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by Connor Gilbert

Lobos Hold Off UNLV 7-6, Equalize Weekend Series

Lobos Hold Off UNLV 7-6, Equalize Weekend SeriesLobos Hold Off UNLV 7-6, Equalize Weekend Series
Box Score

LAS VEGAS – New Mexico equalized its weekend series with UNLV thanks to a hot start and shutdown pitching down the stretch as the Lobos (18-11-1, 4-3-1 MW) held off the Rebels 7-6 Friday night at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Saturday’s rubber match is set for a 1 p.m. MT first pitch, with the weekend series in the balance.

After RHP Cristian Mogen’s abrupt departure from the game as the Rebels made up an early 5-1 deficit to tie it up in the third, LHP Cooper Corkrean (4.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) picked him up with 4 ⅔ innings of shutout ball before RHP Luke Wiseman (2 IP, 2 H, 1 R / 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K) struck out the side in the eighth and induced the game-ending double play in the ninth to keep UNM in the driver's seat.

Corkrean earned the win to improve to 3-0 in games of record, with Wiseman earning his second save of the season and third of his UNM career.

The Lobos scored seven runs on just six hits, taking advantage of four UNLV errors – with two in the opening frame as UNM jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Karsen Waslefsky (2-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI) racked up multiple knocks for the third game in a row to lead the way, driving in a critical insurance run in the top of the ninth that proved to be the difference. Lenny Junior Ashby (2B, 2 RBI), Damian Garcia (HR, 2 RBI), Luke Mansy (1 R) and Khalil Walker (1 R) all added a hit apiece to round things out, with Akili Carris scoring the winning run after drawing a walk in the ninth.

The Lobos got right to work on the offensive end, with Karsen Waslefsky singling, advancing to third on a wild pitch and passed ball and scoring on a sac fly from Lenny Junior Ashby before a two-run bomb from Damian Garcia – his fourth of the year – made it 3-0 Lobos.

Luke Mansy got aboard and scored on a pair of costly two-out UNLV errors to tack on another.

UNLV got one back with a sac fly of their own in the bottom of the frame and tied things up at 5-5 in the third with two runs each in the second and third, cueing starter Cristian Mogen’s earliest departure from a game this season with one out in the third in favor of LHP Cooper Corkrean.

The junior lefty delivered two outs in as many chances to stanch the bleeding and keep things moving, ending the third with a punchout and working around two baserunners with no outs to put up a zero in the fourth with things still tied after six Lobos were retired in a row at the plate.

Ashby broke the deadlock with a one-out double to right that scored Waslefsky for a 6-5 lead and Corkrean continued to neutralize the Rebels’ bats, retiring nine of the next 12 he faced to blank the Rebels until Wiseman’s entry into the game. The senior righty kept the momentum rolling with three punchouts in a row in the eighth, making it five scoreless frames in a row.

Waslefsky came up big again with an RBI single that brought in Carris from second – an insurance run that proved to be crucial after UNLV got one across in the ninth.

With one out on the board and a runner on first in the bottom of the ninth after a pair of leadoff singles threatened to force extras, Wiseman induced a 6-3 double play to end the game with the Lobos still in front.