The University of New Mexico baseball team took on New Mexico State University on Tuesday, Feb. 25, walking away victorious with a 7-0 win.
Head Coach Tod Brown said he saw improvement compared to the previous weekend’s games against Northern Colorado University.
“It's much better. I mean, Stevie Wonder could see that,” Brown said. “Look at nine zeros, two hits — very competitive.”
The game brought eagerness and excitement from the crowd and the dugouts. The Rio Grande Rivalry was on full display as both teams went head-to-head out on the field. Lobo pitcher Dayne Pengelly expressed his competitiveness with the Aggies.
“We want to stick it to them every chance we can,” Pengelly said. “I just want to go out there and go big on every pitch.”
The first few innings started strong for the Lobos, who had better offense and defense compared to the games against Northern Colorado. Defense was spot-on throughout the game, and the pitches were better than they were the previous weekend.
“Dayne only got four outs on Friday,” Brown said. “That's why we lost a lot of innings out of our two starters. So we needed him to pitch tonight, and he gave us five solid innings, which saved our bullpen.”
Both teams battled it out from the fourth inning until the eighth inning, when the Lobos scored one more run. There was no doubt that the pitching in the first few innings was spot-on.
This left some questions for NMSU’s defense and offense. In previous rivalry games, the Aggies seemed to have played a little harder offensively. NMSU Head Coach Jake Angier noticed there were missed opportunities for the team when it came to pitching, which cost them the game.
“Offensively, we really didn't really get anything going to have an opportunity to drive in runs. They just kind of shoved it right up our you-know-what all night,” Angier said.
Although the Lobos had a successful outcome, there was still some work that could have prevented four innings from going without any runs. The Lobos have challenging games this season and have acknowledged that there is still progress to be made.
It was clear that NMSU had a hard time breaking through the Lobos’ defense, but it was also clear that the Lobos had the same trouble for a portion of the game. However, that didn't stop UNM from coming out on top.
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After the game, Lobo outfielder Jordy Oriach said it was tough that the team didn’t make any runs.
“We definitely wanted to get out of there early,” Oriach said. “But we'll take the win. I'm glad the pitcher got scoreless innings.”
Elizabeth Bolke is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
Esmeralda Lozano is a freelance reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on X @dailylobo
