LAS CRUCES, N.M. — New Mexico couldn’t get its bats going until late as the Lobos (22-13-1, 8-3-1 MW) fell 6-1 in their second rivalry matchup this season with New Mexico State (16-19, 7-8 C-USA) Tuesday evening at Presley Askew Field.
They’ll get two more chances to even the season series at home, hosting the Aggies on April 28 and May 12 at Lobo Baseball Field.
The Aggies plated three runs on five hits in the opening frame and didn’t look back even as UNM’s pitching staff limited the damage to just three runs on seven more hits the rest of the way and kept them off the board in the final three innings.
The Lobos didn’t scratch a run across until Caleb Herd crushed his first homer of the year in the top of the eighth, one of four hits for UNM on the day. Anthony Diaz went 2-for-4 and Garrett Rede added a pinch-hit single in the top of the ninth to round out a four-hit outing.
RHP Ethin Woltz (2.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R / 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K) struck out three but was tagged with the loss to drop to 0-2 on the season after giving up four earned runs in the first three frames. RHP Tyler Do (0.2 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K), RHP Josh Barnhouse (1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K) and RHP Seth Lee (1.1 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K) staunched the bleeding in the middle innings and RHP Luke Wiseman (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) and LHP Matt Cornelius (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K) held the Aggies hitless the rest of the way.
ON DECK
The Lobos return home for a pivotal Mountain West series with second-place Nevada this weekend, starting Friday at 6 p.m.