HUNTSVILLE, Texas – A scuffling NM State baseball team proved on Friday night that it can hang with anyone in the Western Athletic Conference. The Aggies went on the road and stayed toe-to-toe on with conference leaders Sam Houston before falling 3-2.
 
The Aggies jumped in front in the second inning when Christian Perez lifted his fourth home run of the season to right-center.  After lifting the big fly, Perez uncorked an impressive bat flip to energize the Aggie dugout
 
After three innings of shutout baseball, the Bearkats finally got to Treyjen Meza in the fourth inning. Sam Houston lifted a sacrifice fly to tie the game in the fourth before taking a two-run lead in the fifth.
 
One inning later, Edwin Martinez-Pagani cut the deficit to one for the Aggies. The Ponce, Puerto Rico native launched his first home run of the season for the Aggies' second run of the game.
 
Out of the bullpen, Matthew Maloney was lights out for NM State. The reliever from Orange Coast College allowed just one hit over 2.0 innings
 
The Aggies needed a run in the ninth inning to keep playing baseball on Friday night. After the first two hitters were retired, interim head coach Keith Zuniga turned to Karl Koerper for a spark. The Las Cruces kid worked the count full before drawing a walk to extend the game. Sam Houston would turn to Braden Davis, who picked up the one-pitch save.
 
On Saturday, the Aggies and Bearkats will resume the three-game series, beginning at 2:00 p.m. MT. All of the action can be viewed on the WAC Digital Network or WAC International.
 
Quick Hits

• Leading off the game with a sinlge, Keith Jones II extended his team-leading on-base streak to 11 games.
• With two hits, Nick Gore also extended his team-leading hitting streak to six games.
• Edwin Martinez-Pagani's sixth inning home run marked his first of the season.
• Damone Hale pieced together his first three-hit game as an Aggie, also adding a stolen base.
• The Aggies fall to 1-6 on Fridays this season.
• Treyjen Meza took another bad luck loss in the contest, falling to 1-5 on the season.