Football
Coming off a season that culminated with a bowl appearance, the UNM football team, which returns 54 lettermen including 20 starters, began spring practices Tuesday at the fields south of University Stadium.
Tuesday's shorts-and-helmets workout kicks off a 15-practice schedule that will run for the next four weeks. The Lobos will slip into their pads for the first time on April Fools Day. More than 90 players are expected to participate in the workouts.
Lobo defensive players will be under new management for the 2003 season, as Osia Lewis was named UNM's defensive coordinator in January. Lewis will replace Bronco Mendenhall, who took the defensive coordinator job at BYU.
Beginning next week, fans can watch the Lobos practice every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday until April 17, starting at 3 p.m. The annual Cherry-Silver intra-squad scrimmage is set for April 19, at 2 p.m. at University Stadium.
Men's Tennis
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In their final home match of the spring season, the Lobos took a tough 4-3 loss at the hands of the Brown University Bears.
Playing in the final home match of their careers, UNM seniors Bart Scott and Brent Salazar both took care of business in singles action. After dropping the opening set, Scott rallied to defeat 100th ranked Jaime Cerretan 2-6, 6-4, 7-6. Salazar had less trouble with Brown's Nick Goldberg, winning the match in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.
The 68th ranked Lobos split the remaining singles matches with the No. 40 Bears. Brown's Chris Drake beat David Kowalski 6-4, 7-5, the Bears' Zack Pasanen defeated Henry Gers 6-4, 6-2, Lobo Jasmin Hodzic breezed by Ben Brier 6-4, 6-2 and Phil Charm of Brown beat Ryan Stotland in a back and forth battle, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
It was the always-crucial doubles point that cost the Lobos the match. Brown's Cerretan and Drake bested Scott and Gers 8-5. The 53rd ranked Lobo duo of Salazar and Stotland downed Goldberg and Adil Shamasdin 8-4 while the Brown tandem of Pasanen and Goddard beat Divan Coetzee and Kowalski in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (7-3).
The Lobos will kick off their conference schedule this weekend against UNLV and San Diego in San Diego, Calif.
Baseball
On the strength of a torrid series at the plate against the University of Utah last weekend, Lobo senior shortstop Dusty Young was named the Mountain West Conference Player of the Week.
Young's performance comes as no surprise, as he is in the midst of a 26-game hitting streak -- the third longest in UNM history.
Young lit up Ute pitching last weekend, to the tune of 5 RBI's, four runs scored and a .538 batting average. His 7-13 performance helped the Lobos take the series two games to one.
UNM took the opening contest 12-2 with Young going 3-6. The senior scored the Lobos' only run in a 6-1 loss in game two and he exploded in game three, going 3-4 with an RBI triple and two RBI singles. UNM won the third game of the series 11-6.
Young follows right fielder Sean Murray and first baseman Chris Alexander as the third Lobo to take top individual honors in the MWC in as many weeks.
The Lobos look to improve on their 18-10 overall record with a three-game set against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Lobo field. The series starts on Friday.
