ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Coming off of a series win over San Diego State, the Lobos return to the road for a three-game series against Boise State starting Thursday.
UNM enters the series 3-6 in the Mountain West with the Broncos 4-5.
SCHEDULE:
THURSDAY @ 6 p.m. | LIVE STATS
FRIDAY @ 6 p.m. | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY @ 2 p.m. | LIVE STATS
All three games will be on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
MIRACLE AT THE PLATE
Sophomore Miracle McKenzie got the bat going at the Mardi Gras Mambo and it continued ever since.
McKenzie has six multiple-hit games and a team-high nine multiple-RBI games, including a season-high three hits in the series finale at ACU behind a career-high two home runs and five RBI. Her six multiple-hit games matches her season total from 2025.
McKenzie was named MW Player of the Week on March 9 after leading the Lobos with a .538 batting average, 1.538 slugging percentage, .684 on-base percentage behind a team-high seven hits, as well as a team-high seven RBI and four home runs. The sophomore also drew a team-high five walks.
The California native hit two home runs in a game for the second time this season against Samford on March 8, giving the Lobos a 1-0 lead in the first and a 4-1 lead in the eighth, which proved to be the difference in the 4-3 win.
She previously had a nine-game streak of reaching base that spanned from Feb. 14 to Feb. 28 and four straight games with at least one RBI between March 7 to March 13.
The first baseman leads the team in slugging percentage (.864), home runs (13), total bases (76), RBI (30) and on-base percentage (.458) and is tied for the team lead in hits (30), doubles (seven) and walks (16).
Her 13 home runs are tied for fifth in a single season in program history and the most by a Lobo since 2022, when Andrea Howard hit 18.
McKenzie is second in the Mountain West in home runs (28th in the NCAA), home runs per game (0.38, 4nd in NCAA) and slugging percentage (58th in the NCAA).
Through 34 games, she has already surpassed her doubles, runs scored, total bases, RBI and home runs from her freshman season and has improved her batting average from .275 to .341, her slugging percentage from .420 to .864 and her on-base percentage from .384 to .458.
HOME RUN POWER
Heading into the series, the Lobos have 31 home runs, the most since 2022 when UNM hit 46.
The Lobos have the fourth-most home runs in the Mountain West and the 88th-most in the NCAA.
Nine different players have hit a home run, five with multiple home runs. Miracle McKenzie leads with 13 with Allie Williams second at six. Gabrielle Briones, Williams, Caitlin Benningfield and Jasmyn Lloyd all hit their first collegiate home runs this season.
The Lobos are 8-0 when they hit two or more home runs and have hit three home runs in six games.
UNM has hit a home run in the last four games, twice with three home runs, and in 17 games overall.
BIG INNINGS
UNM has scored four runs in an inning in nine games and 12 times this season.
The Lobos scored a season-best nine runs in the fourth inning against South Alabama after scoring seven runs in the second inning. UNM scored seven runs behind two home runs in the second inning, all with two outs, ultimately scoring seven runs on six hits and sent 10 batters to the plate. The Lobos exceeded the second-inning production with nine runs on seven hits in the fourth inning. Of the nine runs in the inning, seven were scored with two outs with four of the seven hits coming with two outs.
In the first game against San Diego State, the Lobos scored six runs in the third inning, hitting two home runs in the inning.
Four instances came in the Abilene Christian series. The Lobos scored four runs in the fourth inning of game one, four runs in the second and fourth inning of game two and four runs in the sixth inning of game three at ACU.
In the second inning of game two at ACU, the Lobos hit three consecutive doubles to score three runs with all four runs in the inning coming with two outs.
UNM scored five runs in both the first and fourth innings against Houston Christian on Feb. 28. The Lobos scored five runs on two home runs in the first inning against HCU and five runs on three hits in the fourth inning.
UNM also scored four runs in the seventh inning of the season opener against Baylor, four runs in the third inning against Northwestern State on Feb. 14 and four runs in the seventh inning against UTEP on Feb. 27.
For comparison, New Mexico scored four or more runs in an inning in six games last season, including 13 runs in the fifth inning against Texas Southern on Feb. 23.
TWO OUTS, SO WHAT?
Of UNM’s 144 runs, 59 (41.0%) have come with two outs, including 11 games with multiple runs scored with two outs.
Sixteen of Miracle McKenzie’s 30 RBI on the season have come with two outs, as have seven of Jessica DeLeon’s 10.
Of note, DeLeon drove in the game-winning run against UTEP on Feb. 27 with two outs.
UNM was 14-21 in game two at Abilene Christian with two outs with 10 of the 13 runs coming with two outs in the inning.
Against South Alabama, UNM was 10-16 with two outs and 14 of the 16 runs were scored with two outs.
McKenzie is 13-30 (.433) with two outs with Gabrielle Briones 12-30 (.400).
WALK IT OUT
The Lobos have 94 walks this season with eight games with five or more walks, including a season-high seven walks against Tarleton State and six walks in four games.
In the last series against San Diego State, the Lobos drew 14 walks, including three walks to start the game in game one and three walks in the third inning of game two.
UNM drew 19 walks in the UNM Invitational, drawing a season-high seven walks in the first game against Tarleton State and six in the first game against Houston Christian.
In two games at the UNM Invitational (Tarleton State on Feb. 27 and Houston Christian on Feb. 28), the Lobos started the bottom of the first with a walk with the Lobos drawing four walks in the first inning against Houston Christian.
In the opening weekend, UNM drew 10 walks with six in the season opener against Baylor and two runs scored on walks. In the series with ACU, the Lobos drew 15 walks in the three games with three walks in the first inning of game three to score the first run.
Of the 94 walks, 41 came on full counts, 28 on 3-1 counts and 25 on four pitches.
UNM has led off with a walk in seven games. DeNae Vasquez-Dickson led off the game against Northwestern State on Feb. 7 and the Tarleton State game on Feb. 27 with a walk and Briana Williams led off the Louisiana Tech game, third game at Abilene Christian, Houston Christian game on Feb. 28 and game one against San Diego State with a walk. Allie Williams led off game one against GCU with a walk.
Jessica DeLeon and Miracle McKenzie lead the team with 16 walks. Seventeen different players have at least one walk with 15 with multiple walks.
UNM’s pitching staff didn’t allow a walk in the win against Samford and has allowed only one walk in eight games this season.
The Lobos drew 160 walks last season, drawing five or more walks in eight games with a season-high seven done twice. UNM’s 160 walks were the most since 2022.
STRIKEOUT STAT
The Lobos rank second in the Mountain West in strikeouts per seven innings (5.34) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.92) with freshman Caitlin Benningfield leading the conference in strikeouts (77) and third in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.35).
As a staff, the Lobos have struck out 169 batters, led by Benningfield’s 77 with McKenna Guest the next highest at 50.
UNM struck out a season-high 13 against Samford on March 8 and have struck out five or more in 18 games.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
Boise State is 18-20 on the season, 5-4 at home and 4-5 in conference.
The Broncos are hitting .273, led by a .340 batting average and .621 slugging percentage by Marissa Gonzalez. Three players have 35 or more hits with Skylar Stroh leading with 40, with Stroh also leading the team with 34 RBI. Of the team’s 266 hits, the Broncos have hit 53 doubles, three triples and 27 home runs.
When BSU has reached base, the Broncos are 27-37 in stolen bases with seven each from Ashley Hernandez-Lofton and Quinn Southerland.
Six different pitchers have made an appearance, with Louia-Rae McNamara leading with 30 appearances but three starts and Julianne Rose and Olivia Bauer making the most starts with 11 and 15, respectively. As a staff, the Broncos hold a 4.38 ERA, allowing 178 runs (153 earned) and striking out 164 to 136 walks.