Staff Report
The University of New Mexico baseball team ended the 2002 season with a sputter, losing two straight games at the Mountain West Conference championship in Provo, Utah.
The sixth-seeded Lobos fell to top-seed San Diego State University 8-2 in the opening game of the tournament May 22.
UNM followed up that defeat with another May 23, losing a close 9-8 decision to second-seeded Utah which eliminated the Lobos from the double-elimination tournament.
Third-seed Brigham Young University won the tournament on May 25, shocking regular season champs the Aztecs in two games, 6-4 and 5-3, to take the tournament title.
The Cougars earned the automatic bid to the NCAA baseball tournament. Despite its 43-23 record and MWC championship SDSU did not recieve an at-large bid to the tournament.
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The Lobos started the scoring in their game against the Aztecs, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
But after giving up a run in the second, UNM succumbed to SDSU's batting prowess as the Aztecs piled on five runs in the fourth inning.
SDSU added runs in the fifth and seventh to salt away to victory as the Lobos could only manage one more run the rest of the game, stranding six runners on base.
Against the University of Utah, UNM again started fast, scoring two runs in the first inning and another in the second before surrendering three runs to the Utes, who scored with two outs in the bottom of the second. Utah then outscored the Lobos 5-1, out-hitting UNM 8-1 over the next three innings.
The Lobos mounted a rally in the top of the sixth inning, scoring three runs on four hits, but the Utes managed to score one run in the bottom of the seventh to ice the victory.
The Lobos finished the scoring in top of the ninth with a home run by Chris Alexander, but they could not find any more offense in the inning.
UNM finished the season with a 22-35 overall record and an 11-19 record in MWC play.
