1 week Ago By Albuquerque Journal, N.M.
Apr. 27—The University of New Mexico baseball team didn't exactly stop hitting Sunday at windy Santa Ana Star Field.The problem was, neither did San Jose State.
After racking up 44 runs in a pair of run-rule wins over the Spartans on Friday and Saturday, the Lobos put 12 more runs and 19 hits on the board Sunday. It wasn't enough as SJSU salvaged the series finale, winning a 14-12 slugfest.It was a rough day to pitch, with a stiff wind blowing out toward center field, and UNM's pitching staff had a rough outing.
Starter Presley Monteforte (0-2) and three Lobos relievers were touched up for runs in six straight innings beginning in the second. New Mexico spent most of the game playing catch-up and never quite accomplished it."Twelve runs should be enough to win," Lobos coach Tod Brown said.
"It wasn't because of our pitching and defense. We misplayed a couple balls, couldn't turn a couple double plays, and our bullpen couldn't stop the bleeding."The Lobos (25-18, 12-9 Mountain West) outhit the Spartans 19-16 but could not come up with as many big hits.
SJSU (21-23, 9-12) smacked 10 extra-base hits to UNM's five.Ethan Ott went 4-for-6 with two doubles to pace the Lobos, who battled back from 6-1 and 14-7 deficits to give themselves a chance to complete a series sweep. But UNM's pitching — other than closer Ty Cunningham, who worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings — wasn't up to the task.
"Every time we scored, they scored," Brown said. "We never really got the momentum."Will Asby and Khalil Walker had three hits each for UNM, which got home runs from Jordy Oriach (his 13th) and Brodey Willaims (his second).
Zach Chamizo and Jeriah Lewis had three hits and four RBIs apiece for SJSU.Despite the loss, UNM earned its third straight series win and remained tied with Nevada for second place in the Mountain West with nine league games remaining. Both trail first-place Fresno State by three games.
The top six MWC finishers qualify for the league tournament with the top two getting first-round byes. The Lobos travel for series at San Diego State and Air Force before hosting Fresno State to complete the regular season."We've been winning series, which is job one," Brown said.
"We don't have a midweek game this week, so hopefully we can rest up, go on the road and win another series."UNM also hopes to get standout infielder Josh McAlister back after he did not play versus San Jose State. McAlister (.
352 batting average with 12 homers and 34 RBIs) was in concussion protocol after being hit by a pitch in last weekend's series at UNLV..
