The Arizona Wildcats (11-4) struggled to put New Mexico State (1-11) away on Tuesday, but still came away with a 6-2 win.
The Wildcats were just 1-7 with runners in scoring position, and 4-15 with runners on base at all heading into the bottom of the eighth. UA ended up leaving ten runners on base, but NMSU left nine.
"We've been scoring a lot of runs lately," head coach Andy Lopez said after the game. "And you just can't do that every night. Nobody does it every night. You're not going to put up ten or twelve every night, that's unrealistic. So we got 'em when we needed 'em."
It was just 4-2 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but singles by Joseph Maggi and Justin Behnke sandwiched by sacrifice bunts on either side scored the fifth run of the game for Arizona. Then a bad hop at first base gave Kevin Newman an RBI double to make it 6-2.
After flying out to end the bottom of the eighth, Bobby Dalbec hit the mound to close out the game. Arizona's sophomore closer struck out the side in the ninth to end the game.
"Just come in and throw strikes up four runs," Dalbec explained. "Just the usual. My fastball's been good lately and so has my offspeed so just trying to work on it and get better."
Arizona struck first when in the second inning, Jared Oliva singled off the pitcher's foot, and then advanced to third on a throwing error by the first baseman with JJ Matijevic going to second.
Two groundouts to first later and the Wildcats were up 2-0.
The old Friday night starter, Austin Schnabel, got the start on the mound Tuesday night, and struggled with his command throughout the night. NMSU scored a run in the third, and another in the fifth, but it could have been a lot worse. The Aggies loaded the bases in the first with just one out, stranded two in the third, and then stranded two more in the fifth.
Schnabel finished the night with seven hits and a walk given up in 4 2/3 innings. He did strike out seven, but used 86 pitches to get through his less than five innings.
"We'll get him back on track," Lopez said of Schnabel. "He'll be an asset for us out of the pen and he'll be alright."
Nathan Bannister had another good outing, throwing 3 1/3 scoreless in relief of Schnabel. He gave up just one hit and two walks, and brought his season ERA down below two. Bannister is definitely an important part of this team moving forward.
"I like Nathan because it's good to work with a net," coach continued. "Like with a high wire act, and he's a really good net right now. He's a good net because if one of the starters falters early in the game, we can go right to Bannister and it looks like he can settle us down right away. So we'll do that, and he's comfortable coming out of the pen right now."
"Even this summer he was lights out," added Dalbec. "I think he's a lot more confident than he was last year after getting dropped down. So he's pitching like it too, and he's working on stuff, and I'm getting excited."
A Zach Gibbons RBI single in the fourth and an Oliva double in the fifth were the other Arizona runs scored on the night.
The Wildcats and Aggies are back at it again on Wednesday night in the series finale. First pitch is scheduled for 6 PM MST. Xavier Borde will start for the Wildcats.