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BB: Lobos Come From Behind to Beat BYU, 7-6

May 27, 2010

San Diego, CA - Senior center fielder Max Willett's one-out single in the seventh inning scored Ryan Honeycutt with the winning run as No. 2-seeded New Mexico rallied for a 7-6 win over No. 4 seed BYU in the 2010 Conoco Mountain West Conference Baseball Championship on Thursday at San Diego State's Tony Gwynn Stadium.

The Lobos (36-19), who trailed 6-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth, tied the game in the sixth when senior first baseman Justin Howard drove an 0-1 pitch over the center field wall. The home run was the 10th of the season for Howard, who ranks second in the nation in both hits (114) and batting average (.458).

New Mexico will face the loser of Thursday night's matchup between No. 1-seeded TCU and No. 5-seeded UNLV in an elimination game at 3 p.m. PT on Friday. The Lobos dropped two of three against TCU during the regular season and went 2-1 against UNLV.

BYU, which amassed 22 hits in a 25-18 win over defending champion Utah in Thursday's first game, jumped out to a 4-0 lead against New Mexico when junior second baseman Dane Nielsen, who hit a three-run homer against Utah, delivered a two-run shot to right in the top of the second.

The Cougars tacked on two more runs in the fifth on a two-run homer by sophomore shortstop Austin Hall, who accounted for one of four BYU home runs in its elimination game against Utah.

But the Lobos, facing elimination following Wednesday's loss to UNLV, trimmed the deficit to 6-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a fielder's choice and an RBI single from junior catcher Rafael Neda.

BYU, which got a pair of hits from both Nielsen and Hall, finished the season 27-31.