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@ThomasRomeroS
The New Mexico baseball team bounced back after another mind-numbing loss at Lobo Field on Sunday.
In a doubleheader versus Nevada, UNM dropped the first game 3-2 but came back to win the second game 7-5.
The first contest saw two mental errors that have been characteristic of the Lobos all season. In the top of the ninth, UNM had a 2-1 advantage with two on and two out, but left fielder Luke Campbell lost a routine fly ball in the sun and the Wolf Pack scored the go-ahead run to take a 3-2 lead.
After third baseman Alex Allbritton singled and shortstop Jared Holley got hit by a pitch, Ryan Padilla hit a double down the right field line. Padilla’s hit would have scored Allbritton, but Allbritton was picked off at second base.
Nevada pitcher Michael Fain then struck out outfielder John Pustay and intentionally walked third baseman DJ Peterson. With the bases loaded and two outs, Campbell came up to bat for a chance to atone for his error. Instead he struck out to end the game, giving the Wolf Pack a 3-2 win.
Allbritton, who went 3-for-4 with an RBI, said there have been several factors in why the team has blown numerous games this season.
“That’s tough to say; there are a lot of guys that would be playing really well at one point and then just take a pitch off or a play off,” he said. “It’s not just one person, it’s everybody.”
In the second game the Lobos had an early 4-0 advantage after three innings, but the Wolf Pack quickly tied it up at four thanks to two runs in the top of the fourth and fifth.
UNM swiftly retook the lead when Padilla singled through the right side of the infield to plate catcher Mitch Garver for a 5-4 lead.
The Lobos added one insurance run in both the bottom of the seventh and the eighth for a 7-4 lead heading into the top of the ninth.
Wolf Pack outfielder Scott Kaplan hit into a fielder’s choice for an RBI to cut the deficit to two. With runners on second and third with two outs, outfielder Jamison Rowe popped up to end the inning for a 7-5 victory for UNM.
“It was a big relief,” said UNM relief pitcher Jonathan Cuellar. “Every game has been a nail-biter — I’m not going to lie about that. It’s good to finally be at the good end of one of these games.”
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“We have to keep fighting and eventually it’ll turn around for us,” he said.
Altogether, the Lobos used four pitchers between the two games. In Game 1, Sam Wolff threw six innings, allowed five hits, one earned run and six walks with one strikeout. Relief pitcher Gabe Aguilar tossed three innings, giving up one hit, two unearned runs with four punch-outs.
Game 2 starting pitcher Alex Estrella pitched four innings, letting two runs score, along with three hits and three strike outs. Cuellar worked five innings, permitting three earned runs, and four hits with a walk.
Sunday’s games marked the first time UNM played a game at Lobo Field since the 2010 season. Lobo Field has been under construction for the past three years and still isn’t completely finished.
“It was a little bit strange; a lot of guys were talking about how it wasn’t right the first time around,” Allbritton said.
Head coach Ray Birmingham lit up on his team after the Lobos’ 7-5 victory over the Wolf Pack. He said he wouldn’t say how he would fix the squad’s attitude.
“It’s the upperclassmen that are making me furious the way that they’re disrespecting the game,” he said. “Seniors, juniors, and it’s not all of them but it’s some of them and it ain’t good. It ain’t good at all. … There’s no entitlement here. What you did last year and the year before doesn’t mean nothing, don’t count anymore. Now counts, today counts, each pitch counts. I’m just extremely, extremely, extremely upset.”
