by Phil Parker
Daily Lobo
The Lobos came out swinging against BYU Thursday, winning 19-14 in a game that saw their conference record improve to 4-0.
Senior shortstop Dusty Young set the tone for the Lobos with his first at-bat, slamming a solo home run over the center field wall.
After Sean Murray and Chris Alexander reached base on a single and a walk, sophomore third baseman Josh Mader stepped into the box and hit a two-run triple. The next batter, centerfielder Corey Lizarraga, brought him home and after one inning the Lobos led 4-0.
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"We knew we had to swing the bats really well," Mader said. "This was going to be an offensive battle."
Through the first two innings UNM was cruising with a 9-0 lead.
Pitcher James Vermilyea started the game and held BYU scoreless through the second inning.
The Lobo hitters remained hot, with Alexander and Mader each belting home runs. Alexander would add another homer in the seventh to increase his Mountain West Conference leading total to 11. For Mader, it was the first home run of his Lobo career.
BYU got back into the game with a three-runner homer by centerfielder Brock Jacobson, followed by a Mader error that allowed two more to score.
Leading 10-5, the Lobos scored three more runs in the fourth, starting with a bunt RBI by second baseman Mike Svetlic. The bunt resulted in a throwing error by BYU pitcher Jeff Mousser and allowed another Lobo run. Young then singled in another score.
The Cougars added three runs in the fourth, one in the sixth, three in the seventh, and two more in the top of the ninth. Though the Lobo pitching allowed BYU to hang around, the Cougars never tied or led in the game.
The Lobo bats were proved too hot for the Cougars though. Young homered twice and had five RBI. He extended his hitting streak to 18 games, tying his career high. Murray was five for six at the plate and extended his own career-high hitting streak to 16 games.
"Today was one of those days that I was seeing the ball well," Young said. "I've never hit two home runs in a game, and I've been hitting well all year."
Adrian Soto picked up the win with 3.2 innings of relief. The Lobos remain undefeated in the conference and stretched their winning streak to seven games, their longest since 1995.
"We hit really well today," Alday said. "Our pitching wasn't great, so we made up for that swinging. Nineteen runs is pretty good. We seem to have a hero in our lineup for each game. Today it was Dusty and Josh. We got key base hits and it's been like that all season."
For Alday, this was more than a usual win. With his 384th victory as UNM head coach, he moved into first place on the all-time list.
"This is a credit to myself, but it's also a credit to the coaches and players we've had here for the last 15 years," he said.
Mader agreed that the win was special.
"As a team this means a lot because we stick by coach and buy into everything he says," Mader said. "We felt good that we were doing this for him."
Young said that while the record was on players' minds, "no one ever said anything about it. We knew, but we just play to win every game."
