LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State baseball team closed out its four-game weekend series against Yale on Sunday at Presley Askew Field. Another great offensive outing with runs in six of their eight innings saw the Aggies get the series win over the Bulldogs, 13-6, in the finale.
NM State (7-1) sent out right-hander
Chance Hroch to start on the mound against Yale (1-3) southpaw Kumar Nambiar. The opposing bats stuck first in the top half of the opening inning beginning with a one out base knock to score a runner from third. With still one out, the Bulldogs saw a single through the right side score a man from second to put the Aggies behind 2-0 at the end of the first.
Then in the bottom of the second, the Crimson & White were able to cut the Bulldogs lead in half. With one out and no men on,
Tristen Carranza belted a ball to the opposite field for a solo home run to put the NM State deficit at just 2-1.
Yale was able to expand its lead over the home team in the top of the third inning. The leadoff hitter reached second base on an infield error to get into scoring position. Then the next batter sent a single through the right side that scored one run to put the Aggies behind 3-1.
In the bottom half of the third, NM State erased the deficit. The scoring opened with
Joey Ortiz roping a triple to left center that scored the man from second. The next batter,
Nick Gonzales, had an RBI single to left to tie the game up. Then with runners on the corners, a wild pitch brought home the man from third to give NM State a 4-3 advantage heading to the fourth.
After tossing a scoreless top of the fourth, the Aggies expanded their lead in the bottom half. The first run of the frame came on an infield groundout that scored the runner from third base. A walk to the next batter left runners on the corners and Gonzales laced a two-RBI double to the gap in left that put the lead for the Crimson & White at 7-3.
Each side was held scoreless in the fifth, but the Aggie bats got rolling again in the sixth. With two outs and a man on third,
Caleb Henderson had a base knock to left field that scored one run for an 8-3 NM State lead.
The Bulldogs cut into this lead in the top of the seventh. A runner was on third with two outs and a single up the middle brought home the runner to cut the Aggies lead in half to 8-4.
Then in the bottom half of the seventh, NM State had its highest scoring frame to expand the lead. Scoring opened when there were runners on the corners and
Eric Mingus brought home the man from third with a single to left field. This left men on first and second for the next batter,
Logan Bottrell, who added an RBI single for the second run of the frame. To add a few insurance runs, Gonzales sent a double to right that scored a pair of runs to give the Aggies a 12-4 edge.
Yale looked for a comeback late in the game. This began with a pair of runs scored in the top of the eighth that put the lead for the Crimson & White at 12-6. The scoring ended there for the Bulldogs, however, and the Aggies added a run in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI single from
Logan Ehnes to give the team a 13-6 advantage, which would stand as the final score in NM State's series finale victory.
Continuing his impressive start to the season, Gonzales led the Aggies at the plate going 3-for-5 with five RBI, followed by Mingus who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Bottrell who went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Hroch (2-0) picked up the win on the day after tossing 7.1 innings allowing just one earned run.
The New Mexico State baseball team now readies for its first road trip of the season as the team heads to Lubbock, Texas to take on No. 4 Texas Tech on Tuesday, February 26, at 1 p.m. MT inside of Dan Law Field at Rip Griffin Park.
