SAUL LOEB/Arizona Daily Wildcat Sophomore second baseman Moises Duran swings at a pitch yesterday afternoon during practice. Arizona swept New Mexico over the weekend, 37-7, in the three-game season opener.

UA sweeps New Mexico and outscores them 37-7 over the weekend

Welcome to the Andy Lopez era.

It started off with hot bats and crisp pitching this weekend to open the season with a three-game sweep against New Mexico.

Arizona won the series by a combined score of 37-7 to extend its winning streak over UNM to 17 games.

Yesterday, the Wildcats polished off the Lobos 8-2 in a breakout day for freshman first baseman Will Thompson.

In the bottom of the fourth with UA down 1-0, Thompson tripled to right, scoring sophomore center fielder Brian Anderson and senior catcher Chris Cunningham. The triple put the Wildcats up for good.

He later doubled home sophomore second baseman Moises Duran for his third RBI of the game.

Thompson, who batted second in the lineup for the first two games, hit seventh in game three. However, he didn't credit his three-RBI performance to his new position in the lineup.

"I just made better choices with the pitches I had," he said. "I've been kind of beating myself all weekend."

Sophomore pitcher Marc Kaiser allowed seven hits over eight innings and one earned run in his first start on the mound this season.

In the top of the eighth, UNM right fielder Joe Salas fouled a line drive into the Arizona dugout, hitting sophomore pitcher Joe Little directly in the head.

Little, who was the winning pitcher Saturday, suffered a deep cut above his left eyebrow and was taken to a hospital wearing bandages.

UA pounded out a 23-3 victory Saturday behind a grand slam by Duran.

The sophomore went 4-for-4 for the day with nine RBIs and closed out his offensive binge yesterday with a single and his second homer of the season - one more than in all of last year.

He said he doesn't think he will continue to hit with power, even though he changed his batting stance during the offseason.

"I'm not a power hitter; I'm a small guy," Duran said. "This year I'm a lot more relaxed straight up with my hands."

On Friday, UA won the season opener behind a dominant pitching performance by sophomore Sean Rierson.

The Phoenix native went eight innings and gave up two runs on seven hits.

Rierson got off to a shaky start after UNM shortstop Dusty Young hit a leadoff single to open the first inning. Young later scored on a single by first baseman Chris Alexander.

"I was a little jumpy at first, since it was the first game of the season," Rierson said.

However, the right-hander settled down to retire eight consecutive batters and cruised through the eighth inning until he was pulled because of a high pitch count.

Lopez was pleased with the overall team effort.

"I thought we did a good job with our intensity, I really commend them with that," he said. "The one thing I wanted them to establish is the idea that they were going to show up to play hard for themselves and for the community."

Lopez said he was pleased with the attendance of 1,138 for opening day, a strong contrast from last year's opening-day attendance of only 300 people.

"I want to thank the community for coming out and supporting us. I really appreciate it," he said.