Baseball: Late runs not enough as Lobos fall in series' opener

An eight run showing wasn’t enough support for New Mexico as the team fell to San Jose 9-8 at the start of the three-game series opener.

The Spartans jumped all over Carson Schneider early, plating five runs in the game’s first three innings of play.

New Mexico (24-11, 12-4 MW) was able to respond in the fourth and fifth innings to come within striking distance 5-4. All three runs in the fourth inning came off of RBI singles in the bottom half of the order. While the lone run in the fifth was awarded to first baseman Jack Zoellner on a sacrifice fly to left field.

San Jose’s right fielder Dillan Smith extended the Spartan lead to 7-4 with a two-out, two RBI single on an 0-2 count, ending Schneider’s day.

The Albuquerque native allowed seven earned runs on 12 hits in 5.2 innings. The junior lefty also struck out two and didn’t allow a free pass to first.

UNM kept things interesting in the contest after a Carl Stajduhar double got UNM on the board in the top of the seventh inning, scoring senior second baseman Jared Holley.

Zoellner picked up his second sacrifice on the day, grounding into a fielder’s choice, followed by Erick Miguelles picking up his second RBI on the day. That would cease the scoring for New Mexico at the top of the seventh, both teams knotted at 7-7.

Ozzy Braff tried to play hero in the bottom of the seventh with his RBI single, to give the Spartans a brief one-run lead in the late stages of the game.

The Lobos wouldn’t go down quietly in the top of the eighth inning after Stajduhar went to battle with winning pitcher Josh Goldberg (4-1). In an 11-pitch at bat, Goldberg finally got Stajduhar out on a fly ball to left-center, but the Lobo third baseman got enough of the ball to bring home Luis Gonzalez.

That was not the end of the story for the Spartans (11-22, 4-12 MW) who caught a break in the bottom of the eighth inning.

With two outs and a tie ball game, Spartan Shortstop Aaron Pleschner reached first on a grounder that UNM shortstop Dalton Bowers couldn’t quite handle.

Goldberg finished the game with a scoreless frame at the top of the ninth to pick up the victory. Game two is scheduled for today at 2 p.m.

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.