Lobos Begin Road Trip at UTEP Tuesday
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— After a five-game home stand, the Lobos return to the road to face UTEP on Tuesday at 2 p.m. MT. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with live stats available.
Tuesday will be UNM’s fourth trip to Texas this season and the first of two meetings against the Miners, with the second game on April 22 at home.
UNM is coming off of a series win over Colorado State and is 20-20-1 on the season, 5-8 in the MW, while the Miners are 15-24 on the season, 5-13 in CUSA and coming off of three losses at Sam Houston.
The Lobos are 19-15 all-time against the Miners.
PUT THE PRESSURE ON
The Lobos have scored in the first inning in 17 games and scored in the second inning in 12 games while not allowing a run in the first two innings in 20 games overall. UNM has scored in the first inning in the last six games, four times with one run, once with two runs and once with three runs.
UNM is outscoring opponents 26-24 in the first inning, 29-18 in the second inning and 55-42 through the first two innings.
In addition, the Lobos are outscoring opponents 25-23 in the fourth, 37-29 in the fifth and 20-8 in the sixth inning. On the season, UNM is outscoring opponents 178-162 (+16).
UNM is 9-2 when leading after the first, 13-2 after the second, 14-1 after the third, 15-2 when leading after the fourth, 14-2 after the fifth and 16-2 leading after the sixth.
UNM is 11-6 when scoring in the first inning and 14-6-1 when scoring first.
WALK IT OUT
The Lobos rank fourth in the Mountain West in walks with 131 walks, with 14 different players recording a walk and 13 with multiple walks.
UNM has six players with 10 or more walks, led by 18 from Jessica DeLeon, 17 for Ashley Archuleta, 16 for DeNae Vasquez-Dickson and Allie Williams, and Miracle McKenzie and Sydney Carithers at 14.
Of the 131 walks, 36 have been on 3-0 counts, 45 on 3-1 counts and 50 have come on full counts.
UNM has started the game with a walk in nine games with Archuleta leading off with a walk in seven games (four times on four pitches and three times at 3-2) and Vasquez-Dickson twice, once on four pitches and once with a full count.
The Lobos have drawn five or more walks in seven games with a season-high seven in the Feb. 23 game against Texas Southern.
Conversely, UNM’s pitchers did not allow a walk in Friday’s game against Colorado State, the fourth time not allowing a walk this season. UNM is 4-0 when not allowing a walk.
TWO OUTS, SO WHAT
Of UNM’s 178 runs, 81 (45.5%) have come with two outs in the inning.
All three runs in Saturday’s game against Colorado State came with two outs for the 3-1 Lobo lead and a run in the first inning of Friday’s game came with two outs to give UNM a 1-0 lead.
Jessica DeLeon leads the team with 14, two-out RBI with Allie Williams second at 12, Ella Dawson with 11, and Miracle McKenzie fourth with 10.
Freshmen have contributed to 49 of the team’s 75 two-out RBI (65.3%).
Of UNM’s 296 hits, 91 have come with two outs (30.7%), with Williams 18-51 (35.3%) with two outs, DeLeon 16-37 (43.2%) and McKenzie 12-30 (40.0%).
ARCH AT THE TOP
In her senior season, Ashley Archuleta is leading the Lobos in eight categories.
The New Mexico native leads in batting average (.397), slugging percentage (.595), on-base percentage (.493), doubles (12), triples (four), runs scored (33) and total bases (69) and with a team-high 15 multiple-hit games (13 games with two, one with three and one with four).
In conference games, Archuleta has had a team-best eight multiple-hit games, had an 11-game streak of reaching base and a six-game hitting streak, and leads the team in batting average (.488), slugging percentage (.707), on-base percentage (.560), runs scored (12), hits (20), doubles (seven), triples (one) and total bases (29).
Prior to Sunday’s game against Colorado State, the Lobo had reached base in 12 consecutive games with a hit in seven consecutive games.
Her batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage, doubles and number of strikeouts are the best in her four-year career.
Among conference players, she leads in doubles and on-base percentage, is second in batting average, tied for second in hits, tied for seventh in total bases and tied for eighth in slugging percentage.
Additionally, Archuleta has hit in the leadoff spot in 29 games, including the last 16 and 20 of the last 21 games. UNM is 17-12 with Archuleta in the leadoff spot.
TRENDING UP
The Lobos rank among the top teams in the Mountain West and NCAA in several categories.
UNM ranks 16th in the NCAA in sac bunts (36), 47th in team strikeouts per seven innings (5.98), 55th in shutouts (seven), 61st in HBP (30), 71st in strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.86), 74th in doubles (58), 84th in fielding percentage (.967) and 89th in ERA (3.54).
DeNae Vasquez-Dickson is fourth in the NCAA in sac bunts per game (0.37) with Ashley Archuleta 63rd in doubles (12), Natalie Fritz 17th in fewest hit batters (two) and 30th in saves (three), and McKenna Guest 15th in shutouts (four), 34th in strikeouts (120) and 37th in wins (14).
Among the MW, UNM leads in batters struck out looking (pitching, 82), is second in strikeouts (pitching, 229), fourth in ERA (3.40), opposing batting average (.268) and fewest hits allowed (287).
Guest is tied for the lead in wins (14), is second in shutouts, starts (20), strikeouts (120) and strikeouts looking (34) and fifth in ERA (2.62). Vasquez-Dickson leads the MW in sac bunts (15) and Ashley Archuleta is third in doubles (12), tied for second in triples (four), fifth in batting average (.397) and eighth in on-base percentage (.493). Allie Williams is tied for eighth in hits (48) and Jessica DeLeon is 14th in on-base percentage (.443) and in batting average (.367), while tied for the conference lead in sac flies (four).
In MW games, Archuleta leads the conference in on-base percentage (.560) and in doubles (seven), is second in batting average (.488), tied for second in hits (20) and tied for eighth in slugging percentage (.707). Hayden Luderer is third in stolen bases (four) and Vasquez-Dickson leads in sac bunts (eight). Guest is second in strikeouts (36) and tied for fourth in wins (fourth) and Natalie Fritz is sixth in ERA (2.26) and 10th in strikeouts (18), tied for fifth in strikeouts looking (six).
As a team, in MW games, UNM has the fewest strikeouts (hitting, 37), is tied for first in sac flies (six) and sac bunts (13), second in doubles (23), fourth in batting average (.294) and in on-base percentage (.371). The pitchers are third in strikeouts (59) and fifth in ERA (3.94).
ABOUT UTEP
The Miners are hitting .303 with Ajia Richard leading with 53 hits, nine doubles and nine home runs, 21 walks and is hitting .473 with a .795 slugging percentage and .563 on-base percentage.
As a team, UTEP is averaging 7.9 hits and 4.6 runs per game with opponents averaging 7.2 hits per game and 5.1 runs per game.
UTEP has used five pitchers this season, led by 14 starts and 20 appearances from Taja Felder. Serenity Jacoway has thrown a staff-high 72.1 innings, also appearing in 20 games, and has thrown five of UTEP’s 13 complete games. As a staff, the Miners have struck out 98 (2.5 per game) while allowing 135 walks (3.5 per game) and hold a 4.77 ERA.