April 21, 2008

Salt Lake City, UT (UWIRE) -- For the second consecutive weekend, the U baseball team dropped all three of its games against a conference opponent. This time around, the culprit was New Mexico, and the Lobos beat the Utes in convincing fashion in two out of the three games.

The one game when the Utes did give themselves a chance was Friday's round. Utah raced out to a 4-0 lead after the first two innings due in large part to Cody Guymon. Corey Shimada and DC Legg both got on base in the top of the second inning, and Guymon brought them home with a three-run blast.

The four-run lead was short-lived, though. New Mexico would have its rebuttal in the bottom of the second inning when Kevin Atkinson pounded out a two-RBI home run of his own. Rafael Neda followed up with a triple and crossed home shortly after thanks to a Utah error.

The Utes held onto a 4-3 lead until Brian Cavazos-Galvez evened the score with a solo shot in the bottom of the eighth inning. The two teams battled into extra innings, but neither could get a runner across the plate. New Mexico left three on base in the bottom of the ninth inning. Utah left a runner in scoring position in the top of the 11th. New Mexico left two on in the bottom of the 11th. In the top of the 12th inning, Shimada worked his way to third base, but a third out prolonged the outcome. Finally, in the bottom of the 12th inning, Neda ripped a two-out double to left field to conclude the game.

The Utes just weren't the same team for the rest of the weekend.

On Saturday, Utah carried a 3-2 lead into the fifth inning but couldn't stymie late Lobo rallies. New Mexico scored multiple runs in each of the final four innings -- six of which were unearned -- and ran away with a 13-3 victory. Neda led the charge for the Lobos, tallying five RBIs on 2-of-5 hitting.

"I feel like it was a complete breakdown on offense, defense and hitting. It was very frustrating."

The frustrations would continue for the Utes on Sunday. The Lobos jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first two innings and never gave the Utes a chance to get back into the game, scoring five runs in the fifth inning and four in the sixth. Utah would stage a minor rally in the top of the eighth inning -- scoring four runs -- but it wasn't enough to overcome the 11-point lead the Lobos had amassed, and the Utes fell 15-8.

Utah (3-7, 13-19) will step out of conference play Tuesday to take on Southern Utah before hosting UNLV this weekend.

(C) 2008 Daily Utah Chronicle via UWIRE