Alex Real earned himself a little redemption Wednesday night while the New Mexico baseball team earned itself another victory.
Real went 4-for-4 with three RBI — one night after making three errors in a single inning — to help propel the Lobos to a 17-4 rout of La Salle at Isotopes Park.
"Last night, it was tough," Real said. "It was plays that were routine. I don't know what happened, just bad luck or the ball just popped out of my glove. I got really frustrated and said, 'Tomorrow I'm going to come back strong and just flush yesterday out of the way.' "
UNM (4-6) swept the two-game series, but the most important number on the scoreboard was the zero under the "E" column.
"That's something that we know as an infield unit (that) we can do a lot better than we have been doing," senior shortstop Alex Allbritton said. "It will give us some confidence."
Coach Ray Birmingham was pleased to see his team's first errorless game of the season.
"There weren't a lot of tough defensive plays really, to be honest with you," he said. "But there weren't very many tough defensive plays (Tuesday), either. We turned it into a Tony Lama factory."
The Lobos piled it on early scoring four runs in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Josh Melendez was hit by a pitch and Chase Harris and Mitchell Garver both walked to load the bases with one out.
Luke Campbell was then walked to force in a run, followed by RBI singles from Real, Ryan Padilla and Allbritton.
That the Lobos were able to do so much damage against La Salle (2-7) impressed Birmingham.
"I thought La Salle had some respectable pitching because they gave you so many different looks," Birmingham said. "It was a challenge and I was worried about it. They played Texas Tech so well and beat them. I was concerned about these midweek games."
The only innings that UNM failed to score in were the third and fifth. Otherwise the Lobos scored one in the second, three runs in the fourth, three in the sixth, one in the seventh and five in the eighth.
Campbell went 4-for-4 with three runs and three RBI. D.J. Peterson was 3-for-6, falling a triple shy of the cycle, with three runs and three RBI. Peterson's mammoth three-run blast to left-center in the eighth inning landed behind the UNM bullpen.
Garver was 2-for-2 with a double, a triple, four runs and an RBI, while Alex Allbritton went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
"I feel like we caught a lot of breaks," Allbritton said. "I know Luke Campbell, he didn't really square a ball up all night but he got four hits out of it. We were catching a lot of breaks, but it was contagious, everyone was feeling good at the plate."
Starter Jonathan Cuellar lasted 3.1 innings, allowing one run on two hits and three walks while striking out four.
Anthony Consiglio (1-0) earned the win despite allowing two runs in 1.2 innings. Freshman Drew Bridges was the sharpest, allowing just one hit in two scoreless frames.
"Drew Bridges gave us hope, he was 89 (miles per hour) to 92, touched 93," Birmingham said. "The young kids were the ones stepping it up. The junior college veterans we brought in, they need to step it up."
The Lobos will get one day off before starting a four-games-in-three-days series with UC Riverside. The opener is set for Friday at 6 p.m. at Isotopes Park.
Comments