Lobos blow 7-run lead, fall to Falcons

Visiting Air Force totals 20 hits in battering New Mexico

The University of New Mexico baseball team committed a cardinal sin Friday night against visiting Air Force. The Lobos stopped scoring. After overcoming a 5-0 deficit and building a 12-5 lead, the Lobos let their collective foot off the gas and paid for it at Santa Ana Star Field. The Falcons racked up 13 runs over the final four innings and bashed their way to an 18-14 win in the opener of a three-game set.

UNM’s latest marathon — 4 hours, 9 minutes — didn’t end on a happy note. The Lobos had the bases loaded with one out in the bottom of the ninth and fizzled with two strikeouts.

But Lobos coach Ray Birmingham, who wanted to see his team pitch effectively against a hot-hitting Air Force team, was not in a good humor after the contest. The Falcons racked up 20 hits.

“They hammered the ball,” Birmingham said of the Falcons, “especially to right field. When guys are doing that you’ve got to pitch inside and mix it up with off-speed stuff. We didn’t do that. Our pitching staff’s got a lot of problems right now.”

Starter Tyler Stevens, who has been the Lobos’ ace this season, struggled to command his offspeed pitches Friday. He walked two and surrendered a pair of two-run doubles in the first inning as the Falcons grabbed a 5-0 lead.

Stevens settled in for the next four innings, posting four scoreless frames while UNM’s offense teed off on Air Force’s first two pitchers of the night. Carl Stajduhar’s three-run homer in the second tied the score in the second inning, and Justin Watari’s tworun single gave the Lobos the lead in the third.

UNM continued to batter away, increasing its lead to 12-5 on Danny Collier’s RBI hit in the fifth. But any thoughts of a Lobo cakewalk disappeared in the sixth.

Stevens was chased after allowing two singles and two walks to start the inning. He departed with the bases loaded and no outs and the Lobos leading 12-6.

The Falcons proceeded to wear out New Mexico’s bullpen the rest of the way. Air Force (24-20, 11-13 Mountain West) scored four runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and tied the game at 13 with a run in the eighth.

UNM had an opportunity to regain the lead in the bottom of the eighth, when Justin Watari tagged up from second and went to third on a Jared Mang fly ball. The Falcons appealed that Watari left early and Watari was then ruled out, although replays appeared to show him still on second base when the ball was caught.

Air Force then plated five runs against Lobo closer Christian Tripp in the ninth. Adam Groesbeck finished with four hits, and Nic Ready drove in four runs for Air Force.

Watari, Mang and Collier had three hits apiece for the Lobos (26-20-1, 16-4-1), who had 18 hits overall.