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.
Lobo Baseball: SJSU Series Recap & Texas Tech Preview
The Lobos (13-6, 5-1) finished off a perfect 5-0 week with a three game sweep of SJSU. Lobos won Friday’s game 9-6, Saturday’s game 3-2, and Sunday’s game 11-1. After Friday’s game, where Carson Schneider battled through 6 1/3 innings, the Lobos pitching was fantastic, with two great starts by Tyler Stevens and Colton Thomson. The Lobos offense was its usual self, scoring 23 runs in the three games. As we have seen so far this season, if a starting pitcher just gives the Lobos a decent start, the Lobos will have a good chance to win the game. I like the feel of how the team is playing right now and think that the Dallas Baptist series was just a bad weekend. Since the four game losing streak (3 against DBU and 1 against NMSU), the Lobos have won 7 of their last eight.
Lobo Baseball: SJSU Series Preview
The Lobos (10-6, 2-1) return to home for their first conference home stand of the season where they’ll face the SJSU Spartans (6-10, 2-3). It has been a few weeks since the Lobos have played at home and they would like to get the taste of the last home stand out of their mouths. The Lobos have won four of their last five, including a 2-1 series at Nevada and a midweek sweep of Grand Canyon, so they seem like they’re back to where they were at the start of the season. It will be important for the Lobos to have a good start to the weekend. I think that they should be able to, with Carson Schneider on the mound and the currently-hot lineup facing SJSU’s Friday night starter. If the Lobos are able to get to the Spartans starter early and force the Spartan bullpen to throw a lot of innings, it will only benefit the Lobos. If the Lobos want to be in a good position to win the conference after this early portion of the conference schedule, they need to at least win this series, and hopefully get the sweep.
Lobo Baseball: Nevada Series Recap
The Lobos (8-6, 2-1) started off their conference play with a good weekend in Reno, as they took two of three from the Nevada Wolf Pack, winning Friday’s game 8-3 and Saturday’s game 3-2 before falling in Sunday’s game 7-6. It was encouraging to see some great bounce back performances after the disappointing weekend against Dallas Baptist, especially among the pitching staff. The start by Tyler Stevens was great to see and the bullpen was fantastic in their limited work this weekend. The key for the Lobos to win the conference regular season title is to win series on the road and look for sweeps at home. On top of that, if you can avoid getting swept in a series, it will go a long way towards winning a conference title. One thing that I noticed during the series is that the Wolf Pack pitchers attacked the Lobo hitters, limiting Lobo walks to 4. It will be interesting to see if this is how pitching staffs in the Mountain West will attack the Lobo lineup and if so, how that lineup will handle it.
Cullen Neal to Transfer
News got out this morning that Cullen Neal has made the decision to transfer from the Lobos and play his two remaining college seasons elsewhere. Recently, there were rumblings about this potentially happening, so it’s not particularly surprising, but it is really disappointing to see. And maybe the worst part about it is that his decision is completely understandable.
Men’s Basketball vs. Nevada (MWCT) Recap
In college basketball, March brings about something that can go missing in February: hope. Teams that underperformed and teams that were overmatched earlier in the season are given one last chance to fulfill a dream and to make the NCAA Tournament. However, for 283 teams, that dream dies and each program is left trying to figure out what went wrong and where to go from there. Unfortunately, the Lobos are one of those teams. With their 64-62 loss to Nevada, their season is over and what could be a tumultuous offseason begins.
Lobo Baseball at Nevada Series Preview
The Lobos (6-5, 0-0) look to get back to their winning ways, as they start Mountain West Play tonight with a three-game series at Nevada (4-8, 0-2). After starting the year 6-1, the Lobos have lost all four games in the last week, with 3 losses to Dallas Baptist and a loss to NMSU in El Paso. It will be important for the Lobos to get good pitching, as they have given up 59 runs in the last 4 games. Carson Schneider will be given the ball in his customary Friday night role and will be counted on to get the series off right with a great start. At the same time, the Lobo offense needs to get an early lead to get the team’s confidence back. The Lobos are hitting .326 as a team with an on-base percentage of .440, so the offense hasn’t been the problem, but with the struggles the pitching staff is having right now, there has been added pressure to be even better. The Lobos pitching staff is allowing a .337 batting average against and have an earned run average of 6.80, which clearly needs to be better if the Lobos want to win the Mountain West Regular Season Title. They have the talent to do it, though, so I’m optimistic that they’ll get back on track soon.
Women’s Basketball: MWC Tourney (Semifinal Update)
The Lobos (17-13, 9-9) advanced to Wednesday’s semifinals to face the top-seeded CSU Rams (29-1, 18-0) by controlling the whole game against SJSU and winning 65-51. In the game, the Lobos were able to control the pace of the game and limit SJSU’s good looks from three. Khadijah Shumpert dominated the game, scoring 26 points (11 of 15 shooting), with 5 rebounds, a block, and 2 steals. Most importantly, Shumpert only picked up two fouls in the game, so she was able to play her normal minutes. Bryce Owens was fantastic in the point guard spot, finishing with 7 points (3 of 10 shooting), 12 rebounds, 5 assists, a steal, and only 2 turnovers. The Lobos had a very balanced scoring attack after Shumpert’s 26, with nine Lobos scoring in total leading to the 65 points.