The Lobos (31-16, 16-5) continue their seven-game road trip with a key three game series against UNLV Rebels (20-24, 10-11). The Lobos are holding on to a 1.5 game lead in the conference over Fresno State, who the Lobos hold the tiebreaker over. If the Lobos win each of their remaining three series, the Lobos should be in good shape to win the MWC Regular Season Title. In the first series against the Rebels, the Lobos won the first two games, 15-3 and 10-5, before falling in the finale 6-5. It is important for the Lobos to take care of business these next two weeks so they can rest players and get ready for the conference tournament, and then hopefully the NCAA Tournament.
Author: Zach
Lobo Baseball at ASU Series Preview
The Lobos (30-13) head to Phoenix this weekend to play a key non-conference series against Arizona State Sun Devils (23-15). This is a huge series for the Lobos, as they look to lock up an at-large bid for the NCAA Tournament, which would take away some of the pressure to win the Mountain West Tournament in Albuquerque in a few weeks. While the Sun Devils aren’t as strong as they normally are, they are still a very good college team and wins against them will look good on your resume for the NCAA Tournament. The Lobos were able to win one out of three against Texas Tech this season, which helps their at-large case, but they do probably need a couple of wins against the Sun Devils to really feel good about their chances to make the tournament. However, the Lobos can’t worry about the NCAA Tournament too much right now, as thye just need to focus on each game and series that is in front of them for the next few weeks. At the end of the day, this series will be a good test for the Lobos, and I think that it could give them great confidence going into the last three conference series.
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Lobo Baseball vs. SDSU Series Preview
The Lobos (27-12, 14-4) are coming off a great win Wednesday against Top-10 Texas Tech and will look to build on that this weekend. They return to Mountain West play with a three game home series against San Diego State (11-23, 4-8), which could give them an opportunity to expand their lead in the conference. In the first series between the two teams, the Lobos won the first two games, 5-3 and 4-2, before falling in the finale, 11-6. The first series was during Easter weekend, which meant that the games were played Thursday through Saturday, so the Lobos didn’t have their normal weekend rotation and Colton Thomson didn’t pitch in the series. The Lobos will have a huge advantage at the plate during this series, as the Aztecs only have one player hitting over .300, so it should be a good weekend for the Lobos and should keep their lead in the conference standings.
Lobo Baseball at SJSU Series Preview
The Lobos (24-10, 12-3) will look to continue their great play in the Mountain West when they face SJSU in San Jose. The Lobos currently have a 2.5 game lead in the conference halfway through the conference season, which puts them in a good position for the home stretch. They’ll start the back half of conference play by looking to sweep the season series against SJSU (10-22, 3-12), after winning all three games in Albuquerque last month by scores of 9-6, 3-2 and 11-1. It will be hard to sweep all six games from the Spartans, but the Lobos do have an edge in every aspect of the game. The most important thing for the Lobos in this series is for the pitching staff to continue having the great outings we’ve started to become accustomed to. In the first series meeting with the Spartans, the Lobos had great performances from Tyler Stevens and Colton Thomson, while Carson Schneider had his one rough start of the year. I think that the Lobos should be able to jump ahead of the Spartans early and dominate this series.
Lobo Baseball: Fresno State Series Recap
It was a great weekend at Santa Ana Star Field for the Lobos (23-9, 12-3), who swept Fresno State in the three-game series. The Lobos won Friday night in a fairly standard pitchers’ duel, taking the game 2-1. However, Saturday was one of the craziest games you will ever see, as the Lobos came back in an unlikely fashion to win 14-13 in twelve innings. That set them up to finish the sweep in the Sunday finale, which they did with a 7-4 victory. It was very important sweep for the Lobos, as they were tied with Fresno State entering the weekend. This gives them a three-game lead on the Bulldogs and they won’t have to make a trip to Fresno for a series this season. At the halfway point of the conference, the Lobos are in first with a 12-3 record, leading the 8-4 Air Force Falcons, who have had three games postponed. The Lobos have positioned themselves to where they are in the conversation for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, and with another great week they will find themselves in the top 25 across all college baseball polls. The Lobos and Air Force will only play one series this season, when the two teams finish off the regular season up in Colorado Springs. It could be possible, and preferable, that the Lobos will have the regular season title wrapped up before then.
Lobo Baseball vs. Fresno State Series Preview
The Lobos (20-9, 9-3) won the neutral site game in Roswell against NMSU on Tuesday 3-2. That game featured a dominant performance by Luis Gonzalez and a couple of timely hits, which allowed the Lobos to even the season series against the Aggies. The Lobos now have their eyes set on this weekend, where they will face the Fresno State Bulldogs (21-9, 9-3) in a key series for the Mountain West. Both teams are tied for first place after each playing in four conference series, and this is their only series against each other. If the Lobos win the series or sweep the series, they will have a leg up on the rest of the conference. It will be key for the Lobo starting pitchers to pitch very well this weekend, as all three of the Bulldogs weekend starters have an ERA under 2.35. I can’t wait to see how the Lobos play this weekend, and the Lobo fans should be out in full support.
Lobo Baseball: UNLV Series Recap
The Lobos (19-9, 9-3) had themselves a nice week by going 4-1 during that stretch, including two wins over Sacramento State and winning 2 of 3 against UNLV. They had a chance to go undefeated on the week, but the last game didn’t go the way the Lobos would have liked. After winning the first two games against UNLV by comfortable margins, they had a 5-2 lead going into the eighth inning. However, a four-run inning by UNLV gave the Rebels a 6-5 win and prevented the Lobos from running the table. As nice as it would have been to get the sweep, the important thing for the Lobos is they won the series 2-1 and are now 9-3 in conference play overall. The Lobos will turn their attention to NMSU for their matchup in Roswell tonight. This is the second of four midweek games this year between the two instate rivals, and the second at a neutral site. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Luis Gonzalez getting the midweek start instead of James Harrington, since Harrington got the ball in the last meeting between these two teams.
Lobo Baseball: California Trip Recap and UNLV Preview
This past week featured a good road trip to California for the Lobos (17-8, 7-2), as they went 4-1 on the five-game swing, including 2-1 against SDSU and 2-0 against Sacramento State. The Lobos had great pitching in 3 of the five games, and were just a single bad inning away from going 5-0 on the week. While the Lobos didn’t get the sweep against SDSU, they did get a series win on the road, which always helps to win the conference. The Lobos will return to Albuquerque for a home series against UNLV (9-13, 3-6) in what I expect to be a great weekend for the Lobos.
Lobo Baseball: SDSU Series Preview
The Lobos (13-6, 5-1) continue their road trip after a 14-10 loss to Texas Tech on Tuesday by heading to California for a series at SDSU (4-14, 1-3). In the preseason, these two teams were picked as co-favorites in the conference and so far, it looks like the Lobos are the ones that are living up to the billing. Due to Easter Sunday, the series will take play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday instead of the normal Friday, Saturday, Sunday schedule. It shouldn’t change much for the starting pitchers that will be pitching on 5 days of rest instead of the customary 6 days they’re used to. I like that the Lobos are playing at SDSU while the Aztecs are playing poorly, giving the Lobos a realistic chance at a series win and possibly even a sweep, which could be huge for the overall conference standings. It will be important for the Lobos to jump on SDSU on Thursday, not allowing them to gain confidence, as there is a reason that they were picked as co-favorites in the Mountain West. They can be a dangerous team, so hopefully the Lobos will be able to keep the Aztecs at arm’s length this whole series.
Thoughts On Yvonne Sanchez Firing
As I am sure you are well aware by now, Yvonne Sanchez was let go after five years as the head coach of the UNM women’s basketball team. She had her share of detractors when she was hired and later when she was extended, but I believe that it was simply a good hire that didn’t work out and that it was the right call to give her an extension. Clearly, the last five years haven’t gone as planned, neither for us as fans or for Coach Sanchez herself, which is what led to AD Paul Krebs deciding that a change needed to take place. While we don’t know what the future holds for the team right now, it is clear that Coach Sanchez helped mold the program to where it is today and helped create high expectations for both herself and every coach who follows her.