LAS CRUCES, N.M. -- The NM State baseball program fell 17-7 to California Baptist Sunday afternoon on Senior Day at Presley-Askew Field.

Prior to first pitch, the Aggies (19-31, 16-20 WAC) honored senior righty Chris Jefferson and catcher Jason Bush as well as the programs eight graduates.

In defeat, the NM State received two hits in three at-bats from Bush, and a solo home run from Ethan Mann. The homer was Mann's 12th of the season which is tied with Damon Keith of CBU for the WAC lead.

The difference in the contest was an eight-run sixth inning by the Lancers (35-13, 26-5 WAC) that took the game from being tied at four to a 12-4 advantage for the visitors. The key blow in the frame was Keith's grand slam to right-center.

Sophomore Cam Blazek took the hill for the Aggies Sunday and pitched a pair of strong innings. CBU starter Matt Amrhein also started strong as the righties traded zeros over the first two frames.

In the third, CBU struck first, using a one-out error and two-out, two-run home run from John Glenn to take a 2-0 lead.
NMSU answered with a run in the bottom of third, using a seven-pitch walk from Zerek Sanez, a stolen base by the outfielder and an RBI single from Cal Villareal to cut the CBU lead to just 2-1.

Blazek ran into a bit of trouble in the top of the fourth, as the Lancers struck for two more runs when Harrison Sophn led off with a single, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. The infielder later scored on a sacrifice fly. The other California Baptist run came on a solo home run by Nick Plaia.

The Aggies would load the bases with nobody out in the fourth, using back-to-back singles from Ronnie Allen Jr and Bush, as well as a CBU fielding error. The next NMSU batter, Tommy Tabak, lifted a long fly ball to left that was just caught at the wall. The out however was deep enough for a run to score, as the other two runners to tag to second and third respectively.
NMSU's next batter, Sanez, ripped a two-RBI single that tied the contest at four.

After winning an eight-pitch battle with Glenn to open the fifth, Blazek allowed a one-out double to Chad Castillo and a two-out walk that prompted a pitching change. Righty Lyle Hibbitts was summoned from the 'pen and used a fielder's choice to keep the game deadlocked at four.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies went down in order, allowing the Lancers to seize control of the 4-4 game in the top of the sixth.

In total, three different pitchers (Hibbitts, Ian Mejia and Hayden Johns) appeared in the frame, as CBU took the aforementioned 12-4 lead. Hibbitts allowed back-to-back walks to open the frame and was ultimately tagged with the loss.

The Lancers used an RBI single from Castillo to take a 13-4 lead in the seventh, but Mann answered with the solo shot to cut the CBU lead to 13-5.

CBU added four more runs in the ninth, before the Aggies countered with two in home half.

AT THE PLATE:
• Jefferson pinch-hit in the ninth, and ultimately struck out on four pitches.
• Eric Hernandez entered the game in the top of the eighth at catcher. and recorded his third at-bat of the season.
• Sanez's average sits at .383 after his 1-for-3 day. The outfielder recorded his WAC-leading 72nd hit of the season.
• He also scored his 46th run of the season in the fourth.
• With his RBI on the home run, Mann has now driven in a WAC-best 50 runs.
• The Aggies recorded 11 hits and have five players hitting at least .300 this season.
• Tabak failed to reach base for the first time in 17 games.

ON THE MOUND:
• Blazek struck out five Lancers during his outing.
• The Aggies turned their 46th double play of the season.
• NMSU turned a double play in all four games this weekend.
• Josh Laukkanen looked good in the eighth for NMSU. The righty threw a perfect 1-2-3 inning.

UP NEXT:
The Aggies close out the regular season on Tuesday night at No. 12 Arizona. First pitch from Tucson is set for 6 p.m.