LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Battle of I-25 resumes for the 2017 baseball season as New Mexico State plays hosts to New Mexico on Tuesday, March 7, and is presented by Wells Fargo. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Southwest University Ballpark, home of the San Diego Padres Triple-A Affiliate El Paso Chihuahuas.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
Aggie head coach Brian Green hands the ball over to Chris Kucko (0-0, 5.40 ERA) for the midweek contest while UNM counters with Austin Isenhart (0-0, 4.50 ERA). Kucko has seen 3.1 innings of action this season and has appeared in two games, including one start. Isenhart has pitched 6.0 innings of work in four appearances.
 
LISTEN UP!
Tuesday's battle in the Borderlands can be heard on 99.5 FM Zia Country with Adam Young instead of the usual broadcast 91.5 FM KRUX due to scheduling conflicts. Fans can also listen to the game live with their mobile or tablet device on the TuneIn app for free by searching New Mexico State.
 
GET YOUR SEASON TICKETS NOW!
With the start of the 2017 season tickets, Aggie fans can be a part of the action for every home game (including the remaining double-header) for just $100 per seat. Season tickets will guarantee fans a seat in the reserved section of 104 behind home plate. Fans can purchase 2017 Aggie baseball season tickets by going to the Pan American Center ticket office or by calling 575-646-1420.
 
BATTLE OF I-25 RESUMES IN ELP
The first Battle of I-25 game this year is set to take place at Southwest University Park this Tuesday, March 7, at 6:30 p.m. (MT) as NM State plays host to New Mexico for the 244th meeting all-time.
 
This is the second time the two teams will compete in the Triple-A ballpark with NM State taking the first meeting 9-6. Four Aggies went 2-for-4 that night while Austin Botello went 2-for-3. Dan Hetzel, LJ Hatch and Botello each recorded two RBI in the game as well in the win.
 
New Mexico is 7-3 heading into the midweek matchup after sweeping its Mountain West Conference opener at Air Force this past weekend. The Lobos offense outscored the Falcons 59-28 on the weekend after dropping a 7-2 decision to Texas Tech a week after the Aggies.
 
Luis Gonzalez leads New Mexico at the plate with a .537 batting average with 10 walks, a .780 slugging percentage and a .618 on-base percentage. Jack Zoellner is second on the team with a .413 BA and has 19 hits on the year to only trail Gonzalez (22). As a team, UNM is batting .337 at the dish with 51 extra-base hits and 15 home-runs.
 
On the mound, Carson Schneider leads the pack with a 2-0 record and 5.25 ERA in three appearances. Out of the pen, Justin Slaten has had the best success, posting a 1.17 ERA in four appearances in 7.2 innings of work while giving up just an earned run with four walks and six punch outs.
 
IN THE NATION
Through the team's latest game on Sunday, March 5, here's how the Aggies are compared to other teams in the country.
 
NM State (Rk)              Category                   NCAA
.366 (1)                        Batting Avg.               .366
189 (1)                         Hits                            189
155 (1)                         Runs                          155
73 (2)                           Walks                          85
.462 (1)                        OBP                           .462
.542 (8)                        SLG%                         .595
38 (1)                           Doubles                        38
7 (2)                             Triples                         13
13 (25)                          Home Runs                  30
26 (2)                            HBP                            31
11.1 (1)                          Scoring                      11.1

Senior Austin Botello leads the NCAA in hits with 26, and is also in the top-10 in several other categories. He's 11th in the country with 13 walks drawn, third in RBI (21), 18th in runs (16) and 11th in total bases (38).
 
Shortstop LJ Hatch is 11th in the country with seven doubles and only trails the NCAA leader by one. He's also 12th in runs with 17 along with Joey Ortiz and Marcus Still. Brent Sakurai is also fifth in runs with 19.
 
STRAIGHT FLEXIN'
Sophomore first baseman Tristen Carranza has been flexing some serious power at the plate the last two series at home. The El Centro, Calif., product has feasted on pitchers on Sunday's, belting two homers versus Bryant (Feb. 26) and then again this Sunday versus Yale. His four home runs so far are good for the team lead, second in the WAC and 25th in the country.
 
GETTING STREAKY
Second baseman Brent Sakurai is currently on a seven game hitting-streak, which is second-longest on the team this season behind freshman Joey Ortiz (8). Meanwhile, Marcus Still has reached base safely in 14-straight games while Ortiz is right on his tails with 11-straight. Sakurai is not far off from his two teammates, reaching base safely nine-straight times.
 
EARLY AND OFTEN
With 14 games under its belt, the 2017 NM State team has been most productive the early innings. The Aggies have plated 57 runs to their opponent's nine in the first two innings and have only been outscored in the ninth (2-1).
 
With its offensive power, NM State has only lost one game when leading after the fourth inning (9-1) while anytime the Aggies have led after the fifth (9-0), sixth (8-0), seventh (9-0) and eighth (9-0) innings they've been undefeated.
 
LAST TIME OUT
After dropping the very first match up against Yale in program history, the Aggie batters exploded 41 runs in the next three games – including a pair of 16-plus run games.
 
The Aggies broke the game open in the opening frame to take a 5-1 lead before putting up crooked numbers in the fifth, sixth and seventh inning to take the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday, 16-5. The bottom half of the NM State batting order was very productive, collecting eight hits with nine RBI and three walks while scoring eight.
 
The second game of the twin bill was much closer with Yale tying the game up with three runs in the top of the sixth before NM State pushed four across the dish in the final two innings. The top of the order was responsible for the offensive production in game two. The top three batters for NM State went 8-for-9 with five runs scored and four RBI and three walks.
 
On Sunday, 8-of-11 batters that stepped up to the plate recorded a hit while nine reached base safely. Four Aggies were able to record three hits while seven batters had multiple hits. New Mexico State put the game out of reach before it could get started, posting a 10 spot in the opening frame and never looked back. Yale's starting pitcher Drew Scott was touched up for nine runs, eight earned, on four hits and four walks. Of the 10 batters he faced, nine rounded the bases to score.
 
UP NEXT
After Tuesdays neutral game against UNM, New Mexico State embarks on an eight-game road trip that include two teams that advanced the College World Series in Arizona March 21) and UC Santa Barbara (March 25-26).