ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos head to San José State for their final Mountain West road series of the season, set for a three-game series starting Friday.
The games will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
SCHEDULE
FRIDAY @ 6 p.m. PT/ 7 p.m. MT | LIVE STATS
SATURDAY @ 3 p.m. PT/ 4 p.m. MT | LIVE STATS
SUNDAY @ 12 p.m. PT/ 1 p.m. MT | LIVE STATS
UNM enters the series 22-23 and 9-10 in the MW and has won its last three games. The Spartans are 13-29 on the season and 5-14 in conference.
HOME RUN POWER
Heading into the series, the Lobos have 44 home runs, the most since 2022 when UNM hit 46. The 46 home runs are currently tied for the second most in a single season in program history.
The Lobos have the fifth-most home runs in the Mountain West and the 83rd most in the NCAA.
Eleven different players have hit a home run, seven with multiple home runs. Miracle McKenzie leads with 15 with Allie Williams second at eight. Gabrielle Briones, Estrella Rowe, Williams, Caitlin Benningfield, Melanie Macias and Jasmyn Lloyd all hit their first collegiate home runs this season.
The Lobos are 12-0 when they hit two or more home runs and have hit three home runs in seven games.
UNM has hit a home run in the last three games and in 25 games overall. The Lobos hit a home run in six consecutive games between March 22 and April 3.
The Lobos hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning of game three against Fresno State with McKenzie hitting a two-run home run and Macias hitting a home run.
HOLD THE LEAD
UNM is 7-3 when leading after the first inning, 17-4 when holding a lead after the third inning, 17-3 when leading after the fourth inning, 15-3 when leading after the fifth inning and 13-0 when leading after six.
In addition, the Lobos are 16-8 when scoring first and 4-0 in extra innings.
The Lobos are outscoring their opponents 224-216, including 33-22 in the second inning, 33-23 in the third inning, 27-18 in the seventh inning and 17-4 in extra innings.
UNM's highest run production is in the fourth inning at 48 runs.
BIG INNINGS
UNM has scored four or more runs in an inning in 15 games and 19 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.
New Mexico matched that with nine runs in the second inning of game three against Fresno State, scoring nine runs on seven hits and sent 12 to the plate in the inning. Of the seven hits, three went for extra bases (two doubles, one home run) and five came with two outs.
Against New Mexico State, UNM scored five runs in the first inning and in the series against Fresno State, UNM scored five runs in the fourth inning of game one.
In the first game against San Diego State, the Lobos scored six runs in the third inning, hitting two home runs in the inning.
In game two at Boise State, the Lobos scored seven runs in the eighth inning behind four hits, four walks and a Miracle McKenzie grand slam.
In game one at Nevada, the Lobos scored four runs in seventh inning and six runs in the eighth inning, scoring four runs on three hits that included an Allie Williams' three-run home run and sac fly by Melanie Macias. In the eighth inning, DeNae Vasquez-Dickson started the inning with a home run with the Lobos finishing with seven hits.
In game two at Nevada, the Lobos scored six runs in the fourth inning on two hits including a grand slam by Gabrielle Briones, two walks and two errors.
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 224 runs, 74 (37.5%) have come with two outs, including 16 games with multiple runs scored with two outs.
25 of Miracle McKenzie’s 44 RBI (56.8%) on the season have come with two outs, as have 13 of Jessica DeLeon’s 18.
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.
In the series at Boise State, 12 of the 21 runs came with two outs.
McKenzie is 19-41 (.463) with two outs with DeLeon 18-48 (.375) and Gabrielle Briones 14-39 (.359).
WALK IT OUT
The Lobos have 133 walks this season with 11 games with five or more walks, including a season-high seven walks against Tarleton State and game one at Nevada, and six walks in five games.
In the 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. In the series at Boise State, UNM drew 15 walks with six in game one, four in game two and five in game three.
Of the 133 walks, 61 (45.9%) came on full counts, 41 (30.8%) on 3-1 counts and 31 (23.3%) on four pitches.
UNM has led off with a walk in nine games. DeNae Vasquez-Dickson led off the game against Northwestern State on Feb. 7, the Tarleton State game on Feb. 27 and both Nevada games 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 leads the team with 22 walks, drawing three walks in game two with Fresno State, with Vasquez-Dickson closely behind with 21 and Miracle McKenzie at 19. Seventeen different players have at least one walk with 16 with multiple walks.
UNM’s pitching staff didn’t allow a walk in the win against Samford and in game three against Fresno State, and has allowed only one walk in nine 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.
STRIKEOUT STAT
The Lobos rank second in the Mountain West in strikeouts per seven innings (5.30) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.62) with freshman Caitlin Benningfield leading the conference in strikeouts (104).
As a staff, the Lobos have struck out 225 batters, led by Benningfield’s 104 (46.2%) with McKenna Guest the next highest at 70.
UNM struck out a season-high 13 against Samford on March 8 and has struck out five or more in 25 games.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
San José State is 5-14 in conference play following a series loss at Utah State. The Spartans split the series with San Diego State, lost both at Colorado State, was swept by Fresno State and Grand Canyon, lost the series to Nevada and won the series against UNLV.
The Spartans are 6-11 at home with three of the wins against conference opponents.
SJSU is hitting .274 with 304 hits, 69 of which have gone for extra bases. The Spartans have 39 doubles, 13 triples and 17 home runs.
Reina Zermeno leads the Spartans with a .360 batting average behind 45 hits, and team highs of nine doubles, five triples and nine home runs. She also leads the team with 34 RBI and a .728 slugging percentage. Ahmiya Noriega and Zermeno have the two-most hits on the team with Noriega leading at 46. In addition to leading in hits, Noriega leads with 11 stolen bases on 16 attempts.
In the circle, Delaney Faus leads the team with 30 appearances and 22 starts, throwing six complete games and 130.1 innings. Faus accounts for 53 of the team’s 97 strikeouts with Norah Coulsell the next closest pitcher at 88.0 innings pitched, 24 appearances, 15 starts and 26 strikeouts.
As a staff, the pitching staff holds a 5.18 ERA, allowing 374 hits, 228 runs (201 earned) with 111 walks. Opponents are hitting .327 against the Spartan pitchers.