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Ryan Castillo just keeps putting zeroes on the scoreboard for the University of New Mexico baseball team.

Zeroes for opposing offenses, that is.

Castillo, a junior right-hander from Los Lunas, has been lights-out for the Lobos this season and Saturday was no exception. Castillo pitched a complete game, scattering six hits and striking out eight as UNM rolled to an 11-3 victory over San Diego State at Lobo Baseball Field.

It was New Mexico's first nine-inning complete game since Cody Dye tossed one in 2018, but Saturday's outing was hardly an anomaly for Castillo in 2026. Castillo improved to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in Mountain West starts, helping the Lobos (21-12-1, 7-3-1) inch into first place in the tightly bunched MWC standings.

UNM moved a half-game in front of San Diego State, Nevada and Air Force, all of whom were 7-4 in league play after Saturday's games. The Lobos will try to complete a three-game sweep of the Aztecs in Sunday's series finale at 12 p.m.

New Mexico's hitters had their way Saturday, racking up 16 hits against four SDSU pitchers. Lenny Junior Ashby went 4-for-4 and Gene Trujillo drove in three runs with a single and a long two-run homer to pace UNM's attack.

Still, UNM's man of the hour was Castillo, who is building a strong case for Mountain West Pitcher of the Year honors. He leads the conference in earned-run average (2.14), opponent batting average (.188) and wins, while ranking third in strikeouts (59) and fifth in innings pitched (54.2).

"Just outstanding," UNM coach Tod Brown said of Castillo's season to date. "He's advanced from walk-on to scholarship player to weekend starter last year to dominant starter this year. Ryan's been so consistent; it's really been impressive to watch."

Castillo has teamed up with sophomore Cristian Mogen to give the Lobos an effective one-two punch in the starting rotation. Mogen worked seven strong innings in UNM's 5-3 win over SDSU on Friday night only to be one-upped by Castillo.

"They're best friends and they keep pushing each other," Brown said. "Mogen struck out 11 and only walked one (Friday) night and I was thinking, Mountain West Pitcher of the Week. Then Castillo says, 'Not so fast.'"

Castillo credits his improvement this season to health, hard work and his relationship with Mogen. Castillo finished 4-4 for the Lobos last season but battled shoulder soreness and posted an 8.65 ERA.

"Just sticking to my routine," he said of this season's improvement, "nothing more than that really. I do think Cristian and I pushing each other is a factor, though. I feel like it's made both of us better."

Trujillo squared off against Castillo when both were in high school. Trujillo, who played for St. Pius, drew two walks against the Los Lunas High righty, but said he's happy to be on the same team with Castillo now.

"Ryan's been so good," Trujillo said. "Once we got four runs on the board, I wasn't worried about this game. I knew we had it."

The Lobos pushed four runs across by the third inning Saturday, thanks in part to RBI hits by Ashby, Anthony Diaz and Karsen Waslefski. Trujillo belted his third home run of the season well over the right-field fence in the fifth inning, and Khalil added a three-run double to give Castillo a comfortable 9-0 lead.

Castillo shut out the Aztecs through seven innings but allowed three runs in the eighth, thanks to a Zach Justice fly ball double that ticked off the glove of a diving Walker in center field for an RBI double. SDSU's other two runs scored on ground outs, and Castillo capped his 114-pitch outing with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

"My curveball wasn't as consistent as usual," Castillo said, "but my fastball was good and my changeup was probably the best it's been. It felt good to finish it off and I think we're in a great spot as a team. We've been kind of streaky this year but we're starting to build that steady confidence."