Lobos beat Aggies in game played in Roswell

DeVito brings in winning run in 7th

ROSWELL — The University of New Mexico baseball team had to endure a long bus ride after Tuesday night’s home game, but it could have been much worse.

Chris DeVito’s two-out RBI single in the seventh inning sparked the Lobos to a 3-2 victory over New Mexico State at NMMI Ballpark in Roswell. The Lobos were the designated home team as the Rio Grande rivals opted to play four meetings at four sites this season.

NMSU won the initial matchup 9-6 in El Paso, where the Aggies were the home team. The final two contests will be April 26 in Albuquerque and May 3 in Las Cruces.

Pitching and defense dominated most of Tuesday’s game as the teams managed just 14 hits combined. Neither squad scored until the fourth inning, when UNM (20-9) broke through on Austin Bell’s bases-loaded single to grab a 2-0 lead.

The Aggies (17-12) got a run back on Austin Botello’s RBI ground-out in the sixth, but stranded the potential tying run at third against Lobo starter Luis Gonzalez. The left-hander departed after six strong innings, allowing four hits and striking out two.

NMSU tied the score in the seventh when Brent Sakurai’s two-out single off reliever James Harrington plated Cameron Haskins.

The Lobos regained the lead in the bottom of the inning when Dalton Bowers drew a leadoff walk and moved to third base with two outs. The Aggies then opted to pitch to DeVito, UNM’s leading runproducer, and paid for the decision when DeVito lined a single to center.

Alex Estrella retired the final six NMSU hitters in order with three strikeouts to save a win for Harrington (5-1). DeVito, Bell and Jack Zoellner had two hits each for UNM, while Haskins was 2-for-3 to pace the Aggies.