Must win: Lobos, Spartans square off in Mountain West tournament opener

The University of New Mexico baseball team will be back where it started the 2025 season this week — Sloan Park in Mesa, Arizona.

This time the Lobos’ season is on the line.

UNM takes on San Jose State in a first-round Mountain West tournament game Wednesday with a list of motivations in hand.

The third-seeded Lobos would love a little payback against the sixth-seeded Spartans, who beat them in a first-round tournament game last season.

More significant, Wednesday’s two first-round winners advance to the double-elimination four-team bracket. The losers go home, seasons over.

“It’s a kitchen-sink game,” Lobo center fielder Khalil Walker said Tuesday. “We’re gonna throw everything we have at them, try to get a win.”

The six-team tournament format on a neutral field is new for the Mountain West this season, but the ultimate prize remains: an automatic berth in next week’s NCAA Regionals. Top seed Nevada and No. 2 Fresno State have the advantage of first-round byes, but only three games separated the top four teams in the standings after a tightly contested regular season.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if one of the teams that wins Wednesday makes a run to the final,” UNM coach Tod Brown said. “You get that first game under your belt, get the nerves out and get some momentum. These teams are so close. But at the same time, Wednesday’s a must-win scenario.”

The Lobos (30-22), who opened the season at Sloan Park in February’s MLB Desert Invitational, hope their return visit proves to be lengthy.

That will require a win over the Spartans (26-28), who struggled to get UNM hitters out during an April series in Albuquerque. The Lobos scored 56 runs in three games, winning the first two by mercy rule before dropping the finale 14-12.

“I don’t see that happening again,” Walker said. “Tournament games are different, but we’re confident. We just have to get hits when they matter.”

Brown said scoring early and getting a quality start from left-hander Daxton Purser are equally important if the Lobos are to make a deep tournament run.

“I feel very confident in the nine guys in our lineup,” said Brown, whose team led the MWC in nearly every key offensive stat. “In a tournament like this, you really need to get quality starting pitching and limit the number of guys who have to go out there each game. But for Wednesday’s game, everybody’s available. That’s the only approach we can have.”

The UNM-SJSU winner faces No. 2 Fresno State on Thursday at 7:05 p.m.

REPEAT CHAMP: UNM’s Walker surprised himself by winning a second straight Mountain West regular-season batting title. Walker finished the season batting .397, six points better than the .391 average he posted in 2024.

“Honestly, no, I didn’t see it coming,” Walker said. “I looked at it a few weeks ago, but I had a bad series at Air Force. I didn’t really think about it after that.”

Walker edged teammate Jordy Oriach (.395) for the hitting title after Oriach had an 0-for-5 game last Thursday against Fresno State. Oriach tied for the Mountain West lead in hits (83) but had more at-bats than Walker, who hit ninth for UNM all season.

“That was very strategic,” Walker said of hitting at the bottom of UNM’s lineup. “Our team’s got a lot of power and Tye Wood is a very capable leadoff hitter. Tye hitting first and me hitting ninth gives us the best chance to win.”

Brown called Walker’s back-to-back batting titles an “unbelievable” accomplishment.

“Khalil has such a team-first attitude,” Brown said, “and he understands how important it is to have a second leadoff hitter in the nine hole who can flip the lineup over for us. He’s such a great hitter and just a quality kid.”

POWER TRIO: Oriach led the Lobos in home runs for most of the season but he never built a comfortable lead. His roommates wouldn’t let him.

Oriach, McAlister and Ott, who ended up neck-and-neck for the club lead in long balls, were roommates through the 2024-25 school year. McAlister homered in Saturday’s season finale to tie Oriach with 16 homers. Ott finished with 15.

“It’s a friendly competition,” McAlister said, “and I think it honestly does give us a little extra motivation. Jordy and I were going back and forth and Ethan said, ‘I’m gonna catch you guys,’ and pretty soon he did. It’s pretty cool to think we had (47) homers between the three of us.”

ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST: New Mexico had a league-high six players receive All-MWC honors Tuesday. Outfielder Walker and infielders McAlister and Ott were named to the 13-player first team, while DH Oriach, outfielder Will Asby and pitcher Purser were second-team selections.

Fresno State had four first-team picks, including infielder Murf Gray and pitcher Adam Cremarosa, who were named MWC Co-Player of the Year and Pitcher of the Year, respectively. Gray shared top player honors with UNLV’s Dean Toigo.

Nevada’s Sean Yamaguchi was named Freshman of the Year and the Wolf Pack’s Jack McKinley was Coach of the Year.