New Mexico came out of the UC Davis Tournament one game above .500 as the team prepares for its first home games of the 2016 campaign.
The Lobos were able to take game one of the tourney, defeating South Dakota (1-14) by a 3-2 score on Friday night. Starting pitcher Lauren Soles did not receive much backup from her offense, but the Lobos nonetheless escaped the affair with a victory, scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to give Krissy Fortner, who came in for relief, her first win in the circle.
Though the bats came alive late for New Mexico on Friday night, they remained dormant in the first game of Saturday’s double header, dropping it 6-0 to Iowa. Tess McPhereson only allowed four hits during Saturday morning’s contest, but the Cyclones (10-4) jumped on the redshirt junior for five runs.
UNM’s offense didn’t stay down for long on Saturday, though, as the Lobos faced off against Idaho State that evening. New Mexico blasted Ashlyn Ames for a four-run second inning, knocking her out of the game. Alhough that was the only inning the Lobos were able to do any damage, it was plenty.
New Mexico again faced off against the Bengals on the final day of the tournament, but weren't able to pull out the win this time, falling 5-4 to Idaho State. Though Soles was dubbed with the loss on Sunday morning’s game, it was the Lobos defense that may have cost them the matchup.
Soles gave up three runs during the day, but three Lobo fielding errors forced the senior out of the circle in the top of the sixth, and with a losing score.
Senior Lisa Rodrigues had a rough outing in Sunday’s second game. Luckily, after being chased away after recording just three outs, the Lobo bats came to battle for her. Rodrigues was charged with just one run through her single inning of work as the Lobos recorded three more errors in the contest.
Even more impressive was freshman Colette Robert coming in for six innings of relief. The newcomer didn’t allow a single run, garnering the win and improving to 4-3 on the year.
The Lobos (8-7) are back in Albuquerque for a brief homestand as the squad will take on Northern Colorado for a two game set. The teams will square up beginning Saturday at 1 p.m.
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
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