Lobos get comfortable in victory over Rebels
Mang collects four hits as New Mexico takes 13-4 win
Home continues to be sweet for the University of New Mexico baseball team.
The Lobos, who have spent the majority of this season at venues other than Santa Ana Star Field, made themselves comfortable with a 13-4 home victory over UNLV on Friday night. Tyler Stevens pitched seven solid innings, Jared Mang picked up four hits and UNM snapped a three-game losing streak in decisive fashion.
New Mexico (21-16-1 overall, 12-2-1 Mountain West) improved to 12-3 on its home turf in 2017. UNM has played 23 games on the road but has 11 of its last 17 in Albuquerque and could host the Mountain West tournament if it can take the league’s regular-season crown.
“We’re just happy the grind’s over,” freshman utility player Beau Capanna said. “It’s fun playing in front of the home fans. Hopefully, we can keep giving them reasons to be excited.”
Capanna finished 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on Friday to push his batting average from .299 to .317. He was one of several Lobos to excel in key situations as the Lobos beat UNLV (14-26, 7-12) for the fourth time in as many tries this season.
“A much better night for our hitters,” Lobo coach Ray Birmingham said, “and Tyler Stevens and Nathaniel Garley pitched their tails off. We need keep playing like this and get on a hot streak. It’s time.”
Carl Stajduhar’s three-run home run to right field gave UNM a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the third. The Rebels kept it close for most of the night, however, plating a run on Ernie De La Trinidad’s sacrifice fly to make the score 4-3 in the fifth.
But UNLV starter Alan Strong (4-4) lost his command in the bottom of the inning, giving up two walks and hitting Stajduhar with a pitch to load the bases. Capanna made him pay with a two-run single up the middle, and Daniel Herrera added a sacrifice fly to increase UNM’s lead to 8-3.
The Lobos broke things open with a fiverun rally in the eighth to secure the win for Stevens (6-3). The right-hander allowed 10 hits in seven innings but made key pitches when necessary and limited the Rebels to three runs, two of them earned.
Mang finished 4-for-5 and scored four runs, while Luis Gonzalez went 3-for-4 and drove in two for UNM, which outhit UNLV 17-11.
“It’s good to be home,” Birmingham said. “That was really the biggest thing tonight and we get to stay here for a while. That’s even better.”