ALL-TIME SERIES
• With their first 4-0 season sweep of their in-state rivals since 2022 last season but an 0-3 record against them in 2026, The Lobos are 171-98 all-time against their rivals to the south, with a 80-35 record in home matchups and a 65-54 record in Las Cruces.
• Tod Brown is 11-7 against the Aggies in his tenure as UNM Head Coach. Current NMSU head coach Jake Angier was Brown’s pitching coach at North Dakota State for three seasons (2011-2013).
KARSEN WASLEFSKY NAMED BROOKS WALLACE AWARD SEMIFINALIST
New Mexico’s Karsen Waslefsky has made the cut as a semifinalist for the Brooks Wallace Award annually given to college baseball’s top shortstop, the College Baseball Foundation announced on Wednesday.
Waslefsky is one of 50 shortstops to be named as a semifinalist for the award, which honors the nation's top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year. It is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977 to 1980. Wallace died of leukemia at the age of 27.
“Narrowing our list to even 50 is a difficult task to take on as there are so many deserving shortstops at midseason,“ said Larry Wallace, co-chair of the Brooks Wallace Award. “All these kids are piling up big offensive numbers with power. But just as important are the defensive skills and how well they field their position.”
In his second year at UNM, Waslefsky has started 38 of 40 possible games at shortstop for the Lobos this season and is batting .288 on the season with 35 runs, 30 RBI, seven doubles, five homers and a triple. He’s fielding at a .976 clip with 118 assists and 44 putouts on 166 opportunities and has stolen 10 bases on 11 attempts.
LAST TIME OUT (W, 11-9 @ GRAND CANYON)
• New Mexico was on the brink of suffering its first sweep at the hands of a conference opponent this season before storming back with 11 runs in the fourth and fifth innings, salvaging its Mountain West finale with an 11-9 win that clinched a spot in the conference tournament.
• With a 12-11-1 record in conference play, the Lobos have guaranteed that they’ll qualify for their third straight Mountain West Tournament May 21-24 at Sloan Park in Mesa, Ariz. With another weekend of conference games left to play for some teams, they'll be at minimum a No. 5 seed in the tournament with a chance to climb to the No. 4 seed depending on next weekend's results.
• After a second-frame five-spot from the Lopes that saw them put up five hits, the Lobos finally found a response with three runs on five hits of their own in the top of the fourth after only getting one runner in scoring position over the first three innings. Brodey Williams and Karsen Waslefsky both drove in a run each after Luke Mansy led off with a single and Gene Trujillo followed with his 20th double of the year, with Diaz bringing in the third with a sac fly.
• RHP Ethin Woltz kept the momentum with a 1-2-3 bottom of the inning after taking over in relief and the Lobos got back to work in the fifth, loading the bases with nobody out and exploding for eight runs on just four hits to turn the game on its head. Williams drove in a run with a single for the second inning in a row and Akili Carris extended the lead to 10-5 with a two-run double before an RBI grounder from Luke Mansy extended the lead yet again.
• With 3 ⅔ innings of relief in which struck out two and walked two while being tagged for three runs on four hits, Woltz earned the win to improve to 3-2 on the season.
• The Lopes found a response with four more runs on an RBI single and a three-run homer, but RHP Ty Cunningham (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 K) kept GCU off the board for the final two innings to earn his third save of the season and 13th of his career. Cunningham now moves up to No. 4 on the UNM All-Time Career Saves List, trailing only Victor Sanchez (20, 2013-16), Christian Tripp (18, 2016-18) and Gera Sanchez Gera Sanchez (15, 2010-12).
• In total, UNM finished with 11 hits, led by a 3-for-5 outing from Brodey Williams (2 R, 2 RBI, 2B) as well as multi-hit performances from Khalil Walker (2 H, 1 R, 1 RBI) and Akili Carris (2 H, 1 R, 2 RBI) to go with a knock apiece from Luke Mansy (2 R, 1 RBI), Gene Trujillo (2B, 2 R, BB), Karsen Waslefsky (1 R, 1 RBI, BB) and Shane Miller (1 R, 1 RBI). Lenny Junior Ashby got on base twice without a hit, churning out the tying run in the fifth inning on a hit-by-pitch.
