Peterson Homer Clinches 4-0 Win

LOS ANGELES – The New Mexico baseball team certainly hit.

DJ Peterson’s ninth-inning home run reinforced that in a big way here Friday.

But pitch like this?

	Today NCAA Regionals New Mexico vs. UCLA, 8 p.m. Radio: KQTM-FM (101.7)

Austin House worked seven-plus scoreless innings, and Hobie McClain got out of two jams in his two innings as the third-seeded Lobos dominated second-seeded San Diego (40-16) 4-0 in an NCAA Regional Tournament game at UCLA.

“I thought it was a great game, don’t you think?” Lobos coach Ray Birmingham said.

New Mexico (37-22) will play at 8 tonight against UCLA, which defeated Creighton 3-0 late Friday. The Bruins are the top seed in the region and the No. 2 seed nationally.

If the Lobos win again in the double-elimination regional, they would need only one more victory to clinch a spot in the Super Regional, at an undetermined site. A Lobo loss tonight, would send UNM into the losers’ bracket, meaning it would have to eliminate one team Sunday (San Diego or Creighton), then beat UCLA twice (once on Sunday and again on Monday).

The Lobos came into the regional with a .333 batting average, good for fourth in the nation. Their 4.38 ERA, while being the team’s best since 1977, doesn’t exactly instill fear. San Diego’s ERA, by contrast, is 3.25.

Furthermore, Birmingham opted to start House instead of Gera Sanchez, who had a better ERA and more strikeouts.

Before this season, House was 2-3 with an 8.12 ERA. Now, he’s 8-5 with an ERA below 3.00 and has worked 17â…” shutout innings.

“We like Austin to start the opener of a series,” Birmingham said. “We think Austin has the stuff to match up with their No. 1 (pitcher).”

House didn’t disappoint, scattering six hits, with five strikeouts and two walks.

“I think Austin House competed extremely well, kept us off-balance,” San Diego coach Rich Hill said.

McClain, in earning his third save, entered in the eighth inning after House had walked leadoff batter Lucas Hagberg and yielded a single to Louie Lechich.

The first batter McClain faced was Kris Bryant, the team’s best hitter who was 3-for-3.

McClain struck him out.

In the ninth inning, McClain got a key double-play grounder.

Bryant said McClain’s three-quarter sidearm delivery made it more difficult to pick up the ball.

“I got a couple of good swings and just missed,” Bryant said. “What do they say about timely hitting? I think New Mexico had a lot to do with that.”

The Lobos got just enough timely hitting. They left the bases loaded twice and left 13 runners total on base for the game.

Leading 2-0 in the ninth, Ben Woodchick doubled off reliever Calvin Drummond, and Peterson followed with a home run to left, his 17th of the season.

“The first pitch, coach told me to swing for it, ‘Let’s see what you got.’ I swung and missed,” Peterson said. “I was just trying to punch something to the right, but he left it up.”

The Lobos took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning off USD starter Michael Wagner (5-2), normally one of the team’s two closers who had made just one other start this season. His 19 saves leads the nation.

Peterson led off with a single, took second on a ground-out and scored on Josh Melendez’s double. After Trey Porras singled, Kyle Stiner’s bunt scored Melendez.