Walker & Asby Named Preseason All-MW; Lobo Baseball Tabbed Fourth in Coaches' Poll
Outfielders Khalil Walker and Will Asby were named to the All-Conference Preseason Team and New Mexico was one of three teams tied for fourth in the Mountain West Preseason Coaches’ Poll released Monday ahead of the 2025 baseball season.
Walker and Asby – who both were All-MW selections after their first season at UNM in 2024 – make UNM one of four teams with multiple preseason all-league selections along with Fresno State (four selections), Nevada (three selections) and San Diego State (two selections).
With six first-place votes for a total of 43 points, 2024 MW Tournament Champions Fresno State are the favorites to win the conference again ahead of Nevada (35 points) in second and Washington State (1 first-place vote, 30 points) in third. With 27 points, the Lobos are tied for fourth alongside UNLV (1 first-place vote) and San Diego State, the third season in a row in which they’ve improved their preseason rank. Before the 2023 season, UNM was picked to finish seventh and ultimately finished fifth — before the 2024 season, they were voted fifth and closed out the regular season one game out of sharing a regular-season championship with Air Force.
In 2024, Walker led the MW in batting average (.391) and on-base percentage (.490) – ranking 20th and 43rd in the nation in those categories – with the lowest strikeout-to-walk ratio (30 BB/24 SO) among conference players in his first season as a Lobo. Asby ranked second in the league in runs scored (59), eighth in slugging (.601) and ninth in total hits (71), breaking the program record for single-season grand slams with four – he needs just one more to match Mark Wulfert’s career record of five.
The Lobos improved their overall record for the second year in a row in 2024 en route to their first Mountain West Tournament berth since 2017, going 28-26 and 17-13 in Mountain West play. UNM wrapped up the season ranked among the nation’s most productive offensive teams, posting the seventh-highest team batting average (.319) in the nation while ranking among the Top 50 in team slugging (No. 31, .515), on-base percentage (No. 13, .421), doubles per game (No. 17, 2.24), triples per game (T-No.40, 0.30) and runs per game (No. 25, 8.4).
Heading into Head Coach Tod Brown’s fourth year at the helm, the Lobos return four of their top six batters by average – including 2024 MW batting and on-base leader Khalil Walker and fellow All-MW outfielder Will Asby – as well as three starting pitchers that saw significant weekend action last season in Dayne Pengelly (11 GS, 50 IP), David Lopez (11 GS, 65.1 IP) and Daxton Purser (7 GS, 35 IP).
This season, with Washington State joining as an affiliate member for baseball, the Mountain West is an eight-team league for the first time since in conference’s history. With the addition of the Cougars, the conference tournament will expand to six teams for the first time since 2016, when UNM last won the tournament to secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This year’s MW Baseball Championship will also be the first hosted at a neutral-site, set for May 21-25 in Mesa, Ariz.
UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
New Mexico Baseball opens the 2025 season with neutral-site action at the MLB Desert Invitational in Arizona this weekend, squaring off with Austin Peay (Feb. 14) and UC Irvine (Feb. 15) at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. before facing Seton Hall at Salt River Fields in Scottsdale on Feb. 16. Tickets are available via GoLobos.com/AZTickets.
UNM’s opening weekend in Arizona will be broadcast via MLB.TV and the MLB Network, with live stats for each game available at GoLobos.com/BSBStats. Follow @UNMLoboBaseball on IG, X and Facebook for comprehensive coverage, promotional updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.