Late Rally Comes Up Short in Loss to Bulldogs
FRESNO, Calif.— The Lobos were the first to score for the second time in the series against Fresno State, scoring on an Emma Bramson sacrifice fly in the second inning, but much like Thursday’s game, an error opened the door for the Bulldogs in the 6-4 final Friday.
UNM had a chance in its final at-bats, scoring two runs in the top of the seventh and had the tying run on second, with a grounder to first ending the game.
The Lobos outhit the Bulldogs 10-9, led by a 3-3 night at the plate by DeNae Vasquez-Dickson with the top four of the lineup accounting for eight of the hits. Allie Williams and Jessica DeLeon each went 2-4 with DeLeon leading with two RBI and Sydney Carithers went 2-3 with a double and one RBI.
Following a scoreless first, a fielding error by the Bulldogs allowed Hayden Luderer to reach and Carithers put two in scoring position with a double through the left side. Bramson drove in the first run of the game on a fly ball to center with Luderer tagging and Carithers taking third on a throwing error, with the Lobo stranded on third on a fly out to center to end the inning.
UNM had an opportunity to add to its lead in the top of the third with the top of the lineup reaching to load the bases on an Ashley Archuleta single through the right side, a single to right for Vasquez-Dickson and a single to center for Williams, which prompted a Bulldog pitching change. The momentum was stopped by the change as the new pitcher struck out the next three batters to leave them loaded.
FS capitalized in the bottom of the third when, with two outs, a dropped popup allowed a runner on first to come all the way around to score to tie the game with the Bulldog batter ending up on third on the play. A single to right on the next at-bat put the Bulldogs in front before a foul out to Miracle McKenzie at first ended the inning.
The Bulldogs added four runs on four hits in the bottom of the fourth to go up 6-1 with the Lobos getting a run back in the top of the fifth, again led by the top of the lineup.
Archuleta got the inning started with a walk with Vasquez-Dickson following it up with a single to left, and two at-bats later, DeLeon singled to right to score Archuleta from second. Luderer drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but a strikeout looking left them loaded.
A scoreless sixth set up two runs in the seventh with Vasquez-Dickson and Williams starting the inning with singles. DeLeon hit it back up the middle to score Vasquez-Dickson, and with two outs, Carithers got the ball to fall just inside the right field line to score Williams. A wild pitch allowed Carithers and pinch runner Ava Castillo to advance a base to put the tying run in scoring position, but a groundout to first ended the game and the rally.
UNM had four hits in the inning, the most of any previous inning in the game.
The Lobos used three pitchers in the game with Natalie Fritz getting the start and going 3.1 innings, allowing five runs (three earned) with two strikeouts and a walk before being replaced by Caprice Barela. Barela went 0.2 innings before Brooke Umali entered with a runner on first in the bottom of the fifth and retired the next three Bulldogs to get the Lobos out of the inning. Umali pitched 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out one.
The series concludes on Saturday at 12 p.m. PT/ 1 p.m. MT.