ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Miracle McKenzie’s hot hitting continued in Friday’s Mountain West opener against Grand Canyon with her ninth home run of the season to tie the game at two in the third inning, but the Lopes answered with five in the fourth for the 7-2 final score.
Both teams finished with seven hits with the Lobos leaving the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings.
GCU plated a run in the first on aggressive base running as a sac bunt resulted in the second out at first but the runner on second came around to score on the play. A sacrifice fly with Allie Williams making the catch on the warning track in the third put UNM in a 2-0 deficit.
Williams led off the bottom of the first with a four-pitch walk, the sixth game the Lobos have started the game with a walk.
DeNae Vasquez-Dickson led the Lobos with a 3-3 performance at the plate, providing UNM’s first hit of the game with a single to left field in the bottom of the third inning, with McKenzie following up on the next at-bat with a line drive over the scoreboard in left on the 1-2 count for her ninth home run of the year.
Of note, McKenzie has hit a home run in three of the last four games.
However, a leadoff home run for the Lopes in the top of the fourth gave the visitors the lead back with GCU scoring five runs on three hits, three walks and two errors in the inning before relief pitcher Arianna Capek got the Lobos out of the inning with a swinging strikeout on her first batter faced.
Estrella Rowe reached scoring position in the bottom of the inning on a single up the middle, taking second on a wild pitch, but two strikeouts left the Lobo infielder stranded.
Capek added two more strikeouts in the fifth with Vasquez-Dickson reaching on an infield single to the pitcher but was caught stealing second to end the inning.
The Lobo defense worked around a leadoff hit in the top of the sixth to leave the bases loaded, with the Lobos loading the bases in their half of the inning. Jessica DeLeon reached on a fielding error to start the bottom of the inning, and following a fielder’s choice with the out on the lead runner, Mya Pacheco hit a pinch-hit single through the right side to move Gabrielle Briones into scoring position. A groundout by Rowe put both runners in scoring position and Jewels Hanawahine drew a two-out walk to load the bases before a flyout to center ended the opportunity.
In the bottom of the seventh, Williams led off with a hit back up the middle to the gap in left center for the standup double, her sixth of the season. Vasquez-Dickson added a bloop single to center with Williams sliding in to third on the play, and with two outs, Briones loaded the bases on a hit-by-pitch. However, a flyout to center ended the game.
McKenna Guest got the start, going 3.2 innings with Capek throwing 3.1 scoreless innings and struck out four while allowing two hits.
Game two of the series is set for Saturday at 2 p.m. on the Mountain West Network with free admission.