TOP BATTING TEAM IN THE NATION
After batting .339 as a team at San Diego State last weekend, New Mexico leads the entirety of NCAA D-I in team batting average (.341) for the second week in a row. Three different Lobos rank among the Top 100 in the nation in individual batting average — Jordy Oriach (#21, .403), Khalil Walker (#33, .398) and Ethan Ott (#65, .380) — they rank Nos. 1, 3 and 4 in the Mountain West.
| 1 |
New Mexico |
46 |
1,653 |
563 |
0.341 |
| 2 |
Central Conn. St. |
36 |
1,250 |
422 |
0.338 |
| 3 |
Austin Peay |
49 |
1,666 |
560 |
0.336 |
| 4 |
George Mason |
49 |
1,661 |
552 |
0.332 |
| 5 |
High Point |
48 |
1,685 |
558 |
0.331 |
| 6 |
UTSA |
47 |
1,608 |
527 |
0.328 |
| 7 |
Florida St. |
44 |
1,522 |
492 |
0.323 |
| 8 |
William & Mary |
48 |
1,678 |
535 |
0.319 |
| 9 |
Kent St. |
46 |
1,544 |
492 |
0.319 |
| 10 |
Georgia Tech |
49 |
1,654 |
526 |
0.318 |
TY CUNNINGHAM NAMED TO NCBWA STOPPER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
A day after collecting his 10th save of the season as New Mexico completed a season sweep of in-state rivals N.M. State, Lobos closer Ty Cunningham has been named to the National College Baseball Writers’ Association’s Stopper of the Year Midseason Watchlist.
Cunningham’s 10 saves lead the Mountain West so far this season and rank No. 6 in the nation – he’s just one away from matching a UNM single-season record of 11 that has been untouched since 1985 (Ed Bartholomew). He’s only the fourth Lobo in program history to record double-digit saves in the same season since it became an official statistical category in 1981.
In 28 innings of work, Cunningham has posted a 3.54 ERA with 25 strikeouts (8.04 K/9) – he’s held opponents scoreless in 11 of his 18 appearances so far this season. He’s the lone Mountain West pitcher to make the cut.
NEW MEXICO BASEBALL NCAA D-I RANKING SUMMARY (5/7)
LOBOS RAKING AT HOME
• The Lobos are 18-6 in home games at Santa Ana Star Field this year and batting .392 with an average of 14.0 runs and 16.3 hits per nine innings in those games. Their .750 winning percentage at home so far this season would be the second-best in any season with 15 or more games in the 12 years since Santa Ana Star Field became the Lobos’ home venue. UNM went 14-2 (.875) in their first season calling SAS Field home in 2013.
• UNM notched its 200th win at Santa Ana Star Field last Tuesday.
| UNM ALL-TIME AT SANTA ANA STAR FIELD (ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) |
| Year |
W |
L |
T |
PCT. |
| 2013 |
14 |
2 |
0 |
.875 |
| 2014 |
23 |
8 |
1 |
.734 |
| 2015 |
20 |
10 |
0 |
.667 |
| 2016 |
19 |
8 |
0 |
.704 |
| 2017 |
19 |
10 |
0 |
.655 |
| 2018 |
11 |
14 |
1 |
.442 |
| 2019 |
14 |
16 |
0 |
.467 |
| 2020 |
9 |
1 |
0 |
.900 |
| 2021 |
9 |
6 |
0 |
.600 |
| 2022 |
11 |
13 |
0 |
.458 |
| 2023 |
17 |
10 |
0 |
.630 |
| 2024 |
18 |
10 |
0 |
.640 |
| 2025 |
18 |
6 |
0 |
.750 |
| Total |
202 |
114 |
2 |
.636 |
• The Lobos currently have the most home wins (18) in the Mountain West and the highest home win percentage (.750).
• Jordy Oriach hits for even more power at 5,300 feet above sea level – he’s slugging .897 at home (.777 overall) with 13 doubles, two triples and eight homers in Albuquerque. He leads four Lobos that are batting above .400 at home this season ahead of Khalil Walker (.473), Ethan Ott (.419), Josh McAlister (.415) and Karsen Waslefsky (.400).
• RHP Josh Barnhouse has a 2.35 ERA at home across 12 appearances (23 IP), compiling a 3-0 record in those games.
• In games played in cities at 3,900 feet or higher above sea level, the Lobos are 21-8 (.724), batting .377 as a team.
ALL-TIME SERIES
• The Lobos lead the all-time series against Air Force 155-62, with an 90-22 record in matchups in Albuquerque and a 56-36 record on the road.
• In their first three-game series this year at home, the Lobos took the first two games to secure the series but couldn’t complete the sweep in the finale (6-4, 12-7, 1-7). They only faced for one weekend series last season, with the Lobos dropping two of three on the road in Colorado Springs (3-12, 6-5, 7-18 [7]).
LAST TIME VS. THE FALCONS (3/28-3/30)
New Mexico claimed its second Mountain West weekend series of the year with a pair of wins over Air Force at home (6-4, 12-7, 1-7), hitting .322 as a team while scoring 23 runs on 38 hits. The Lobos took Friday’s opener in a 6-4 victory and clinched the series with a 12-7 win on Saturday that marked their third win in a row before the Falcons salvaged the finale with a 7-1 win. In total, UNM slugged five doubles and four home runs, posting a .454 slugging percentage and .393 on-base percentage. Defensively, the Lobos recorded a .974 fielding percentage with three errors in the series.
- Khalil Walker (.500, 5-for-10, 2 2B, 1 RBI, .700 SLG, .545 OBP) led the offense with a dominant weekend, finishing with a team-high five hits with two doubles.
- Brodey Williams (.375) was productive in two starts, doubling and finishing with three hits on eight at-bats, Will Asby (.375) homered and drove in a team-high four runs after being out of the lineup on Tuesday and Friday and Tye Wood (.333) and Josh McAlister (.300) made it five Lobos batting above .300 last weekend.
The Lobos posted a 5.67 ERA on the weekend, getting a solid start from LHP Daxton Purser on Friday (5.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 K) as the big lefty came one strikeout shy of matching his career-high from last Friday at Nevada. RHP Ryan Castillo (5.0 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) recovered well from an early Falcons outburst on Saturday to keep the Lobos in the game and seven relievers toed the bump for UNM on the weekend, with LHP Presley Monteforte (3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K) notching a new-career high with three scoreless frames of relief on Sunday.
LOBOS COMPLETE RIVALRY SWEEP IN ABQ
• New Mexico completed a four-game season sweep of in-state rival New Mexico State last Tuesday at Santa Ana Star Field, never trailing in a 7-6 win that sealed the program’s first perfect season series over the Aggies since 2022. With the win, the Lobo have beaten the Aggies four times in the same season for only the third time since 1985.
The Lobos outhit the Aggies 10-6 and committed no errors for the 15th time this season. With the win, UNM improves to 4-0 against NMSU on the year, outscoring them 31-26 across the four meetings.
• It was also the 200th win for UNM at Santa Ana Star Field since it opened to the public in 2013 – the Lobos have accumulated a 202-114-2 (.636) record at SAS Field in the dozen seasons since, with a 18-6 mark at home this season.
• The Lobos immediately put a run on the board with a leadoff homer from Tye Wood – his third of the year – and never looked back, building a 7-2 lead through five innings and holding off a late NMSU push down the stretch as RHP Ty Cunningham earned his 10th save of the season.
• Senior RHP Dayne Pengelly (7.0 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) earned his second win of the year to improve to 2-2 on the season with one of his best outings as a Lobo, extending to a season-high 7.0 innings and allowing just four hits and four earned runs while striking out four and walking two.
MOUNTAIN WEST INDIVIDUAL STAT RANKINGS (5/8)
LONG BALL LOBOS
Through 43 games this season, 15 different players have combined for 78 home runs, going without a homer in the first two games of the series last week before hitting five in the finale. UNM is averaging 1.70 homers per game so far this season, moving up among the nation’s leaders in that category for the fifth week in a row from 17th in the nation last week to 16th heading into this week’s games.
With his ninth-inning homer on Sunday, Jordy Oriach is second in the Mountain West in total homers with 13. Josh McAlister (12) and Ethan Ott (12) are just behind, while Will Asby (11), Andrew Neil (4), Caleb Herd (4), Karsen Waslefsky (4), Gene Trujillo (3) and Khalil Walker (4) all have multiple, with Cooper Brass hitting his first career homer last weekend at SDSU.
EARLY RETURNS
Walker & Asby Named Preseason All-MW; Lobo Baseball Tabbed Fourth in Coaches’ Poll:
- Outfielders Khalil Walker and Will Asby were named to the All-Conference Preseason Team and New Mexico was one of three teams tied for fourth in the Mountain West Preseason Coaches’ Poll released Monday ahead of the 2025 baseball season.
Walker and Asby – who both were All-MW selections after their first season at UNM in 2024 – make UNM one of four teams with multiple preseason all-league selections along with Fresno State (four selections), Nevada (three selections) and San Diego State (two selections).
- With six first-place votes for a total of 43 points, 2024 MW Tournament Champions Fresno State are the favorites to win the conference again ahead of Nevada (35 points) in second and Washington State (1 first-place vote, 30 points) in third. With 27 points, the Lobos are tied for fourth alongside UNLV (1 first-place vote) and San Diego State, the third season in a row in which they’ve improved their preseason rank. Before the 2023 season, UNM was picked to finish seventh and ultimately finished fifth — before the 2024 season, they were voted fifth and closed out the regular season one game out of sharing a regular-season championship with Air Force.
Asby Named to D1Baseball.com’s Top 100 Outfielders:
- Senior Will Asby clocked in at No. 91 in the nation on D1Baseball.com’s National Outfielders Rankings released last week. In his first season with the Lobos in 2024, Asby entered the outlet’s midseason Top 100 Outfielder rankings at No. 94 after not being ranked heading into the season.
- Last season, Asby ranked second in the league in runs scored (59), eighth in slugging (.601) and ninth in total hits (71), breaking the program record for single-season grand slams with four – he needs just one more to match Mark Wulfert’s career record of five.
“Keep an Eye On” New Mexico in Mountain West Race:
- D1Baseball.com slated New Mexico as the team to “Keep an eye on” in this year’s Mountain West race behind preseason favorite Fresno State, citing improved pitching depth and a host of high-level hitters returning.
- “This year’s team has a chance at making [an NCAA Regional] with five returnees who hit .300-plus, two returning weekend starters on the mound and five key pieces in the bullpen also coming back to campus.”
A LOOK AT THE SCHEDULE
– The 53-game schedule, including 30 Mountain West Conference games, opens up at the MLB Desert Invitational in Arizona (Feb. 14-16) and concludes with a conference weekend series at home vs. Fresno State (May 15-17). In that span, the Lobos will face four different teams that reached NCAA Regionals last spring – Arizona, UC Irvine, Grand Canyon and Fresno State – nine times.
– In total, UNM will play 27 games at Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque and 26 games on the road throughout the regular season, with 18 games against seven opponents that ranked in the Top 150 in the nation in last season’s final RPI rankings.
– Should the Lobos stand among the top six teams in the Mountain West standings upon the conclusion of that weekend, they’ll earn a berth to the expanded MWC Baseball Championships May 21-25, hosted this year in Mesa, Ariz. The winner earns the conference’s automatic berth into the NCAA Championships.
2024 IN REVIEW
– The Lobos wrapped up the 2024 season with the most wins (28), most MW wins (17) and best MW finish (2nd) since 2017 to punch their ticket to the conference tournament for the first time since that season.
– The last time UNM increased its winning percentage over three consecutive seasons was 2012-2014. It was also the second year in a row in which the Lobos outperformed their conference preseason rank — they were picked to finish 7th in the conference in 2023 and finished fifth before being picked to finish fifth this year and concluding the season one game out of a regular season championship. They were one of just two MW teams to finish the season above .500.
– At the conclusion of the 2024 regular season, UNM ranked No. 8 in the nation in batting average (.319), No. 15 in the nation in double plays (51) and No. 17 in doubles per game (2.24).
– The Lobos led the MW in nearly every offensive category in 2024, with a slugging percentage of .515 that tied for the 10th-best in program history (No. 35 in the nation) and an on-base percentage of .421 that was also 10th-best in program history and No. 15 in the nation.
– Jake Holland was named MW Co-Player of the Year and ABCA All-Region Second Team following the season, with four Lobos making the All-MW team (most since 2017) and UNM taking home eight MW weekly awards (most since 2013).
| NEW MEXICO NCAA D-I STATISTICAL RANKINGS IN 2024 |
| Stat |
Rank |
Value |
| Batting Average |
#7 |
0.319 |
| On Base Percentage |
#13 |
0.421 |
| Doubles Per Game |
#17 |
2.24 |
| Scoring (Runs per 9) |
#25 |
8.4 |
| Slugging Percentage |
#31 |
0.515 |
| Triples Per Game |
T-#40 |
0.30 |
| Home Runs Per Game |
T-#94 |
1.33 |
WOOD HEATING UP THE BASEPATHS
– The Lobos’ projected leadoff man this season, Tye Wood became a real threat on the basepaths down the stretch in 2024, only getting caught stealing once in his last 11 attempts.
– Wood ranked second in the conference with 20 swiped bags – the most in a single season since Josh Melendez stole 22 in 2012. He stole at least one base against each of the Lobos’ last four opponents in the regular season and wrapped up the season ranked second in the MW in on-base percentage (.488) behind Walker (.490).
– Wood stole three bags – matching Sean Stephens for the most in a single game last season by a Lobo – in UNM’s series opener against Nevada May 10.
SEEING DOUBLE
– The Lobos excelled at getting two for one in 2024, ranking No. 15 in NCAA D-I in double plays per game (0.94) and No. 17 in doubles per game (2.24). They ranked No. 21 in total DP (51) and No. 50 in total doubles (121).
– Last season, the Lobos had four players hit double-digit doubles — two of them, Khalil Walker (11) and Will Asby (17), return for this season.
BROWN’S PROGRAM-BUILDING RESUME
– In his first five seasons as head coach at North Dakota State, Brown’s teams improved their winning percentage in each season, going from 15-30 (.333) in his first season in 2008 to 40-20 (.667) in 2012 and finishing each of the next nine seasons above .400. The Bison reached the Summit League tournament eight times in that span, advancing to NCAA Regionals in 2014 and 2021.
– He’s done the same in each of his first three years in Albuquerque, improving from 21-33 (10-20 MW) in 2022 to 26-25 (13-17 MW) in 2023 to 28-26 (17-13 MW) in 2024.
– Brown coached the Bison to 40-win seasons in 2012 and 2021.
– In Brown’s second season at UNM, the Lobos improved to 26-25 from 21-33 the year prior, with the highest team batting average since 2013 (.328) and lowest team ERA since 2016 (5.95). They finished 28-26 on the season (28-24 in regular-season games) the following season in 2024.
– In 16 seasons as a D-I Head Coach, Brown has finished the season above .400 13 times and above .500 seven times – the only three seasons in which he’s finished below .400 were his first two years in Fargo (2008, 2009) and his first season in Albuquerque (2022).
YOUR 2025 LOBOS ROSTER
– UNM’s 2025 roster includes 13 returning players with 17 newcomers – the Lobos return seven position players who appeared in at least 20 games in 2024 while losing seven.
– Of the Lobos’ newcomers, five are freshmen and 12 are transfers – nine transfers are from junior colleges and three from four-year institutions.
– 30 players are upperclassmen – 15 seniors and 15 juniors – the most upperclassmen Brown has had on a roster in Albuquerque.
