ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos close out the nonconference tournament portion of their schedule in Mobile, Alabama and the Jaguar Classic, set to play No. 12/17 Mississippi State, South Alabama and Samford Friday through Sunday.
UNM will play MSU and Samford twice and host South Alabama once with the South Alabama game streamed on ESPN+. All five games will have live stats available.
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY: Mississippi State @ 9 a.m. MT | LIVE STATS
FRIDAY: Samford @ 11:30 a.m. MT | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY: Mississippi State @ 9 a.m. MT | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY: South Alabama @ 2 p.m. MT WATCH | LIVE STATS
SUNDAY: Samford @ 9 a.m. MT LIVE STATS
The Jaguar Classic marks the second and third time that the Lobos will face Mississippi State after UNM faced the Bulldogs in the opening weekend at the Getterman Classic. This weekend will be the first games against Samford in program history and the first time playing South Alabama since 2014.
HEATING UP
The Lobos have won their last four games and seven of the last eight.
In the last eight, UNM has outscored its opponents 55-27, 17-5 in the first two innings (12-4 in the first and 5-1 in the second), 15-7 in the fourth and 6-0 in the fifth. UNM is hitting .352 with a .621 slugging percentage, behind 77 hits, 19 doubles, two triples and 12 home runs, and have drawn 31 walks.
Of those last eight, Gabrielle Briones is hitting .522 with a .593 on-base percentage behind 12 hits, three doubles, two home runs and a .913 slugging percentage. Allie Williams is hitting .500 with a .967 slugging percentage and .485 on-base percentage with a team-high 15 hits and 11 RBI. Williams has also hit three home runs with a team-high five doubles. Miracle McKenzie posted 10 RBI, a 1.043 slugging percentage with three doubles and four home runs plus a team-high five walks.
UNM is 7-7 in stolen bases in the last eight with Briana Williams going 5-5 and Hayden Luderer 2-2.
In the circle, Caitlin Benningfield has gone 3-0 in four appearances with two complete games with a 0.91 ERA, 18 strikeouts to five walks, while McKenna Guest has gone 4-0 with one complete game, striking out 16 to four walks. As a staff, the Lobos have a 2.33 ERA with 47 strikeouts to 14 walks.
In the last four, the Lobos have outscored their opponents 22-6, including 6-0 in the first inning and 10-2 in the fourth inning. In addition, UNM hit .340 with a .610 slugging percentage behind 34 hits, seven doubles, a triple and six home runs.
The pitching staff had a 1.08 ERA in the last four games with 21 strikeouts to six walks with Guest striking out nine to one walk and Benningfield striking out eight to three walks.
At the plate in the last four games, Briones hit .636 with a 1.091 slugging percentage and .667 on-base percentage behind seven hits, two doubles and a home run. A. Williams had a 1.000 slugging percentage with seven hits, a team-high six RBI and two home runs.
HOLD THE LEAD
UNM is 9-2 when holding a lead after the third, fourth and fifth innings and 7-0 when leading after six.
The Lobos are outscoring their opponents 87-75: 10-9 in the second inning, 12-9 in the third inning, 20-12 in the fourth inning, 7-6 in the fifth inning and 12-11 in the sixth inning.
UNM was good when holding a lead last season: 9-5 when leading after the first, 13-6 after the second, 15-3 after the third, 16-4 when leading after the fourth, 15-2 after the fifth and 17-3 leading after the sixth.
BIG INNINGS
UNM has scored four runs in an inning nine times this season, four of which came in the Abilene Christian series. UNM scored five runs in both the first and fourth innings against Houston Christian on Feb. 28.
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.
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.
KEEP THE STREAK ALIVE
Gabrielle Briones enters the weekend on a four-game hitting streak and a 13 game streak of reaching base, while Allie Williams has reached base in the last 10 games with a hit in the last nine. Mya Pacheco has reached in the last five games she’s played in.
WALK IT OUT
The Lobos have 55 walks this season with six games with five or more walks.
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 55 walks, 23 came on full counts, 14 on 3-1 counts and 18 on four pitches.
UNM has led off with a walk in five 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 both the Louisiana Tech game, third game at Abilene Christian and Houston Christian game on Feb. 28 with a walk.
Jessica DeLeon leads the Lobos with eight walks with Vasquez-Dickson and Miracle McKenzie tied for second at seven. Seventeen different players have at least one walk with 12 with multiple walks.
UNM’s pitching staff has allowed only one walk in five 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.
Three players finished with 20-plus walks, including 21 for DeLeon and 20 for Vasquez-Dickson.
Conversely, UNM’s pitchers did not allow a walk in five games and was 4-1 when not allowing a walk last season.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
Mississippi State enters the weekend 19-2 with the Bulldogs outscoring opponents 151-30. As a team, MSU has 182 hits, hitting .345, behind 28 hits and a .467 batting average from Kiarra Sells. Sells also leads the team with seven home runs, 18 RBI, seven doubles and a .933 slugging percentage. The Bulldogs have stolen 20 bases on 22 attempts, led by seven from Sells.
The pitching staff holds a 1.41 ERA with four shutouts and have struck out 188 to 33 walks. Alyssa Faircloth leads the staff with eight starts and 84 strikeouts, throwing 47.0 innings. Peja Goold has also appeared in 12 games with six starts and four complete games, throwing 45.0 innings with 61 strikeouts.
South Alabama is 14-7 on the season, hitting .260 with 129 hits, led by 20 hits from Gracie Dees and 19 hits from Presely Lively. Olivia Branstetter and Lillie Stagner share the team lead with 16 RBI with Lively leading with a team-high 17 walks. Opponents are outscoring USA 135-129. On the base paths, the Jaguars are 18-22 with Gracie McDonald 5-5 and Lively 5-6.
In the circle, USA’s pitching staff enters with a 3.35 ERA, led by 15 appearances, seven starts and five complete games from Ryley Harrison. Harrison has thrown 62.1 innings, striking out a team-high 57 while walking 18. As a staff, the Jaguars have struck out 122 to 49 walks, and has six shutouts and eight complete games.
Samford is 8-13 on the season, hitting .282 with 142 hits, with opponents outscoring the Bulldogs 121-88. Olivia Shaw leads the team with 22 hits, a .379 batting average, .672 slugging percentage, 12 walks, eight doubles and 22 RBI. The Bulldogs are 9-15 in stolen base attempts, led by three from Joi Hubbard.
The pitching staff has an ERA of 6.15 with Makinley Turner leading with 50.1 innings, 10 starts, seven complete games and three shutouts. Turner has struck out 44 to 24 walks, with the staff striking out 85 to 73 walks.