THE BASICS:                       
Score: NM State 9 – Tarleton 5
Records: NM State (17-19), (4-8) | Tarleton (20-17), (10-8, WAC)
Location: Tarleton Baseball Complex
Win: Kade Benavidez (1-0) | Loss: Braydon Risley (1-4)
 
STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Aggies close out their five-game road trip with a 9-5 victory over the Tarleton Texans in Stephenville on April 17. Powered by a 4-5 day from reigning CUSA Hitter of the Week Keith Jones II who recorded five RBIs and two homers.

Making his first start on the mound left-handed pitcher Connor Wylde walked two Texans in the first. With a double steal the two Texans on would advance to second and third. Wylde then forced a ground out to shortstop Romeo Ballesteros which scored the runner on third and advanced the runner on second to third.
 
The Texans then got another run across in the first on a single to left field that scored the runner on third. After the single the Texans racked up their fourth stolen base of the inning to take second. With a double to right center the Texans scored their third run of the inning.
 
In the top of the third, with two outs in the inning Ballesteros singled up the middle for the Aggies first hit of the ball game. With the top of the order back up to plate Jones launched his 11th homerun of the season to put the Aggies down by just one run.
 
In the third, Wylde walked the leadoff batter on a 10-pitch at-bat. The Texans would steal second base for the fifth stolen base of the game. With the empty bag Wylde walked his second batter of the inning to put runners on first and second. With a fly out to left center the runner on second tagged to advance to third.
 
After getting the out, Wylde was taken out of the game leaving two runners on and one out for Kade Benavidez. A single through the left side scored the runner on third to give Tarleton a two-run lead. With a hit-and-run put on the Texans managed to score another run in the third on a single through the left side to go up by three.
 
With a walk and a hit-by-pitch the Aggies had two runners on in the top of the fifth. With two outs on the game Jones earned his third RBI of the game with a single up the middle.
 
Titus Dumitru walked to load the bases for the Aggies. Mitch Namie stepped up to the plate and knocked a bases clearing double into the left-center gap, his sixth double of the season and 25th RBI.
 
Thomas Teel reached on an error in the top of the sixth, Jadon Arakaki was then called on to pinch run for Teel. A walk from Sheehan O'Connor set up Ballesteros to knock a bloop single to score Arakaki. Jones would stay hot grabbing hold of his fourth RBI of the game on a single to score O'Connor and put the Aggies up by three.
 
After a strong outing by Benavidez, he was taken out of the game in the bottom of the sixth and replaced by Josh Sharman. Benavidez closed his line with 2.2 innings pitched allowing three hits with no runs and two strikeouts.
 
Both teams would go scoreless in the seventh and eighth innings.
In the top of the ninth Jones hit a solo home run to put us up by four heading into the bottom of the ninth. This was Jones second HR of the game and his team leading 12th homer of the season.
 
With the extra insurance run that Jones provided, Saul Soto was able to retire the minimum in the ninth to secure the victory for the Aggies.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Teel earned his first collegiate start being featured behind the plate for the Aggies.
• Wylde made his first start on the bump in the Crimson & White.
•  Jones went 4 for 5 with 5 RBIs to earn his 17th multi-hit game and 15th multi-RBI game.
• Namie recorded two doubles and three RBIs in the ball game to record his seventh multi-RBI game and 11th multi-hit game.
• With two ball game Ballesteros recorded his fourth multi-hit game of the season.
• The Aggies are now 6-1 in the past seven games.
• Soto earned his first save of the season.
• The Aggies hit .500 with runners in scoring position.
• The Aggies had eight two-out RBIs.

 
UP NEXT:
The Aggies head back to Las Cruces to play conference foe FIU in a three-game series starting Friday, Aril 19 to Sunday, April 21. For complete coverage of NM State Baseball, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateBaseball), Instagram (@NMStateBaseball) and like us on Facebook (NMState Baseball)


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