LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State baseball team heads to Midland, Texas for a midweek match up against No. 7 Texas Tech at Security Bank Ballpark. This is the second clash of the season between the Aggies and Red Raiders.
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Fans can also follow the midweek contest with live stats on
SideArm.
TAKING A LOOK AT TECH
Sitting at No. 7 in the country, according to D1Baseball.com, Texas Tech enters the midweek contest with a 23-6 overall record. The Red Raiders have won eight of their last nine games and most recently took two of three from Big 12 opponent West Virginia at home.
Texas Tech has five everyday starters batting above .300 and are led by Gabe Holt who posts a .398 batting average with a team-high 15 stolen bases. Grant Little has a .396 average and leads the team with a .689 slugging percentage and 19 extra-base hits.
On the mound, the Red Raiders have a 3.30 team earned run average and hold opponents to a .198 batting average. Tech has also recorded three team shutouts and averages 9.39 strikeouts per nine innings pitched.
IN THE NATION
Seven weeks into the 2018 season the NM State baseball team currently ranks in the top-25 in 11 different categories across the NCAA, including seven within the top-10:
NM State (Rk) Category NCAA
9.1 (2nd)
Scoring 11.5
.432 (3rd)
OB% .451
.328 (3rd)
Batting Avg. .358
256 (4th)
Runs 300
.520 (4th)
Slugging % .636
315 (4th)
Hits 350
12 (6th)
Triples 14
.982 (12th)
Fielding Percentage .986
34 (15th)
Home Runs 59
3 (21st)
Shutouts 7
58 (23rd)
Doubles 80
Individually the Aggies also have six players checking in the top-25 in eight different categories. Catcher
Mason Fishback has the ninth highest total in doubles (13) and is 21
st in RBI (34). On the mound
Kyle Bradish sits 10
th in strikeouts (65) and 24
th in hits allowed per nine innings (5.18), while
Jonathan Groff ranks 17
th in the country in victories (5). Slugger
Tristen Carranza is 25
th in the country in home runs (8) and
Trey Stine comes in at 19
th in on-base percentage (.510). Finally, freshman
Nick Gonzales sits 20
th in the country in batting average (.413).
LAST TIME OUT
NM State recently dropped its conference series at home to Sacramento State. This was just the third series loss over the last three seasons for the Aggies (Utah Valley, 2016/GCU, 2017).
The New Mexico State baseball team opened the three-game series against Western Athletic Conference foe Sacramento State on Thursday, March 29. The Aggie bats put up runs over four innings and solid pitching allowed just three hits en route to an 8-2 victory in game one.
Starter
Kyle Bradish (3-1) earned the win after tossing 6.0 innings allowing just three hits with seven strikeouts. Offensively, the Aggies combined for 14 hits and were led at the dish by Fishback who went 4-for-5 with two RBI and Stine was a perfect 2-for-2 at the plate with two RBI of his own.
Game two saw an early barrage of runs from the Hornets put the Aggies in an early hole that they were not able to climb out of as they fell, 7-3. Then the Crimson & White also fell in the series finale when after going down early, the Aggies looked to rally late but fell short in a 6-2 loss to the Hornets.
UP NEXT
Following the midweek tilt with the Red Raiders, New Mexico State travels to Bakersfield, Calif. for a three-game weekend series against WAC opponent CSU Bakersfield, April 6-8.
