Lobos Drop Finale at Air Force, 5-4
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. – New Mexico Baseball blanked Air Force over the final five frames of Sunday’s rubber match but couldn’t plate the tying run, falling 5-4 to snap a streak of four consecutive weekend series wins.
With just three games left to play, the Lobos (29-20, 16-11 MW) drop into a tie for second place with Fresno State (25-26, 16-11 MW) in the league standings behind Nevada (30-20, 17-10) — they’ll return to Santa Ana Star Field to host Fresno State in their final regular-season games of the year (May 15-17).
UNM can still share a Mountain West regular-season championship with the Wolf Pack with a series win over the Bulldogs, but they need Nevada to lose one more game than them in the process to do so.
| Mountain West Standings Through 5/11 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conference | Overall | |||||||
| Rank | Team | Record | Win % | GB | Record | Win % | Last 10 | Streak |
| 1 |
Nevada |
17-10 | 0.630 | – | 30-20 | 0.600 | 8-2 | 2 Wins |
| 2 |
New Mexico |
16-11 | 0.593 | 1 | 29-20 | 0.592 | 7-3 | 1 Loss |
| 2 |
Fresno State |
16-11 | 0.593 | 1 | 25-26 | 0.490 | 5-5 | 1 Loss |
| 4 |
UNLV |
13-14 | 0.481 | 4 | 28-22 | 0.560 | 8-2 | 1 Win |
| 5 |
San Jose State |
12-15 | 0.444 | 5 | 25-26 | 0.490 | 5-5 | 1 Win |
| 5 |
Air Force |
12-15 | 0.444 | 5 | 20-31 | 0.392 | 4-6 | 1 Win |
| 7 |
Washington State |
11-16 | 0.407 | 6 | 18-32 | 0.360 | 3-7 | 1 Loss |
| 7 |
San Diego State |
11-16 | 0.407 | 6 | 16-37 | 0.302 | 1-9 | 2 Losses |
Josh McAlister (4-for-4, HR, 1 RBI, 2 R) set a new career-high with four of the Lobos’ nine team hits, with Will Asby (3-for-5, HR, 3 RBI, 1 R) finishing with multiple hits for the fifth game in a row after driving in the Lobos’ final three runs. Both went yard, with McAlister crushing his 14th homer of the year to opposite field to put UNM on the board in the top of the second before Asby connected a two-run shot of his own in the fifth for his 13th of the year. Jordy Oriach connected on his 23rd double of the season and Khalil Walker singled to round things out.
After RHP Ryan Castillo (3.0 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) ran into early trouble in the early innings, RHP Luke Wiseman (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K) calmed things down in short order, tossing a career-high four scoreless innings after stranding two aboard in the fourth. After earning the save on Saturday, RHP Tommy White (1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) returned to toss the final frame, striking out two while retiring three of four to make it five consecutive shutout frames.
ON DECK
The Lobos (29-20, 16-11 MW) return home for a weekend series with Fresno State that gets started on Thursday, with 15 graduating seniors behind honored for Senior Day on Saturday and a full slate of promotions for UNM’s final home series of the year.
All of this weekend’s series will be available to stream free via the MW Network at GoLobos.com/Watch, with live stats, streaming options and more available via GoLobos.com/BSBGameDay. Follow @UNMLoboBaseball on IG, X and Facebook for comprehensive coverage, promotional updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.