LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State baseball team rides a five-game winning streak into a weekend series in the northwest against Gonzaga, May 11-13, at the Patterson Baseball Complex.
First pitch for the series opener on Friday, May 11, is set for 7:00 p.m. MT. Game two on Saturday, May 12, is also set to begin at 7:00 and the series finale on Sunday, May 13, is scheduled for first pitch at 4:00 p.m.
PROBABLE STARTERS
Friday, May 11
NM State: Kyle Bradish, RHP (6-3, 3.41 ERA)
Gonzaga: Daniel Bies, RHP (5-4, 2.67 ERA)
Saturday, May 12
NM State: Jonathan Groff, LHP (8-2, 2.66 ERA)
Gonzaga: Alek Jacob, RHP (5-4, 3.25 ERA)
Sunday, May 13
NM State: Alex Pinedo, LHP (4-2, 4.11 ERA)
Gonzaga: Mac Lardner, LHP (5-2, 2.44 ERA)
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.
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow the all three games of the series in real time with live stats on CBS GameTracker by going to the Aggie baseball schedule page or by clicking
here.
SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS
Host Gonzaga enters the weekend series with a 24-20 overall record and 8-2 mark when playing at home. The Bulldogs are coming off a pair of 2-1 series wins taking down San Diego on the road this past weekend and Loyola Marymount at home, April 27-29.
The Bulldogs are hitting .257 as a team but look to redshirt freshman Ernie Yake at the dish who has a team-high .315 batting average across 43 starts this season. Slugger Jake Vieth leads the team with seven home runs and a .467 slugging percentage in his senior campaign.
On the mound, Gonzaga's pitching staff holds a 3.23 earned run average and has combined to hold opponents to a .248 batting average. This weekend's starters have combined for a 15-10 record and allowed 44 extra-base hits, including 13 home runs.
IN THE NATION
Heading into this week's series through games on Thursday, May 10, the NM State baseball team currently ranks in the top-15 in eight different categories across the country...
NM State (Rk) Category NCAA
.327 (2nd)
Batting Avg. .353
9.0 (2nd)
Scoring 10.9
.429 (2nd)
OB% .444
439 (2nd)
Runs 512
.506 (3rd)
Slugging % .617
547 (4th)
Hits 627
21 (4th)
Triples 26
105 (13th)
Doubles 125
LAST TIME OUT
NM State is coming off the third and final midweek clash against Battle of I-25 rival New Mexico on Tuesday, May 8. A stolen base from
Logan Ehnes with two outs in the top of the seventh, led to the eventual game-winning run, to give the New Mexico State baseball team the 4-3 victory over in-state rival UNM at Santa Ana Star Field.
The win gave NM State (33-16) its first-ever three-game sweep of the Lobos (16-31-1) in a single-season. The Aggies previously had two-game sweeps of UNM in 2011 and 1995. It was also the fifth-consecutive win for NM State.
Brock Whittlesey picked up his eighth save of the season that is just one shy of tying the single-season record, held by Ruger Rodriguez (2017) and Scott Koffman (2012). Offensively, senior
Mason Fishback went 3-for-4 with a run scored while
David Bellamy picked up two RBI.
IN THE HUNT
With the sweep of Utah Valley this past weekend, New Mexico State (32-16, 15-6 WAC) is now half a game back of Grand Canyon (27-20, 14-4 WAC) in the league standings and holds a half a game lead over Sacramento State (26-20, 13-5 WAC).
UP NEXT
Following the weekend series at Gonzaga, the New Mexico State baseball team heads to Edinburg, Texas for the final three games of the regular season against Western Athletic Conference foe UT Rio Grande Valley, May 17-19.
