Lobos Begin Conference on Road at San José State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos begin the conference portion of their schedule this week with a three-game series at San José State starting Friday evening.
SCHEDULE:
Friday @ 7 p.m. MT
Saturday @ 4 p.m. MT
Sunday @ 1 p.m. MT
All three games will be streamed on the MW Network with live stats available.
SERIES HISTORY
UNM is 21-27 all-time against SJSU, 2-3 in the last five games and 5-5 in the last 10. The Lobos won the series last season in Albuquerque, winning the final two games 8-0 in six innings and 8-6, with the 8-0 shutout the first shutout against SJSU since May 8, 2015, a 14-0 win in five innings. The series win was the second in the last three years.
FRESHMEN IMPACT
Nine freshmen have earned a spot in the starting lineup this season with five freshmen (DeNae Vasquez-Dickson, Katherine Brunner, McKenna Guest, Hayden Luderer and Karly Smith) playing in more than half of the games.
Of the freshmen, Brunner has played in 27 games with 24 starts- 11 games at third, seven at second and six as the designated player. Vasquez-Dickson has started in 20 games with 12 in left, three in center and five in right and played in 27 games, and Luderer with 10 starts and playing in 17 games with eight starts in center, one in left and one in right. Smith has played in 15 games with seven starts, six as the designated player and one in right. Gabrielle Briones has started in three games, two at third and one at second, and Macie Andrews has started four games, all in left. McKenna Guest leads the Lobos’ pitching staff with 14 starts and 19 appearances and a team-high 72.1 innings, Brooke Umali has made one start and nine appearances, throwing 14.1 innings and Kenzie Jones has appeared in six games with one start and 8.0 innings.
Vasquez-Dickson has played in 96.4% of the games, 82.8% of the innings and started in 71.4% of the games. Brunner has played in 96.4% of the games, starting in 85.7%, and playing in 85.2% of the innings.
In the circle, Guest has started half of the games and made an appearance in 67.9% of the games and pitched in 42.4% of the innings.
UNM started five freshmen against UConn, had six games with four freshmen starting and 14 games with three freshmen starting.
Brunner is fifth on the team in batting average (.234), slugging percentage (.328) and on-base percentage (.310), as well as third in RBI (10) and home runs (one), while Vasquez-Dickson is tied for second in sac bunts (four) and Smith is tied for third in walks (seven).
KEY CONTRIBUTOR
Keyannah Chavez leads the team in batting average (.384), slugging percentage (.603), on-base percentage (.452), triples (two), sac bunts (five) and total bases (44), is tied for the team lead in home runs (three) and walks (eight) and is second in hits (28), RBI (13) and runs scored (13).
The sophomore is 13-29 (.448) as the leadoff, 25-37 (.676) in successfully advancing runners, 3-4 (.750) with runners on third and less than two outs, and of her 13 RBI, six are with two outs.
She’s had eight multiple-hit games (five games with two hits and three games with three) and three multiple RBI games (two games with two RBI and a game with four), with the four the most RBI in a game by a Lobo this season.
In the series at TTU on Tuesday, Chavez led the Lobos with a combined five RBI, which included a three-run home run for her third home run of the season, and tied her career high in RBI with four in the second game.
At GCU, 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.
GUEST APPEARANCE
Freshman McKenna Guest has been a frequent presence in the circle for the Lobos, appearing in a team-high 19 games, starting a team-high 14 games and throwing six complete games.
The RHP has thrown a team-high 72.1 innings, 29.0 more innings than the next Lobo pitcher, and has a team-best 47 strikeouts, accounting for 50.5% of UNM’s total strikeouts. Guest has also been the pitcher on record in five of UNM’s wins and earned her first save in the win against Marist.
She is averaging 4.55 strikeouts per game and a 1.6 k/bb rate behind 13 games with at least one strikeout and 11 games with multiple strikeouts, including three games with five or more. Guest struck out a season-high nine at UTEP and followed that up two days later with seven strikeouts in the first game against Marist.
Nationally, Guest has thrown the 29th-most innings in the NCAA, the fifth most by a freshman pitcher.
SHAKING UP THE LINEUP
In the 28 games this season, the Lobos have used 26 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, four in the third spot, six in the cleanup, seven in the fifth spot, eight in the sixth spot, nine in the seventh spot, eight in the eighth spot and five in the ninth spot in the lineup.
Rachael Hathoot has led off in 17 games and Elizabeth Baylor batting seventh in 14 games for the most frequency in the lineup. Sydney Carithers has batted eighth in 11 games and ninth in 12 games, Ashley Archuleta and Chloe Yeatts third in 11 games and Emma Bramson fifth in 10 games, Keyannah Chavez second in eight games and Katherine Brunner sixth in nine games for the most appearances in each spot of the order.
Chavez has made the most movement in the batting order, appearing in seven different spots, the most often in leadoff and second (eight games), three times in third as well as in the cleanup spot, two times in each the sixth and eighth spot and hit fifth in one game.
In the field, UNM has used five different players in left, five in right field, four at third, three behind the plate, three in center, three at second base and two at first base. UNM has also had eight as the designated player.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Lobos have twice reached double figures in hits this season: UNM’s win against Tennessee State in the season opener, where the Lobos finished with 12 hits, and 15 hits in the win against Marist on Feb. 16. UNM is 4-0 when scoring at least six runs, 6-1 when scoring at least five runs, 3-2 when outhitting its opponent and 3-2 in one-run games.
If the Lobos can score in the first inning and hold a lead after the first inning, the Lobos are 5-2 when scoring in the first inning and 5-1 when leading after the first, second, third and fourth innings, 6-1 when leading after the fifth and 6-0 when leading after the sixth inning.
UNM is 24-45 (.533) 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 37.2% of the time (68-183), 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.
MIDDLE (WO)MEN
The Lobos are anchored in the middle infield with the stability and experience of Ashley Archuleta (second) and Rachael Hathoot (shortstop).
This season, Hathoot leads the Lobos in hits (31) and runs scored (18), and second in batting average (.365), slugging percentage (.412), on-base percentage (.411) and total bases (35). Archuleta leads the Lobos in stolen bases (six), is fourth in batting average (.258), slugging percentage (.364), hits (17) and RBI (eight) as well as third in on-base percentage (.355).
To date, Archuleta has started in 123 games with 116 starts at second. Hathoot started all 28 games this season and all 50 games last season at shortstop, and has started all 150 games during her UNM career. The redshirt senior has shown her versatility, playing 42 games at second and four as a catcher her sophomore season (2021) and 26 games at third her freshman season.
ABOUT SAN JOSE STATE
The Spartans are 9-10 entering conference play and 7-2 at home following a 3-2 week at the Silicon Valley Classic II at home last weekend. Among their games, the Spartans lost to Iowa (3-2) and Stanford (10-2) and defeated North Dakota State (4-3 and 2-1) and CSU Bakersfield (3-2). SJSU is 5-1 in one-run games this season.
The Spartans have six players with double-digit hits, led by Reina Zermeno’s 20 hits which includes a team-high five doubles and two home runs. Zermeno also leads with 13 RBI, 33 total bases, a .357 batting average and .589 slugging percentage.
When it comes to stolen bases, SJSU is 14-17 with Haley Reeve a team-best 5-5 in attempts. Six different Spartans have at least one and four with multiple stolen bases. Opponents are 32-35 in stolen bases.
SJSU has used four pitchers, led by Mia Reynolds’ 10 starts. Alexis Toner leads with 12 appearances that includes three starts, one complete game and one save in 29.2 innings. Lacie Ham leads in innings pitched at 44.1 on six starts and 11 appearances. As a staff, the Spartans have allowed 162 hits with 103 runs scored (76 earned), while striking out 71 to 47 walks.
UP NEXT: Following the weekend series, the Lobos will be at home for the next four games, starting with a recently added game against UTEP on March 19 at 3 p.m. before resuming MW play with UNLV on March 22.