LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State baseball team heads to the Grand Canyon State for a four-game road swing. Play begins with a midweek contest at Arizona State in Tempe, Ariz. at 7:30 p.m. MT on April 25.
Following the midweek clash, the Aggies head to Phoenix, Ariz. to take on Western Athletic Conference foe Grand Canyon in a crucial weekend series, April 27-29.
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.
LISTEN UP!
For every game of the weekend series fans can listen to Wednesday's game on 99.5 FM Zia Country. Then the weekend series can be heard on 91.5 FM KRUX. Adam Young is on the call for all four games. Fans can also use their tablet or mobile device to listen on the TuneIn app by searching KRUX.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can also follow the midweek contest with live stats on
StatBroadcast. Then the weekend series at Grand Canyon can also be followed on the Lopes
StatBroadcast site.
SCOUTING THE SUN DEVILS
Heading into Phoenix Municipal Stadium on Wednesday, host Arizona State holds a 17-22 overall record. The Sun Devils recently ended a six-game losing streak after sweeping the weekend series against Utah at home, April 20-22.
At the dish, Arizona State is hitting .292 as a team, but has three everyday starters hitting above .325. Play at the plate has been led by Gage Canning who is hitting .387 with a team-high .438 on-base percentage and five stolen bases. Spencer Torkelson adds in a .326 average with 20 home runs and team-leading .806 slugging percentage.
The ASU pitching staff has combined for a 4.61 earned run average with three team shutouts. The Sun Devil rotation has held opponents to a .258 batting average while allowing 101 extra-base hits, including 17 home runs.
LOOKING AT THE LOPES
Entering the week, WAC foe Grand Canyon stands at 22-17 overall with a 10-2 record in conference play. The Lopes return from taking a series, 2-1, up at Illinois. Prior to the weekend series, GCU hosts NM State rival UNM for a pair of midweek games, April 24-25.
On the year, the Lopes are hitting .286 and have outscored opponents 242-204. Quin Cotton leads the team at the plate with a .355 batting average to go along with a team-high 29 RBI. The Lopes have also played very well in the field, recently passing the Aggies with a league-leading .979 fielding percentage.
On the mound, the GCU staff leads the WAC in strikeouts with 353 and also has posts an average of 2.4 strikeouts per walk. The Lopes rotation has allowed 19 homers and has an opposing batting average of .269.
ANOTHER ONE
The Western Athletic Conference announced its players of the week on Monday, April 23. Following a stellar weekend at the dish, NM State's
Joey Ortiz earned his second conference hitter of the week nod.
Ortiz led the WAC with a .500 batting average on the week and helped lead the Aggies to a 2-1 road series win over conference foe Northern Colorado. The series opener saw the sophomore go 3-for-3 from the dish with a pair of RBI and scoring one run himself.
This play was followed up in a 12-9 NM State victory in game two where the Garden Grove, Calif. native had a pair of base knocks with two RBI and three runs scored. Then in the series finale, Ortiz added another hit and run scored to help the Aggies to a 6-3 win and series victory.
IN THE NATION
Ten weeks into the 2018 season the NM State baseball team currently ranks in the top-10 in eight different categories across the NCAA:
NM State (Rk) Category NCAA
.327 (2nd)
Batting Avg. .358
9.2 (2nd)
Scoring 11.5
.435 (2nd)
OB% .455
367 (3rd)
Runs 448
.506 (3rd)
Slugging % .645
449 (5th)
Hits 526
17 (5th)
Triples 22
91 (9th)
Doubles 109
ROAD WARRIORS
As the Aggies travel for their third conference series on the road, the team has currently won eight straight series against WAC teams in away games dating back to the 2016 season. The last loss for NM State on the road came against CSU Bakersfield, April 22-24, 2016. The Aggies first series of the 2018 season saw them sweep CSU Bakersfield by a combined score of 23-8 before recently taking down Northern Colorado, 2-1.
LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies remain on the road following a conference series victory in Greeley, Colo. against Northern Colorado this past weekend on Jackson Field. NM State went down early when in the series opener, a pair of five run innings from the Bears put the Aggies in a hole they could not climb out of as they fell 13-7.
Then in game two, the series was not decided in nine innings and it took
Joey Ortiz and
Trey Stine to drive in three runs in the eleventh to lead the Aggies to a 12-9 win over the Bears. At the plate, the Crimson & White combined for 13 hits that saw nine players record a base knock. The Aggie rotation had another great day on the mound combining for 16 strikeouts to give the staff 31 total through two games.
The series-deciding finale saw a game that entered the final inning all tied up, the Aggies avoided extras with a four-run ninth that led the team to a 6-2 victory and series win over the Bears. The Aggies outhit the Bears 12-9 in the finale and saw eight players reach base safely on the day. NM State's rotation combined for six strikeouts that brought the series total to 38, falling just one short of the series high this season of 39 set against Mississippi Valley State.
UP NEXT
Following the road trip, New Mexico State returns home to host in-state rival New Mexico for the second installment in the Battle of I-25 on May 1, at 6:05 p.m. MT, on Presley Askew Field.
