In three high scoring contests, the BYU Cougars dropped two of three games to the previous first place Lobos in a hard-fought weekend series. BYU's only win came during game two, 13-5.

While New Mexico (29-20, 13-5) won the series over all, the sole loss to the Cougars (19-28, 7-11) dropped the Lobos a half game behind TCU (32-16, 15-5) in the highly competitive Mountain Western Conference standings.

The offensive play by the Cougars was solid, but inconsistency from the pitching staff both sparkled in game two, and gave up insurmountable deficits in games one and three.

In game one, the Cougars came out strong with a leadoff homerun by Sean Mcnaughton, his team-leading twelfth of the season. BYU quickly jumped out to a 3-0 advantage going into the fifth inning, but could not hold on as the Lobos heated up, despite the frigid weather.

New Mexico scored three runs to tie the game in the top of the fifth, but BYU stormed back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to regain the lead. From there on, it was all UNM.

The Lobos scored five runs off six hits in the sixth inning and the Cougars could not answer, only scoring one more run for the rest of the contest.

BYU was hurt the most by three costly errors and allowing the Lobos thirteen hits. While showing signs of life in the bottom of the eighth, the Cougars eventually lost the game 9-7.

The Lobos looked to start the second game Friday night with similar dominance. The Cougars' effort looked lackluster through the first three and a half innings, allowing five runs and scoring none. The Cougars, however, were not finished. The BYU bats exploded in the bottom of the fourth knocking off ten runs on eleven hits.

Those ten runs were both the most scored by BYU in an inning, and allowed by New Mexico this season.

In the inning, BYU took the lead off of a monster three run homer delivered at the bat of short stop Brandon Relf, the team's fifth homerun at Miller Field this season.

The Lobos never came close for the rest of the game as sophomore pitcher Blake Torgerson settled in and didn't allow another run, for a final score of 13-5. Torgerson threw 121 pitches in a complete game.

"Tonight was definitely a good way for us to prove ourselves," said Torgerson. "We believe we are a team that is a lot more capable than what we have been showing."

Unfortunately for the Cougars, their momentum couldn't carry them to a victory on Saturday.

After falling into an early 3-0 hole, BYU looked to keep the game close by scoring four runs in the third inning to take the lead. But the Cougars could not hold on.

The Cougar defenders looked unorganized and unsure of themselves as the Lobos tore apart the BYU pitching staff for a seven run inning, New Mexico's highest-scoring inning all season.

"The disappointing thing is that we scored four to take the lead in the bottom of the third and then turned around and they scored seven," said Coach Vance Law.

While BYU lost the series to the Lobos, the Cougars stayed competitive against a tough team.

"I feel our hitters did a good job," Law said. "They [UNM] are a good ball club and don't strike out much; they're very competitive."

The Cougars look to rebound next week with six games in six nights. They face cross-town rival UVSC today in Orem, and then play two consecutive series at home against Washington State and San Diego State.