SPOKANE, Wash. – The New Mexico State baseball team took on Gonzaga in a rubber match on Mother's Day at the Patterson Baseball Complex. After falling behind in the fourth inning, the Aggies deficit continued to grow over the remainder of the contest as they dropped the series finale with the Bulldogs, 10-2.
 
In a weekend full of pitching duels, Sunday's contest started out much the same with NM State's (34-18) Alex Pinedo going toe-to-toe with Gonzaga (26-21) lefty Mac Lardner. Each hurler held the offenses quiet through the first three innings and Pinedo did not allow a hit until the fourth.
 
The bottom half of that inning was when the first runs were put up on the board. Gonzaga got their first base knock on a single up the middle in the bottom of the fourth, followed by a single through the left side and a plunked batter to load the bags with two outs. The next at-bat saw a chopper to third base get bobbled as the Bulldogs scored the first two runs of the ballgame on the error.
 
NM State then looked to cut into the deficit in the top of the fifth. With two outs, Nick Gonzales walked to get the Aggies first man on of the frame. Joey Ortiz then stepped to the dish and laced an RBI triple to the right field corner, almost identical to the one he recorded in Saturday's contest, to cut the Bulldogs lead in half, 2-1.
 
After a scoreless fifth, Gonzaga was able to expand the lead over NM State in the bottom of the sixth. The Bulldogs had a runner on second with two outs when a single to shallow centerfield scored the man and the Aggies trailed 3-1.
 
Then in the seventh, the hole grew for NM State. The Bulldogs had the bases loaded with no outs when a pair of wild pitches brought in the first two runs of the frame. This was followed by a single up the middle that scored one more run to put the Crimson & White down 6-1. With two runners on and still no outs in the bottom of the seventh, the Aggies brought in their third reliever of the inning.
 
A double steal put two men in scoring position for Gonzaga when a sacrifice fly to right brought another run across the plate before the inning was all over. At the end of the seventh, the Aggies trailed the Bulldogs 7-1.
 
Looking to cut into the deficit, NM State answered early in the top of the eighth when Gonzales led off the inning and turned on the first pitch he saw that traveled over the left field fence for a solo homer. Unfortunately, this was all the Aggie bats could muster and they still trailed 7-2.
 
Gonzaga then added a few more insurance runs with a three-run home run in the eighth to end the scoring as NM State fell in the series finale, 10-2.
 
The New Mexico State baseball team now looks to rebound in the final regular-season series against Western Athletic Conference foe UT Rio Grande Valley, May 17-19. First place in the conference is on the line as NM State sits a half game behind Grand Canyon for the title.