Lobo Baseball vs. Fresno State Series Preview

by Zach

The Lobos (20-9, 9-3) won the neutral site game in Roswell against NMSU on Tuesday 3-2. That game featured a dominant performance by Luis Gonzalez and a couple of timely hits, which allowed the Lobos to even the season series against the Aggies. The Lobos now have their eyes set on this weekend, where they will face the Fresno State Bulldogs (21-9, 9-3) in a key series for the Mountain West. Both teams are tied for first place after each playing in four conference series, and this is their only series against each other. If the Lobos win the series or sweep the series, they will have a leg up on the rest of the conference. It will be key for the Lobo starting pitchers to pitch very well this weekend, as all three of the Bulldogs weekend starters have an ERA under 2.35. I can’t wait to see how the Lobos play this weekend, and the Lobo fans should be out in full support.

Scattered Thoughts:

  • Austin Bell has continued his great play for the Lobos in left field. He is hitting .444 so far this season and has been able to control his at-bats. Bell has only struck out twice this season, while having 6 walks and a HBP. It will be important for Bell to continue his great play, as Danny Collier will be out for the rest of the season.
  • The Lobos need Carl Stajduhar to have a great weekend this week. After starting out slow this season, Stajduhar picked up his play and was unstoppable for a month. Hard times have fallen on Stajduhar as of late, but he has the ability and track record of having big weekends.
  • Luis Gonzalez, Chris DeVito and Jack Zoellner have become a huge force in the 1-3-5 spots in the order. The three left-handed hitters have been the three best hitters for the Lobos this season. I wouldn’t mind seeing them in a row, but I do understand wanting to break up your left-handed hitters.
  • Carson Schneider, Tyler Stevens and Colton Thomson have been really good in the weekend rotation for the Lobos this season. Schneider and Thomson both have ERAs under 3.4 and Stevens has been good in the Saturday role, aside from his start against Dallas Baptist. One of the most impressive things for the three starters is they have combined to walk only 32 batters in 128 2/3 innings.

Fresno State Bulldogs:

The Bulldogs took the nation by storm in 2008, when they captured the National Championship after they likely only got in by winning WAC Tournament. While the players are long gone from the National Championship Team, the head coach is the same. Head coach Mike Batesole is a two-time National Coach of the year and is in his 14th season at the helm of the Bulldog program. He has built a very solid program there and will continue to be a force in the Mountain West after making the transition to the MW. There are a lot of similarities with Birmingham and Batesole, as both are great coaches who have built very good programs in the MW.

The Bulldog offense is very balanced, with seven players hitting over .300. The offensive player to keep an eye on is Brody Russell. Russell is hitting a team-leading .396 with 23 runs, 28 RBI, 9 doubles, a triple and 3 homeruns. It will be very important for the Lobo pitching staff to make sure they don’t allow Russell to win a game by himself in this series. If the Lobo pitchers throw strikes and limit their free passes, it would require the Bulldogs to come up with big hits.

The strength of the Bulldogs come on the mound, where their three weekend starters all have ERAs under 2.32. Their Friday night starter is Ricky Tyler Thomas, who is 4-2 with a 1.94 ERA. He also has 54 strikeouts in 46 1/3 innings. The Saturday starter is Jimmy Lambert, who is 6-0 with a 1.61 ERA, and has struck out 39 in 50 1/3 innings, with only 4 walks. The Sunday starter, Edgar Gonzalez, is 2-0 with a 2.32 ERA, with 29 strikeouts in 31 innings.

Conference Standings:

  1. UNM 9-3
  2. FSU 9-3
  3. Nevada 6-4
  4. AFA 4-4
  5. UNLV 4-8
  6. SJSU 3-8
  7. SDSU 2-7

As we can see from the conference standings, this series will have a huge impact on who wins the conference regular season. A series sweep by either team will give them a 3 game lead against the other, with no more games against each other. After this series, the Lobos will have 5 more series this season in conference play: at SJSU, home vs. SDSU, at UNLV, home vs. Nevada, and at AFA before hosting the conference tournament.

Series Prediction:

This will be the hardest series for the Lobos in the Mountain West and each game should be a nail biter. The Bulldogs have the advantage on the mound, but the Lobos have the advantage at the plate, so this series is really a strength-on-strength matchup. The Lobos have been known for having good games against great pitchers, so it is possible that the Lobo lineup can really hurt the Bulldog arms. I like the Lobos to win the series, but the odds of a sweep are around 10%. I’ll take the Lobos winning the series 2-1.

Game Info:

Who: New Mexico Lobos (20-9, 9-3) at Fresno State Bulldogs (21-9, 9-3)

Where: Santa Ana Star Field, Albuquerque NM

When: Friday April 8th 6 PM MT, Saturday April 9th 2 PM MT, Sunday 10th 12 PM MT

Stream: MW Network/ Campus Insiders

Probable Starters:

Game 1: Carson Schneider (5-1, 3.37 ERA) vs. Ricky Tyler Thomas (4-2, 1.94 ERA)

Game 2: Tyler Stevens (4-2, 4.57 ERA) vs. Jimmy Lambert (6-0, 1.61 ERA)

Game 3: Colton Thomson (3-1, 2.7 ERA) vs. Edgar Gonzalez (2-0, 2.32 ERA)