Lobos Hold on Late to Clinch Weekend Series at SDSU
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – New Mexico built a four-run lead going into the bottom of the eighth and held on late for a 9-8 series-clinching win over San Diego State (15-33, 10-13 MW) at Tony Gwynn Stadium on Saturday, with the Lobos securing their fourth Mountain West weekend series win in a row.
The Lobos (27-18, 13-9 MW) have now won eight of their last 10 and 11 of their last 14 since the last time they lost a weekend series (April 5-7 at Fresno State). With Nevada’s series-clinching win over the first-place Bulldogs, both the Lobos and Wolf Pack (26-19, 14-9 MW) move within a game of first place for the time being. Should both Nevada and New Mexico complete weekend sweeps with wins in tomorrow’s series finales, all three teams will be tied for first place with six conference games left to play.
New Mexico plated runs in five different innings, clubbing five doubles and finishing with double-digit hits for the sixth game in a row and 12th in their last 14.
The Lobos took the lead for good with a three-run top of the eighth, taking advantage of four walks and an RBI single from Ott to break a 6-6 tie. The Aztecs pulled within one in the bottom half and had the tying run on base before Josh Barnhouse came on to record the final three outs and lock down his first save of the season.
Ethan Ott (2-for-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI) led the offensive charge with his second multi-double game of the year and drove in three runs, while Tye Wood (1-for-2, 2B, 4 R, 2 BB, HBP) reached base four times and matched a career-high with four runs scored. Will Asby (2-for-4, 2B, 3B, 3 RBI) notched his 20th multi-hit game of the season and third in his last five, while Jordy Oriach (2-for-4, 2B, R) posted his sixth multi-hit effort in a row and extended his team-leading hit streak to 16 games. Josh McAlister, Karsen Waslefsky and Khalil Walker all finished with a hit and a base on balls each, with McAlister and Waslefsky scoring a run apiece and Walker scoring twice.
On the mound, RHP Cristian Mogen (3.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K) retired six of his first seven faced but ran into trouble after the Aztecs racked up six hits in a row to open the bottom of the third – he retired three of the next four faced to get out of the inning but did not return, getting a no decision.
LHP Justin Still (2.0 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) delivered two scoreless frames of middle relief, while Luke Wiseman (3.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K) improved to 4-0 on the season with three frames of relief, keeping the lead intact going into the ninth. Josh Barnhouse (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 K) allowed a leadoff homer and a one-out triple in the bottom of the ninth as the Aztecs threaten to force extra innings for the second night in a row but induced a popup and a flyout in succession to earn his first save of the year.
Prior to this weekend, the Lobos were 0-8 in games in which they didn’t hit a home run and 5-11 on the road – they’ve now won two road games in a row without homering, with a total of seven doubles in the weekend series so far.
ON DECK
The series continues Sunday at 1 p.m. MT as the Lobos (27-18, 14-9 MW) go for the sweep — Sunday’s game will not be streamed. Visit GoLobos.com/BSBGameDay for live stats and links, and follow @UNMLoboBaseball on X, Instagram and Facebook for in-game updates and behind-the-scenes coverage.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
With their first road series win over the Aztecs since 2019, the Lobos have now won five in a row over SDSU dating back to last season’s home series – their longest string of wins over the Aztecs since they beat them six times in a row in 2011 and 2012.
• UNM is 90-134 against the Aztecs in an all-time series that dates back to 1960 – they’re 24-56 against them as WAC opponents (1978-1998) and 66-75 as members of the Mountain West (1999-present).
• Entering the 2024 season, the Lobos had an 11-game losing streak to SDSU that was snapped with 5-2 win in the series opener at Tony Gwynn Stadium on March 28. The win was Coach Brown’s first against SDSU — the Aztecs were the only team the Lobos faced this season that Brown had yet to defeat at least once in his coaching career.
• In their next meeting, the Lobos followed up with a sweep of SDSU at home (8-4, 19-5, 9-7) that snapped a streak of six consecutive series losses to the Aztecs dating back to 2019.