle, Brouse went 1.2 innings in the start with four runs and four hits allowed before Jones entered and pitched the next 2.1 innings with two runs allowed on two hits. Umali pitched 0.1 innings with three runs on two hits.
GAME 2: TEXAS TECH 14, UNM 5 (5)
The long ball continued to hurt the Lobos as Texas Tech hit a leadoff home run and a one-out solo home run and added two more runs on a double to the gap in left center and an infield single to short in the bottom of the first.
UNM had its first base runner in the top of the second as Ashley Archuleta reached on a fielding error by the TTU first baseman, however, a double play ended the inning.
Texas Tech added four runs in the second which included a three-run home run, with the Lobos answering with four runs and a three-run home run of their own in the top of the third.
Elizabeth Baylor got the inning started with a single to right center and advanced to second on a wild pitch during Carithers’ at-bat before the Lobo put the ball in play with a hit to center to put runners on the corners. Hathoot scored Baylor on a fielder’s choice with the play made at second for the second out, and Chavez cleared the bases on a three-run home run, her third home run of the season. UNM scored four runs on three hits to cut the deficit in half.
After the Red Raiders added three runs in the home half of the third, the Lobos had two more reach scoring position in the fourth on a single to center by Emma Bramson and a double to the gap in left center by Gabrielle Briones, but two strikeouts left them stranded.
The Lobos pushed across one final run in the top of the fifth on a leadoff double by Hathoot followed by a groundout that allowed her to move to third and a sacrifice fly to right center by Chavez to bring the Lobo shortstop in. However, TTU put the game away in the bottom of the fifth on a fielder’s choice with bases loaded with the Lobos unable to get the force out at home and a ground-rule double for the final score.
UNM went with four pitchers in game two with Guest going 0.1 innings before Taylor Snow entered for the next 1.2 innings. Snow faced 11 batters and allowed seven runs on six hits before Jones made her entrance in the circle for 2.0 innings. The freshman allowed two runs on three hits with a strikeout and a walk on nine batters faced before the Lobos again went to the bullpen with Umali going 0.1 inning.
Chavez tied her career high with four RBI and was one of six Lobos to record a hit. Of the six hits, half went for extra bases with doubles for Briones (her first of the season) and Hathoot (her fourth of the season) and Chavez’s home run.
Up next: The Lobos begin the MW portion of their schedule at San José State with a three-game series starting Friday.