LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Brandon Dieter did a little bit of everything to help the NM State baseball team keep their winning streak intact.
Dieter hit his third home run in the last two games before pitching a scoreless ninth to help the Aggies extend their winning streak to three games with a 5-1 non-conference triumph over Benedictine Mesa Tuesday afternoon at Presley Askew Field.
SCORING SUMMARY
B2 | After the Aggies turned the first of their three double plays in order to escape the top of the second, their bats went to work. Zach Smits' leadoff walk was the start of something good for the hosts as Brandon Dieter followed it up with a two-bagger to the gap in right-center field. Catcher Britt Graham handed the hosts a lead they never gave up when he dropped an RBI single into left field. Two batters later, Tristan Stacy doubled the Aggies' lead with a sacrifice fly which plated Dieter and made matters 2-0.
T3 | Though another double play erased a threat by the Redhawks earlier in the innings, the visitors' never-say-die attitude at the plate allowed them to break up the Aggies' shutout bid. Brendon Rodriguez issued a two-out walk which was followed up by back-to-back singles. The second of those hits was an RBI single off the stick of Michael Avilucea that dropped just inside the right field line and cut the hosts' lead to 2-1.
B3 | Benedictine Mesa's two errors in the non-conference affair both came in the third and allowed the Aggies' third run to score. Kevin Jimenez reached on a bad throw by the Redhawks' shortstop to start NM State's set of at-bats and moved to third after Tommy Tabak laid down a bunt single which was nearly booted into the Aggies' dugout by the Redhawks' third baseman. Smits made it a 3-1 NM State lead with a lineout to deep center which Allowed Jimenez to come home.
B5 | Another sacrifice fly helped NM State keep its run total moving in an upward direction. Jimenez started the NM State fifth with a double and moved to third on a bloop single courtesy of Tabak. Brandon Dieter delivered the first of his two RBI on the day by hammering a long flyout to center which helped Jimenez race home and push the hosts' lead to 4-1.
B8 | For the third time in two games, Dieter used the power of the long ball to help NM State finish off a foe. The shortstop's solo shot to left-center in the hosts' eighth inning upped the Aggies' lead to 5-1.
AT THE DISH
• A trio of Aggies came up with multiple hits in their team's third-straight win including Dieter whose two hits consisted of his eighth-inning long ball as well as a double.
• Tommy Tabak extended his season-best hitting streak to five games by going 2-for-4 while Connor Laux reached base a team-high total of three times by generating two base knocks and drawing one of the Aggies' six walks.
• Avilucea wrapped up his Tuesday afternoon with two of the Redhawks' eight hits. Orlando Lorduy also conjured up two base knocks for Benedictine Mesa.
ON THE HILL
• Entering the win column for the first time in 2021 was Brendon Rodriguez (1-1). NM State's starter was scheduled to fire just three innings and he worked that exact number of frames. Through that span, he handed out five of the Redhawks' eight hits while giving up the visitors' only run.
• Ian Mejia followed Rodriguez with three frames of two-hit baseball before Josh Laukkanen delivered two innings of perfect pitching. Dieter slid up to the hill from his original posting at shortstop to toss the final frame.
• Seven Benedictine Mesa arms threw balls and strikes during the Redhawks' fourth-straight loss. Cody Daniels (2-1) suffered his first setback of the season after allowing two runs on four hits and a pair of walks in two innings of work.
COMING UP NEXT
• Beginning Friday evening at 6:00 p.m., NM State welcomes WAC foe UTRGV to Presley Askew Field for a four-game league series. Currently UTRGV is in fourth place in the WAC standings - one spot higher than the fifth-place Aggies. Each of the four games between the Aggies and Vaqueros - including Friday's series opener - will be broadcast on the WAC Digital Network.
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