What to know: UNM baseball set for "wide-open" Mountain West tournament
May 22—It's certainly reasonable to say this week's Mountain West Baseball Championship rates as a coin-flip tournament.
Too bad there's no such thing as a four-sided coin.
Four teams separated by just two games after a 30-game conference season will square off in the annual four-team tournament starting Thursday at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium. The Aztecs are not one of them.
Air Force, New Mexico, San Jose State and Fresno State, seeded No. 1 through No. 4, respectively, will battle for the MWC's automatic NCAA Regional berth in a double-elimination format. The tournament runs Thursday through Saturday with an if-necessary game set for Sunday.
Who is the team to beat? Or perhaps more appropriately, is there a team to beat?
"I think it's wide open," UNM coach Tod Brown said. "If you look at it on paper, we've beaten every team in the field and they've all beaten us. All four teams deserve to be here and we're all evenly matched. I could see any of us winning it."
Oddly enough, both of Thursday's first-round games are rematches from series played last week. UNM (28-24, 17-13 MWC) takes on San Jose State (22-31, 16-14) at 2:30 p.m. MDT, and Air Force (26-26, 18-12) faces Fresno State (29-26, 16-14) at 7 p.m. The winners will square off in Friday's late game, while the losers meet in an afternoon elimination game.
The Lobos and Spartans split their six regular-season meetings, with each team winning two of three on its home field. With pitching depth at a premium over the course of a potential four-day tournament, Brown emphasized the importance of winning Thursday's opener.
"Losing the first game makes it so much more difficult," he said, "especially on your pitching staff. It's not an elimination game and it's still possible to win the tournament if you lose, but we're going all-out. It's all hands on deck."
Neither team has announced its starting pitcher for Thursday, although educated guesses are not difficult to make. UNM is likely to go with either Dayne Pengelly or Brett Russell, who have been its most reliable starters throughout conference play. San Jose State's Micky Thompson, meanwhile, tossed a complete game against the Lobos last Friday, allowing just one run on five hits with seven strikeouts — though he did throw 131 pitches.
"These teams all saw each other last week, so you don't want to tip your hand and make preparation easier for your opponent," Brown said. "It all starts on the mound in a tournament like this and we really need a quality start in game one. As far as hitting, we'll just see who San Jose State runs out there and adjust."
In terms of offense, UNM has the edge going into the tournament. The Lobos led the league and ranked fifth nationally in batting average (.323). They also led the MWC in runs scored (448) and ranked second in home runs (69) and stolen bases (45).
Individually, UNM's lineup is potent. Outfielder Khalil Walker (.390) and catcher Jake Holland (.385) finished first and second in the league in batting. First baseman Reed Spenrath (.350) and outfielders Will Asby (.340) and Tye Wood (.327) all finished among the MWC's top 15.
Several hitters have taken turns carrying the Lobos at times this season, and most recently Asby has been the catalyst. He is tied with Holland for the team lead in RBIs (59), ranks second in the MWC with 59 runs scored and set a new UNM season record with four grand slams. The latest ignited UNM's come-from-behind 10-9 victory over San Jose State in the regular-season finale.
"He's had a really good season," Brown said, "and right now we're just hoping to have someone on base every time he comes up."
San Jose State has just one hitter, Hunter Dorraugh (.362) among the league's top 20 in hitting, but the Spartans have better pitching numbers than New Mexico. SJSU also has experience on its side after winning the MWC tournament last season. UNM is making its first tournament appearance since 2017.
"People forget they were the preseason picks to win the league," Brown said of the Spartans. "They have a very experienced, very old roster and a lot of guys who've been through this before. It's a challenge playing them in the first game, but our guys are fired-up about it. It all comes down to who plays the best baseball the next three or four days. We've got as good a chance as anyone."
