Stevens, Lobos shut down Spartans
Four was a meaningful number for the University of New Mexico baseball team Friday night.
It was the number of hits Lobo pitcher Tyler Stevens allowed in a dominant complete-game performance. It was also the number of home runs UNM blasted in an 11-1 Mountain West victory over visiting San Jose State.
Luis Gonzalez had a pair of long balls and improved his batting average to .500 with a 3-for-5 performance. Carl Stajduhar and Jack Zoellner also homered as the Lobos (9-3, 4-0) earned their fifth straight win.
But Stevens (2-1) was man of the hour, striking out eight batters and walking just one in a 105-pitch gem. After allowing Corey Olivet’s RBI double in the second inning, the junior righthander retired 22 of the last 24 batters he faced.
“About the third inning I got in a groove,” Stevens said. “I found my release point and got the results I wanted — a lot of ground balls. I felt really good out there.”
Stevens, who typically features a nasty changeup as his put-away pitch, relied heavily on his fastball against the Spartans (6-6, 2-2).
“Both (pitching coach Ken Jacome) and I realized early they were sitting on my off-speed pitches,” Stevens said. “Fortunately, I had pretty good fastball command.”
Stevens also had the benefit of a big early lead. Gonzalez and Stajduhar launched solo home runs to ignite a six-run UNM first inning. Jared Mang, Beau Capanna and Daniel Herrera added RBI singles, and Gonzalez doubled a run home in his second at-bat of the frame.
Gonzalez smacked his second homer of the night in the fourth inning, and Zoellner added his team-leading seventh to increase the Lobos’ lead to 8-2.
“Jack, Carl and Gonzo are hitting the ball really well,” UNM coach Ray Birmingham said after his team racked up 19 hits. “The thing is, we can still be better offensively. We’ve got a couple guys who still haven’t gotten it going, so I’m not satisfied.” Stevens felt differently. “I love pitching in front of these guys,” he said. “You know you’re going to get run support. It makes pitching easy.”
Things were not nearly so simple for Spartans starter Josh Nashed, who entered the game with a 1.59 earned-run average and left it with a 5.48 ERA. The right-hander was tagged for 10 earned runs on 14 hits in 4⅓ innings.
Every Lobo starter had at least one hit Friday, with Stajduhar and Zoellner collecting three apiece. Zoellner is 12 for his last 15 and hitting .463 for the season.
The three-game series continues today with a 2 p.m. contest. Johnathon Tripp (1-0) is expected to start for UNM.