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New Mexico Eliminates Air Force From MWC Baseball Tournament The Lobos advance to face the loser of Thursday's BYU-San Diego State matchup.
May 25, 2005
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah - The New Mexico Lobos came from behind to stave off elimination against Air Force Wednesday night at the Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship. The Lobos trailed the Falcons 9-5 at Franklin Covey Field, but scored six unanswered runs to take the 11-9 victory and advance to Thursday's action. New Mexico (26-31) had a 2-0 lead on a Daniel Stovall two-run home run in the second. Air Force (9-44) scored three runs in each of the third, fourth and fifth innings, taking advantage of four Lobo errors in the process. The Falcons got two unearned runs in the third and a two-run triple from Geno Salazar in the fifth, en route to grabbing the 9-5 advantage. But Lobo reliever Petr Pacas grounded the Falcons for the final 3 2/3 innings, giving his team an opportunity to come back. New Mexico knocked Air Force starter Kyle DePierre out in the seventh inning and then tallied three runs in one-third of an inning off Air Force reliever Paul Vignola (1-4), who was tagged with the loss. All three of the runs off Vignola came in the Lobos' five-run seventh. Garrick Haymore's RBI single following a triple off the bat of Chris Carlson ended up being the game-winner. Stovall led the way for New Mexico at the plate, with a 3-for-4 performance. He also scored twice and drove in two runs. Jordan Pacheco was 2-for-5 for the Lobos, driving three runs in and scoring twice. Pacheco also had a two-run homer in the third inning. Pacas (1-1) picked up the win for New Mexico, tossing 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just three hits. Reid Lamson was 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a pair of runs scored to pace Air Force. Jon Polston turned in a 3-for-3 night for the Falcons, scoring twice and driving in one run. The loss eliminated Air Force from the MWC Championship, while New Mexico will advance to face the loser of Thursday's BYU-San Diego State matchup. That contest for the Lobos will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Game No. 3 Notes
Air Force's Jon Polston hit .364 vs. New Mexico in four regular season games and went 3-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored tonight vs. the Lobos. New Mexico's Daniel Stovall went 3-for-4 from the plate tonight, falling a double short of becoming the first player in MWC history to hit for the cycle in a MWC Tournament game. Two of the three games on the opening day of this year's tournament have had four double plays, tying a MWC Tournament record for combined double plays in a single game.
Game No. 3 Quotes (Pitcher) Kyle (DePierre) was coming off of short rest. He threw about 115 pitches in the last outing, and with such a short time between appearances, we really had to keep an eye on him. We wanted to keep in as long as we could because you don't want to go to your bull pen too early in tournament play. New Mexico Head Coach Rich Alday:
In our first game, (Josh) Cooper pitched well against us. I thought both pitchers threw well, though. And, we came out and started slow in the game two but we pulled it together and started hitting the ball late in the game. Hopefully, that'll give us momentum heading into tomorrow's game.
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