LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The NM State Aggies baseball program closes out the 2021 home portion of its schedule this weekend when the first-place California Baptist Lancers visit Presley-Askew Stadium this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
 
Friday's series opener is set for a 3:07 p.m. first pitch and will be followed by Saturday's doubleheader beginning at 1:07 p.m. and Sunday's senior day finale set for a 12:07 p.m. start. Prior to the Sunday series finale the Aggies will honor seniors Jason Bush and Chris Jefferson.
 
The weekend series will also be the final four WAC games of the season, as NM State is off next weekend. The Aggies will close out the 2021 regular season on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. contest at No. 13 Arizona.
  AGGIE FACTS:
• The Aggies enter the weekend series against CBU riding a three-game home winning streak. Winners of four of their last five at home, the Aggies will look to earn back-to-back home WAC series victories for the first time Mar. 12-23 when the Aggies took 3-of-4 from Dixie and swept Northern Colorado.
• The Aggies are 16-16 in WAC play and sit 2.5 games behind UTRGV in the standings. UTRGV hosts Northern Colorado this weekend before closing WAC play at Sacramento State next Thursday-Saturday. NM State has the tie breaker over the Vaqueros after the Aggies took 3-of-4 from them at the beginning of the month.
• CBU leads the all-time series over the Aggies 2-1. The Lancers took 2-of-3 from the Aggies back on May 16-18 in 2019.
• The Aggies have raked at the 'Skew this season. Seven different Aggies are hitting at least .300 this season at home, led by Zerek Saenz and Cal Villareal. Saenz is hitting a blistering .530 at home this season, while Villareal has hit seven doubles and drove in 19 in 14 games.
• By turning a five more twin-killings last week, the Aggies ran their double play total for the season to 42.  Entering the weekend that mark ranks fourth in the country. Auburn leads the nation in DP's with 49.
• Entering the second to last weekend of the season, multiple Aggies are eyeing individual WAC titles. Zerek Saenz is currently second in the WAC in batting average (.384) and has the most hits (66) in the conference. Saenz trails Matt Smith of Sac State by just four points.  The outfielder also leads the WAC in on-base percentage (.478).   
• Ethan Mann and Brandon Dieter continue to lead the way for the Aggies atop the conferences RBI leaders. Mann has driven in a WAC-best 46 runs while Dieter has driven in 42. They are the only two players in the WAC to have driven in at least 40 runs.
• Mann is also tied for the WAC lead in home runs. The infielder hit two last weekend to bring his season total to nine.
• Infielder Kevin Jimenez continues to draw free passes at a good rate. The infielder has drawn a WAC-best 37 free passes this season and is second in the WAC in on-base percentage.
• Senior Chris Jefferson threw his seventh complete game of the season last Saturday. Jefferson has gone the distance in four straight games.
• Tommy Tabak has been on fire since returning from injury, Tabak has gone 21-for-42 in 12 games. The CF is riding a 13-game on-base streak.

SCOUTING CALIFORNIA BAPTIST | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• CBU enters the weekend with an overall record of 31-13, 23-5 in WAC play.
• The Lancers are tied with Grand Canyon for first-place in the WAC standings. CBU travels to Phoenix next weekend to take on GCU.
• Due to the fact that they are still transitioning from D-II to D-I, the Lancers are not eligible for WAC postseason play.
• CBU has split or won every single WAC series. The only two teams in the conference to beat CBU twice were Dixie State and Sac State.
• Led by Keith Damon (.365), four different California Baptist hitters enter the weekend hitting at least .300.
• On the bump, Chris Burica has been the strongest CBU starter. Burica has pitched 82.2 innings over his 12 starts, pitching to an ERA of 3.05.
• Freshman CJ Culpepper has been the Lancer closer for the entire season. Culpepper is 1-1 and has 11 saves over his 17 appearances.
 
UP NEXT:
The Aggies will close the regular season against No. 13 Arizona on Tuesday night. First pitch from Tucson is set for 6 p.m.