Baseball: Lobos take Game 1 from Rebels and climb into first place in MW

New Mexico’s offense once again stole the show in the opening game of this weekend's series against UNLV with a 15-3 blowout on Friday night, and climbed to the top of the conference in the process.

UNM’s lefty starter Carson Schneider didn’t need all the fuel the offense showcased, but the junior wasn’t fazed by several long innings throughout the course of the contest. Schneider improved to 5-1 on the year dropping his ERA to a respectable 3.37.

The Rebels were able to take an early lead with a one-run top of the first. However, their lead was short-lived as Chris DeVito continued swinging a red-hot stick with an RBI single in the bottom of the inning.

That was the only base knock DeVito would get in the contest, though he tacked on another RBI with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second. It was the last run the Lobos would get amidst a four-run bottom of the second inning.

Every UNM starter received a hit on the day, including four players with multi-hit evenings.

Leading the charge were the top two hitters in the lineup for UNM. Luis Gonzalez and Jared Holley combined for seven hits in just 11 at-bats at the top two spots in the lineup. Gonzalez and Holley each picked up four RBIs accounting for eight of the 15 runs for the Lobos.

Though it wasn’t exactly small ball that accounted for the Lobos’ 15 runs, UNLV’s four pitchers were able to keep UNM batters contained within the yard at Santa Ana Star Field. However, New Mexico still managed to tally six extra base hits in the rout, and knocked UNLV starter D.J. Myers out the contest before he was able to complete the fifth inning.

With UNM’s victory over the Rebels (9-16, 3-7 MW), the Lobos improved to 18-8 on the year and jumped into first place with an 8-2 conference record. The club holds a slight edge over Fresno State, which is nipping at New Mexico’s heels with a 7-3 MW record.

“We needed this,” head coach Ray Birmingham said in his postgame interview. “But tomorrow is a new day, and the next day is a new day. We just have to keep grinding because it’s not going to get any easier.”

Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.