Lobos Drop Series Finale at Fresno State

FRESNO, Calif.— The Lobos scored in the first, second and fourth innings to take a 3-0 lead in Saturday’s series finale against Fresno State, but the Bulldogs scored five runs in the fifth and added four runs in the sixth in the 9-3 final.

UNM’s lineup was led by Ashley Archuleta and DeNae Vasquez-Dickson’s two hits and two RBI from Vasquez-Dickson with the Lobos finishing with seven hits.

Archuleta led off Saturday’s game with an infield single with Vasquez-Dickson sacrificing her over to second. Allie Williams doubled to center to bring around Archuleta and Sydney Carithers was hit by a pitch two at-bats later to put two on before a fly ball to center ended the inning with two on.

UNM again had its leadoff hitter reach in the second after Miracle McKenzie was hit by a pitch and two at-bats later Jewels Hanawahine doubled to left to put two runners in scoring position with one out. With the lineup turned over, Archuleta walked to load the bases and Vasquez-Dickson delivered a sacrifice fly to center that allowed pinch runner Adelaide Haack to tag from second before the inning came to an end with two more left on.

FS recorded its first hit of the game to start the bottom of the second, but McKenna Guest struck out the next two and a fly ball to Vasquez-Dickson in left kept the runner on first.

After both teams retired the side in order in the third, the Lobos added to their lead with a run in the fourth with Emma Bramson hitting a one-out single to right, a grounder to third moving her to second and an Archuleta single to center putting Lobos on the corners. Vasquez-Dickson hit it back up the middle to score Bramson with the Lobos again loading the bases on a Williams’ walk before the inning came to an end on a groundout.

UNM had one runner reach on McKenzie’s second hit-by-pitch of the game in the top of the fifth before the Bulldogs took advantage of two errors to score five runs in the bottom of the inning.

Guest started the inning with a strikeout before a double to left center, a fielding error and catcher’s interference led the bases to be loaded. A triple to the gap in right center tied the game at three and a double to right gave the Bulldogs the lead. A wild pitch moved the runner to third and a grounder to Bramson at shortstop brought in the fifth run of the inning.

Vasquez-Dickson hit a two-out double in the sixth, where she was left stranded, with the Bulldogs scoring four runs on three hits in the bottom of the inning on a walk, double, single and two-run home run for the final runs of the game.

Guest went 4.1 innings in the start, striking out three with two walks and five hits, before Brooke Umali entered in relief and threw 1.0 innings and allowed two runs. Natalie Fritz pitched the final 0.2 innings of the sixth, facing the final four batters.

The Lobos return home for their final four home games of the season, set to face UTEP on Tuesday and Nevada Friday through Sunday.