EDINBURG, Texas – The New Mexico State baseball team opened up a crucial three-game series to close out the regular season against Western Athletic Conference opponent UT Rio Grande Valley on Thursday night at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Kyle Bradish dominated on the mound all night and the Aggie offense had an explosive display at the plate en route to a 14-3 win in eight innings over the Vaqueros.
 
NM State's (35-18, 16-6 WAC) offense did not get going until the second inning, but starter Kyle Bradish was cruising from his first pitch of the night on just mowing UT Rio Grande Valley (22-30, 7-15 WAC) batters on a record night that began with two strikeouts in the first inning.
 
In the top of the second, the Aggie offense then hit its groove. After a ground out and Trey Stine reaching on a fielding error at short, Tristen Carranza then stepped to the dish and crushed a two-run home run to left field to open the scoring for the Aggies. This gave the junior his team-leading ninth homer of the year, but was just his first since March 25 against Seattle U.
 
The scoring continued in the second inning when with two on and two outs, Logan Bottrell knocked the ball to center field to bring home one runner. A wild pitch followed and the Aggies had two men in scoring position when Joey Ortiz laced a hit to right field that scored two runs. Still not done in the frame, Caleb Henderson followed up with a two-run dinger over the wall in left and the Aggies led the Vaqueros 7-0 heading to the bottom half.
 
In the bottom of the second, Bradish got the first batter to strikeout looking, which tied the school single-season record. Then the next batter was also caught looking and Bradish recorded his 108^th on the year to set the new single-season strikeout record that has been held since 1991 by Albert Montoya. Following the record, the hurler continued to deal striking out seven batters for the next nine outs he registered to give him 11 punch-outs through five innings.
 
The Vaqueros put up a pair of runs on a throwing error and wild pitch in the bottom of the third to cut into the Aggies lead that stood at 7-2, but the NM State offense got rolling to expand this advantage in the fourth inning. A bases loaded double play brought in the first run of the frame and Henderson added an RBI single to put NM State ahead 9-2 through four.
 
NM State's advantage grew in the sixth inning as an error on a bunt attempt put two runners in scoring position with no outs for the Aggies. Ortiz proceeded to chop a ball off the dirt in the infield that got over the head of the shortstop and plated two runs as the Crimson & White led 11-2.
 
UT Rio Grande Valley was able to bring in its third run of the ballgame when an error on an infield single scored a runner from second base, but NM State still held on to an eight-run lead.
 
The offensive production then continued for the Aggies over the final two innings. NM State went up 12-3 in the seventh when Marcus Still brought home a run with a double down the right field line. Then in the eighth, NM State cemented the run-rule victory when Stine and Gonzales each had RBI base knocks to put the Aggies ahead 14-3, which stood as the final.
 
After the record-breaking performance, Bradish (7-3) picked up the win after 6.0 innings of work, tying his career-high with 12 strikeouts. The Aggie offense combined for 14 hits with each player recording at least one.
 
Game two of the series between New Mexico State and UT Rio Grande Valley is set for 6 p.m. MT on Friday, May 18, at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Fans can listen live on 91.5 FM KRUX as Adam Young has the call.