UNM Begins Series with Utah State Friday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos close their April homestand with a three-game series against Utah State starting on Friday evening.
SCHEDULE
Friday @ 6 p.m.: Lobos Love Pink game
Saturday @ 1 p.m.: Bark in the Park and Alumni Day
Sunday @ 11 a.m.
All three games will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available for those unable to attend.
The Lobos enter the series 2-11 in the MW, 10-35 on the season, while the Aggies are 5-11 in conference and 22-22 on the season.
SERIES HISTORY
UNM closes its April homestand with a three-game series against Utah State, with the Lobos holding a slight 30-29 edge in the series. The Aggies won the series last season 2-1 in Logan, with the last time the Lobos won a series was in 2021. UNM’s last home win against USU was on April 21, 2018 by the score of 8-5.
FRESHMEN IMPACT
Nine freshmen have earned a spot in the starting lineup this season and six freshmen (DeNae Vasquez-Dickson, Katherine Brunner, McKenna Guest, Hayden Luderer, Karly Smith and Macie Andrews) have played in at least half of the games.
Of the freshmen, Brunner has played in 42 games with 37 starts- 18 as the designated player, 12 games at third and seven at second. Vasquez-Dickson has started in 37 games with 20 in center, 12 in left and five in right and played in 44 games, and Luderer with 15 starts and playing in 28 games with eight starts in center, six in right and one in left. Smith has played in 23 games with nine starts, seven as the designated player and two in right. Gabrielle Briones has started in five games, two at third, two at second and one as the designated player, and Macie Andrews has started 12 games, nine in left and three in right, and played in 24 games.
McKenna Guest leads the Lobos’ pitching staff with 22 starts and 34 appearances and a team-high 130.2 innings, Brooke Umali has made two starts and 15 appearances, throwing 23.0 innings and Kenzie Jones has appeared in 10 games with one start and 11.2 innings.
Vasquez-Dickson has played in 97.8% of the games, 92.0% of the innings and started in 82.2% of the games. Brunner has played in 93.3% of the games, starting in 82.2%, and playing in 83.7% of the innings.
In the circle, Guest has started 48.9% of the games, made an appearance in 75.6% of the games and pitched in 47.5% of the innings. The RHP has accounted for 58.3% of UNM’s strikeouts this season with 81 of UNM’s 139.
UNM started five freshmen against UConn, in the March 19 game against UTEP and the first game at Nevada, 11 games with four freshmen starting and 20 games with three freshmen starting.
Brunner is tied for fourth on the team in RBI (12) and fifth in home runs (one), while Vasquez-Dickson leads in sac bunts (13), is third in RBI (13), tied for third in runs scored (14), stolen bases (four) and home runs (one), is fourth in slugging percentage (.308) and fifth in total bases (32), and Smith is tied for fourth in walks (eight). Vasquez-Dickson leads the MW in sac bunts and is fifth in the NCAA in sac bunts per game (.30) and third in number of sac bunts.
KEY CONTRIBUTOR
Keyannah Chavez leads in batting average (.396), slugging percentage (.670), on-base percentage (.468), total bases (71), triples (five) and walks (13). Chavez is second in home runs (five), runs scored (24), hits (42), RBI (20), tied for second in sac flies (two) and third in sac bunts (five).
Chavez is tied for the lead in triples in the Mountain West and leads against MW opponents with three.
The sophomore is 15-33 (.455) as the leadoff in an inning, 34-57 (.596) in successfully advancing runners, 4-6 (.667) with runners on third and less than two outs, and of her 20 RBI, nine are with two outs.
She’s had 13 multiple-hit games (10 games with two hits and three games with three), besting her total from her freshman season, and five multiple RBI games (four games with two RBI and a game with four), with the four the most RBI in a game by a Lobo this season.
Chavez has surpassed her season total from her freshman season in total bases with 71 (from 52) and RBI at 20 (from 19) and has increased her batting average (.315 to .396), on-base percentage (.410 to .468) and slugging percentage (.364 to .670) from her freshman season to this season. She has also hit five triples and five home runs after not having either last season.
GUEST APPEARANCE
Freshman McKenna Guest has been a frequent presence in the circle for the Lobos, appearing in a team-high 34 games, starting a team-high 22 games and throwing nine complete games.
The RHP has thrown a team-high 130.2 innings, 63.1 more innings than the next Lobo pitcher, and has a team-best 81 strikeouts, accounting for 58.3% of UNM’s total strikeouts and 59 more than the next Lobo pitcher. Guest has also been the pitcher on record in eight of UNM’s wins and earned her first save in the win against Marist.
She is averaging 4.3 strikeouts per game, 3.2 innings per appearance and a 1.4 k/bb rate behind 26 games with at least one strikeout and 21 games with multiple strikeouts, including five games with five or more.
Nationally, Guest has thrown the 40th-most innings in the NCAA and the sixth most by a freshman pitcher. Her 22 starts are tied for the 12th most by a pitcher and is the second most by a freshman pitcher and her 34 appearances are tied for the second most by a pitcher and the most by a freshman in the NCAA.
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 (55), runs scored (29) and is second in batting average (.387), sac bunts (six), on-base percentage (.426), slugging percentage (.465) and in total bases (66), and tied for second in doubles (five). She is 27-62 (.435) as the leadoff hitter in an inning. The Lobo is fourth in the MW in hits, eighth in batting average and second in assists (102). Nationally, Hathoot is 36th in the NCAA in hits.
Hathoot enters the week on a career-best 24-game streak of reaching base. She has also recorded a hit in 23 of the last 24 games and has a team-high 16 multiple-hit games (14 with two hits, two games with three).
Archuleta leads the Lobos in stolen bases (seven), is tied for second in doubles (five), fourth in on-base percentage (.304) and total bases (33), fifth in batting average (.230) and slugging percentage (.292), and tied for fourth in RBI (12). She went a career-best 4-4 in the March 22 game against UNLV.
To date, Archuleta has started in 137 games with 132 starts at second, while Hathoot has started all 45 games this season and all 50 games last season at shortstop, and has started all 167 games during her UNM career.
SHAKING UP THE LINEUP
In the 45 games this season, the Lobos have used 42 different lineup combinations. UNM has used the same batting order in the McNeese and Chattanooga games the first weekend, the same lineup in the Montana and Toledo games and the same lineup in both SDSU 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, 11 in the fifth spot, nine in the sixth spot, 11 in the seventh spot, 10 in the eighth spot and five in the ninth spot in the lineup.
Rachael Hathoot has led off in 34 games, Sydney Carithers has hit ninth in 29 games, Elizabeth Baylor batting seventh in 20 games, Chloe Yeatts cleanup in 19 games and DeNae Vasquez-Dickson second in 24 games for the most frequency in the lineup. Carithers has batted eighth in 11 games, Ashley Archuleta and Keyannah Chavez third in 15 games, Emma Bramson fifth in 14 games, and Katherine Brunner sixth in 14 games for the most appearances in each spot of the order.
Keyannah Chavez has made the most movement in the batting order, appearing in seven different spots, the most often third (15 games), followed by leadoff and second (eight games), as well as three games 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, six 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 10 different players as the designated player.
Only Hathoot has started every game at shortstop, while Bramson has started every game, but has played 30 games at first, four at third, eight as the designated player and three games in right field.
BY THE NUMBERS
The Lobos have reached double figures in hits four times this season: UNM’s win against Tennessee State in the season opener, where the Lobos finished with 12 hits, 15 hits in the win against Marist on Feb. 16, 12 hits in the March 22 game against UNLV and 13 hits in game two against San Diego State.
UNM is 6-1 when scoring at least six runs, 8-3 when scoring at least five runs, 6-5 when outhitting its opponent, 5-4 in one-run games and 2-2 in extra-inning games.
If the Lobos can score in the first inning and hold a lead after the first inning, the Lobos are 6-4 when leading after the first, 7-3 after the third, 7-2 after the fourth inning, 8-3 when leading after the fifth and 7-0 when leading after the sixth inning.
UNM is 35-67 (.522) 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. In the series at SJSU, the Lobos were a combined 5-5 in the series.
The Lobos have had their leadoff hitter reach 35.3% of the time (104-295), 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.
ABOUT UTAH STATE
The Aggies enter the series following a midweek win at Utah Valley, but lost their most recent MW series to Colorado State to be at 5-11 in the MW. Utah State is 3-7 in its last 10 games, 6-13 on the road this season and 1-7 on the road against MW opponents.
USU shares one common non-conference opponent with UNM in Toledo, with USU winning 3-2 in eight innings.
The Aggies are led by Grace Matej with a .450 batting average, 49 hits, .661 slugging percentage, .462 on-base percentage and 72 total bases, playing in 34 of their 44 games. Giselle Gonzalez leads with eight home runs and 31 RBI and Alex Bunton leads with 10 doubles and 19 walks and is second with six home runs.
As a team, Utah State is 22-32 in stolen bases with Tatum Silva leading at eight stolen bases (8-9) and Ariel Fifita second with five (5-8). Six players have at least one and Brooklyn Pritchett (4-4) and Kya Pratt (3-3) joining Silva and Fifita with multiple stolen bases.
When it comes to pitching, the Aggies have used six pitchers, led by 24 appearances and 14 starts from Denay Smith. Smith has thrown a team-high 74.0 innings and has a staff-best 3.50 ERA, throwing three complete games and recording a save. Jessica Stewart has been on the record for five saves, throwing 68.0 innings in 29 appearances and nine starts with three complete games as well.
As a staff, the Aggie pitchers are allowing 5.2 runs per game, 8.9 hits per game and 2.6 walks per game with opponents hitting .328.