LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State Aggies baseball team travels to Tucson, Ariz. to take on the No. 13 Arizona Wildcats on Tuesday, April 25, at 7 p.m. MT.
 
PROBABLE STARTERS
NM State sends Steven Butts to the mound for Tuesday's contest against 13th ranked Arizona's Cody Deason. Butts is making his first start of the year against the Wildcats and the Aggie has a 9.00 ERA with five strikeouts in seven appearances. The opponent's hurler is making his fourth start of the year and the right-hander holds a 2-1 record with 23 strikeouts through 21.2 innings of work.
 
GET CONNECTED
Get up to the minute information and news about the NM State baseball team all season on Twitter, and Instagram by following @NMStateBaseball and on Facebook.com/NMSUAthletics.
 
WHERE TO WATCH
The Aggies contest versus the Wildcats on Tuesday, April 25 is going to be broadcast on the Arizona live stream on pac-12.com
 
LISTEN UP!
Aggie fans that can't make it to the game can listen to Adam Young (@youngpbp) and Jerry Lujan on 99.5 FM Zia Country. Fans can also listen to the game live with their mobile or tablet device on the TuneIn app for free by searching 99.5 FM Zia Country.
 
GET YOUR SEASON TICKETS NOW!
With the start of the 2017 season tickets, Aggie fans can be a part of the action for all 23 home games (including three double-headers) 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.
 
SCOUTING THE WILDCATS
Arizona enters the midweek match-up with a 26-12 overall record. The opponent has struggled as of late, however, posting a 5-5 record over their last 10 contests and comes into Tuesday's game on a three-game losing streak. The three losses came at home to Pac-12 opponent Utah, April 20-22.
 
Offensively, the Wildcats are led by infielder JJ Matijevic who boasts a team-high .401 batting average, six home runs and 43 RBI with seven stolen bases. The Wildcats also look to Alfonso Rivas who hols a .397 BA and a team-leading .573 slugging percentage. Three more Wildcats are batting above .300 with Mitchell Morimoto (.353), Jared Oliva (.346) and Nick Quintana (.336).
 
Arizona is third in the country in scoring with 8.6 runs per game, sixth in on-base percentage at .417 and seventh in batting average at .323.
 
On the mound, the opposition's starter Cody Deason is third on the team with 14 appearances which is just behind Cameron Ming and Landon Faulkner who have each made 15. Ming is tied with Deason and Luke Soroko in for the team lead in saves with two.
 
As a team, the Wildcat pitching staff holds a 4.35 ERA over 335.0 innings pitched with 286 strikeouts and a .269 opponent batting average. 
 
LOOKING AT THE RECORD BOOKS
Aggie second baseman Brent Sakurai sits in the top-10 in single-season triples in program history. The senior is tied for seventh with a mark set in 1988 by Gil Padilla, who recently won his 300th game at Las Cruces High School.
 
Ruger Rodriguez' six saves put him in a tie for fifth all-time. Rodriguez is two saves shy of tying the Aggies all-time record held by Orlando Griego (1989) and Scott Coffman (2011).
 
LEAGUE LEADERS
With his two-run blast on Friday, April 21, Aggie first baseman Tristen Carranza continues to pace the WAC in home runs with a league-best 12 jacks. The El Centro, Calif., product has tallied multi-homer games three separate times so far this season, including a two-homer night in Seattle to open WAC play.
 
Right-fielder Dan Hetzel also had a round-tripper in the team's game on Friday, April 22, which moved the Aggie just behind Carranza in second place in the conference with nine home runs.
 
The home run derby for the two Aggies also puts them at one and two in the WAC in slugging percentage with Carranza at .661 and Hetzel at .628.
 
NM State's high-scoring offense also features four players leading the conference in runs batted in. Hetzel leads the way with 45 RBI, followed by Austin Botello with 39, Carranza posting 36 and Mason Fishback rounds out the top-four with 35.
 
LAST TIME OUT
NM State wrapped up a three-game weekend series at home versus Northern Colorado. The Aggies swept the series, 3-0.
 
The Aggie offense got rolling from the first contest in which they won 10-3 with 15 hits and one home run. NM State added to their totals in the remaining two games connecting for 20 more hits and two home runs in 7-4 and 6-2 victories.
 
This was the team's fourth series sweep of the season and third sweep in WAC play.
 
UP NEXT
After the match-up with the nationally ranked Wildcats, the New Mexico State baseball team returns home to Presley Askew Field to play host to WAC foe Grand Canyon for a three-game weekend series, April 28-30.
 
The contest between the top two teams in the conference has first pitch for the opening contest on Friday, April 28, set for 6 p.m. MT.