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by Connor Gilbert

Lobos Dominate Nevada in MW Tournament Opener, 13-4

Lobos Dominate Nevada in MW Tournament Opener, 13-4Lobos Dominate Nevada in MW Tournament Opener, 13-4
Box Score

MESA, Ariz. – New Mexico exploded for 13 runs in the first four frames and didn’t look back as the No. 4 seed Lobos raced past No. 5 seed Nevada 13-4 to extend their season and advance to the double elimination bracket of the Mountain West Tournament Thursday night at Sloan Park.

It’s Head Coach Tod Brown’s first win in the Mountain West Tournament in his tenure at UNM. The Lobos will now face No. 1 seed San Diego State tomorrow at 2 p.m. for their next tournament matchup.

UNM put three runs on the board right away in the opening frame, with Diaz leading off with a single and Mansy drawing a crucial two-out walk before Ashby crushed the first pitch he saw for a three-run bomb – his team-leading seventh big fly of the year.

Nevada responded with four hits in the bottom of the inning, with Castillo limiting the damage to two runs thanks to a 4-6-3 double play and a swinging strikeout to end the frame with the lead still intact. The Wolf Pack tied things up with two more hits in the bottom of the second

The Lobos responded in kind, exploding for five runs thanks to back-to-back doubles from Carris and Mansy, an RBI single from Williams and a two-run blast from Gianni that made it an 8-3 ballgame.

They didn’t let up in the following frame, bringing in five more runs on three hits to extend the lead to 13-3 – a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way even as Nevada stranded six Lobos on base over the final five frames.

All in all, UNM finished with 12 hits, with Lenny Junior Ashby (3-for-4, 2 R, 5 RBI, HR, 1 BB) leading the way with a three-hit night and Akili Carris (2 H, 2 R, 2 RBI, 2B), Brodey Williams (2-for-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, BB) and Antonio Gianni (2 H, 1 R, 3 RBI, HR) all finished with multiple knocks. 

RHP Ryan Castillo (5.2 IP, 11 H, 4 R / 4 ER, 3 BB, 4 K) worked around early trouble and kept the Wolf Pack to just four runs on 11 hits to earn his eighth win of the season – the most in a single season by a Lobo pitcher since Carson Schneider won nine in 2016.

LHP Cooper Corkrean (3.1 IP, 1 H, 0    R, 2 BB, 4 K) shut out Nevada the rest of the way on just one hit to earn his fourth save of the year.

ON DECK
Friday’s second-round matchup with the Aztecs is set for 2 p.m. MT. All of the MW Tournament will be free to stream via the MW Network at GoLobos.com/Watch, with live stats available at GoLobos.com/BSBStats. Follow @UNMLoboBaseball on IG, X and Facebook for comprehensive coverage.