The Lobos will open up the season in Arizona as first-time participants in the MLB Desert Invitational Feb. 14-16, with neutral-site matchups against Austin Peay and UC Irvine at Sloan Park in Mesa and Seton Hall at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale. They’ll stick around in the Grand Canyon State for a midweek matchup with Arizona the following Tuesday before returning to Albuquerque for a nine-game homestand.
UNM hosts Northern Colorado for a four-game set Feb. 21-23 for the first home weekend of the season before taking on New Mexico State at Santa Ana Star Field the following Tuesday in the first of three meetings between the in-state rivals this season. The Lobos have won 13 of their 14 meetings with the Bears since 2010 – all of which were in Albuquerque, where UNM is 30-9 against them all-time.
After that, the Lobos welcome Rhode Island for another four-game series the following weekend (Feb. 28 – Mar. 2) before hitting the road to take on Tarleton for the final weekend series before conference play (Mar. 7-9). UNM is 9-0 against the two teams all-time, but hasn’t met Rhode Island since 2007 and hasn’t faced Tarleton since 1993.
UNM hosts UNLV for their first Mountain West series of the year for the second season in a row the next weekend (Mar. 14-16) – the Lobos went 5-1 against the Rebels last season, sweeping them while matching a program record for runs scored (31) in the finale before taking two of three on the road in Vegas. Prior to 2024, they’d only won five of their last 18 matchups with UNLV and hadn’t taken a weekend series from the Rebels since 2019.
The next Tuesday, UNM heads to Lubbock for their second midweek matchup with a Power-Conference opponent when they face Texas Tech. In their most recent matchup with the Red Raiders in Lubbock on April 23, 2024, the Lobos came away with an emphatic 21-3 victory, improving to 3-2 in their last five meetings with TTU and making it three seasons in a row in which they’ve defeated the Big 12 foes at least once.
After a conference road series at Nevada in Reno (Mar. 21-23), UNM faces future Mountain West member Grand Canyon at home in only the fifth meeting between the two teams since 2020. The Lobos are 24-16 against the ‘Lopes all-time with an 11-5 mark at home.
Following a home series with Air Force (Mar. 28-30), the Lobos face New Mexico State two more times in Las Cruces April 1 and 15 before closing out the regular-season series in Albuquerque on April 22. It’s the fourth year in a row UNM and NMSU will square off three or more times after the rivalry took a brief hiatus from 2020-2021. The Lobos have won seven of the 11 meetings with the Aggies since resuming the rivalry – last season, UNM won the first game in Albuquerque 14-4 in seven innings but fell in the next two meetings in Las Cruces before the season finale in Albuquerque was canceled due to weather.
Upon returning from a MW road series with Fresno State (Apr. 4-6), the ‘Bos get a midweek rematch with Texas Tech at home on April 8, where they’re 29-26-1 against the Red Raiders all-time. Up next, UNM welcomes Washington State for their first-ever weekend series against the Cougars (Apr. 11-13) – the only previous meetings between the two teams were a pair of neutral-site one-offs in 1992 and 1994.
After a road series at UNLV on Easter Weekend (Apr. 17-19) and another home weekend matchup with San Jose State (Apr. 25-27), the Lobos spend the first two weeks of May on the road at San Diego State (May 2-4) and Air Force (May 9-11) before wrapping up the regular season at home against Fresno State (May 15-17).
Should the Lobos stand among the top six teams in the Mountain West standings upon the conclusion of that weekend, they’ll earn a berth to the expanded MWC Baseball Championships May 21-25, hosted this year in Mesa, Ariz. The winner earns the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championships.
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