Not normally known for its power in the lineup, the Lobos connected on two pitches early in the contest to put pressure on GCU. New Mexico never looked back after jumping to a 7-0 lead against the Antelopes.
UNM’s designated hitter Cory Voss hit a homer on a 3-2 count, which head coach Ray Birmingham called simply a reaction swing. However, Voss mustered enough pop behind the ball, which was escorted by the wind over the right center field wall in the second inning.
Birmingham said Carl Stajduhar’s three-run homer in the third inning was no fluke and did not need the assistance of the gusty night.
“Stajduhar’s (homer) was legit,” Birmingham said. “That was a rocket. It got out of here in a hurry.”
After Stajduhar’s blast, the Lobos tacked on one more run in the fourth before ending their scoring affairs.
“I think we were just going up there and seeing the ball and hitting the ball,” Stajduhar said. “We were just up there trusting all of our training and trying to make something happen early to give our pitchers some run support.”
Birmingham said he has been working with a lot of his players’ offensive approaches in order to get his hitters to dial down at the plate. He said a lot of his players have been trying to do too much with the bat, causing them to spin off the ball for easy outs.
Although the Lobos (20-15, 11-7 Mountain West) had some success early in the game, Grand Canyon could not take advantage of the howling Albuquerque winds. UNM’s starting left-handed pitcher sophomore Carson Schneider threw five shutout innings, allowing five hits and striking out three Antelopes before his exit.
“I was just trying to work down in the zone, throw a lot of strikes and get ground balls,” Schneider said. “I did a pretty good job at it, which is why I was so successful.”
Schneider went right after the GCU lineup, not allowing a single walk and throwing 40 of his 52 pitches over the plate for strikes.
The Antelopes did finally garner a three-spot in the top of the seventh inning against lefty reliever Alex Estrella. Estrella gave up six consecutive base-hits against GCU (21-15) and would depart later in the seventh inning. He worked 1.2 innings and allowed three runs and seven hits on 31 pitches.
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Jake Cole came out at the end of the game to collect his fourth save on the season. UNM’s closer was able to throw 2.1 shutout innings after coming in during a tight spot with runners on second and third.
“He’s the strong bond we still have that we can count on,” Birmingham said.
Cole improved his ERA to 2.42 on the season, while the hard-throwing right hander added five more strikeouts to his totals and committing the only walk by the UNM pitching staff.
As a whole, UNM’s pitching held up against the Antelope lineup. GCU was only able to account for three runs on 14 total hits on the night. UNM made the most of their on-base attempts scoring its seven runs on just eight hits.
“That’s a really good win against a really good team,” Birmingham said. “I’m glad we could get it.”
UNM will continue its two-game middle-of-the-week series against the out-of-conference Antelopes today at 3 p.m. at Lobo Field.
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
