LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Aggies will be on the road for the first time this season as they make the 224-mile drive to Albuquerque where they will meet up with I-25 rival New Mexico on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Santa Ana Star Field.
 
The game will be available to watch via live stream on the Mountain West Network. This will mark the first of four games against the Lobos and one of two that will take place in the Duke City. Tuesday will also serve as the 263rd all-time meeting between the rival programs, including the 118th time that the game is played up north. The road bout will be the first of 27 road games this season and will be the only time the Aggies are on the road in the month of February as they are slated to return home for a series versus Oakland.
 
SERIES INFO    
NM State (5-2, 0-0 CUSA) at New Mexico (4-4, 0-0 MW)
Santa Ana Star Field
Albuquerque, N.M.
 
Tuesday, February 25 – 6 p.m. MST
Tickets: Purchase Online
Watch: Mountain West Network
Stats: StatBroadcast
 
LAST TIME OUT              
• NM State hosted Western Illinois for a three-game series and earned its first sweep of the season as the Aggies tallied 28 total runs and allowed 14.
• A two-hit, three-RBI performance from nine-hole hitter Camden Kaufman helped power the Aggies to a 9-1 win on Friday.
• The final two games of the series would be much more competitive, however, the Aggies' power at the plate supported by steady pitching proved to be too much for the Leathernecks to overcome.
• In total, the Aggies hit 17 extra base hits against Western Illinois, including a pair of triples and seven home runs.
• Additionally, the Aggies Friday and Sunday starters combined to throw 10.0 innings and allowed no earned runs while locking up six strikeouts.
 
RIO GRANDE RIVALRY               
While the Lobos have dominated the all-time series, NM State has been much more competitive in recent years. In the last 54 contests, the Aggies and Lobos are dead-even with each side winning 27 games apiece.
 
Tuesday has the potential to be a high-scoring affair as both teams rank inside the top 20 nationally in both batting average (NM State - 15th, UNM - 16th) and slugging percentage (NM State - 12th, UNM -18th).
 
O'CONNOR ON FIRE    
Second baseman Sheehan O'Connor continued a blistering start to the 2025 season as he launched three home runs in three games to help the Aggies to a series sweep of Western Illinois last week. Through two weeks of action, the senior from Seattle has tallied six home runs which ranks first in the nation at the Division I level.
 
Additionally, O'Connor currently ranks fourth in the country in slugging percentage (1.241), first in the country in total bases (36) and second in the country in home runs per game (0.86).
 
SAY HIS NAMIE                                 
Entering the 2024 campaign, returner Mitch Namie was slated to be one of the Aggies' key contributors once again after appearing in 50 of the Aggies' 54 games and making 49 starts during his sophomore season. The Mesa, Ariz., serves as the leading returner in batting average (.333), at-bats (183), runs (50), hits (61), doubles (13), triples (2), home runs (5), RBIs (35) and walks (31).
 
During the Aggies' opening weekend, Namie's offensive power was on full display as he finished the weekend with seven hits, six RBIs, one home run while batting .467 with seven hits to rank second on the team in all four categories.
 
HOT START                        
Entering Tuesday, Mitch Namie, Sheehan O'Connor and Steve Solorzano have each logged a hit in all seven of the Aggies' games this season. For both Namie and O'Connor, this adds to a hit streak that dates back to last season. Including the 2024 campaign, Namie is now riding a nine-game hit streak while O'Connor's streak sits at eight games as he also recorded a hit in the final game of the season last year.
 
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST                               
In Sunday's win over Western Illinois, the Aggies tallied season highs in both hits (17) and doubles (5) while matching their season best in home runs (3). This capped off a weekend in which the Aggies compiled 28 runs using 38 hits, including 17 extra-base hits. Thus far, the Aggies have scored five or more runs in every game this season and have eight or more runs in five of their seven games.
 
FRESHMAN ARMS                           
The Aggies leaned on their young arms in Sunday's 8-5 win over Western Illinois as true freshmen Jaden Davis, Hazen Wright, Dylan Weekly and Cade Shumard each made an appearance out of the bullpen. For Davis and Wright, this also marked their collegiate debuts.
 
The four young Aggies would combine to toss 3.2 innings and allowed just two hits while tallying four strikeouts. With one shutout inning in the fifth inning, Davis would also go on to receive credit for the win.
 
In total, the Aggies have eight freshman pitchers and all but one have already made an appearance this season. The lone freshman pitcher that has not spent any time on the mound is two-way player Chris Daniels who earned the start at first base in Saturday's 10-8 victory over Western Illinois.
 
SHEEHAN O'CONNOR NAMED CUSA PLAYER OF THE WEEK                
Monday morning, it was announced that standout second baseman Sheehan O'Connor earned Conference USA Hitter of the Week honors after an impressive trio of games to open the season.
 
Following a two-hit performance on Sunday, O'Connor entered Monday's finale with a .583 batting average, three home runs, eight RBIs and a pair of doubles to help guide the Aggies to a pair of wins and earn the season's first hitter of the week honor which is announced every Monday.
 
As of Thursday, O'Connor ranks first in the league in home runs (3), tied for second in RBIs (8) and third in slugging percentage (1.188). With three long balls, O'Connor ranks tied for fifth in home runs among Division I hitters.
 
YEAR TWO                          
NM State is amid its second season under Head Coach Jake Angier and looks to continue to make strides after increasing its win total by 11 games and posting the highest number of wins since 2019.
 
In year one under Angier, the Aggies landed three on the all-conference awards list as Keith Jones II earned first team All-CUSA honors, Titus Dumitru earned second team honors and Steve Solorzano secured all-freshman team honors.
 
Angier was previously at the University of Oregon where he operated as the pitching coach for the 2020-2023 seasons. Before Oregon, Angier was at Sacramento State from 2014-2019. Angier was named by Baseball America as one of the 50 names to watch in the 2023 coaching cycle.
 
In his first season with the Aggies, Angier helped NM State finish 2-1 against rival New Mexico to mark the first time since the 2019 season that the Aggies posted a winning record against their I-25 rival.
 
PRESEASON DOUBT   
On Jan. 30, Conference USA released is preseason poll and preseason award recipients and, notably, no Aggies were included on the preseason all-conference team while NM State landed in a tie for eighth place as a team on the 2025 CUSA Preseason Poll which is based on a vote of the league's 10 head coaches.
 
However, the Aggies did receive one first-place vote in the preseason poll as Head Coach Jake Angier has publicly backed his team and made known that he was the lone coach to not cast his first-place vote for preseason favorite Dallas Baptist.
 
TRENDING UP 
After finishing No. 297 in RPI in 2023, the Aggies jumped to No. 138 at the conclusion of the 2024 season to mark the largest RPI increase in the nation.
 
BIG SPIKES TO FILL    
NM State entered the 2025 season with nearly two-thirds of its 2024 roster no longer in the picture. This year, NM State brings back just 12 players while 22 individuals have departed.
 
With a new-look roster comes opportunity as the Aggies will be looking to replace nearly all of its offensive and pitching production. With the departures, the Aggies lost over 70% of its runs (72.9%), hits (72.4%), home runs (86.1%), RBIs (78.2%), stolen bases (87.8%) and innings pitched (72.6%). NM State will also be with out Keith Jones II, Romeo Ballesteros and Nick Gore who were the only three Aggies last season to start more than 50 games - starting 53, 53 and 52, respectively.
 
Stat         Returning             Lost        Total      % Returning      % Lost
Starts    137         349         486         28.2%   71.8%
Runs      120         323         443         27.1%   72.9%
Hits         154         404         558         27.6%   72.4%
HR           11            68            79            13.9%   86.1%
RBI          90            323         413         21.8%   78.2%
SB            5               41            46            12.2%   87.8%
IP             124.0     329.1     453.1     27.4%   72.6%
SO            121         267         388         31.2%   68.8%
 
LOCAL PRODUCTS       
The 2025 NM State roster features four Aggies from the Land of Enchantment. This includes Kade Benavidez (Belen), Jaden Davis (Jemez Pueblo), Steve Solorzano (Las Cruces) and Hazen Wright (Carlsbad).
 
WELCOME ABOARD    
This offseason, NM State added Assistant Coach Camden Duzenack to its staff. Following an impressive playing career which included six seasons in the farm system for the Arizona Diamondbacks, he will assist primarily with the infield for the Aggies.
 
In college, Duzenack spent four seasons with CUSA foe Dallas Baptist where he recorded a career batting average of .291 and was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American as a freshman in 2014. He was also named MVC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior and garnered All-MVC honors three years in a row.
 
ONCE AN AGGIE...          
This season, Head Coach Jake Angier is supported by a pair of former Aggies on his staff as both Assistant Coach David Bellamy and Director of Pitching Analytics Aaron Treloar each spent time during their collegiate playing days at NM State.
 
Bellamy, a two-year letter winner at NM State, is amid second season on Angier's staff. As a player, he was a standout outfielder for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He batted .307 his senior year to help lead the Aggies to the Lubbock Regional before being named to the Google Cloud academic All-District First-Team and Academic All-WAC First-Team. Bellamy now serves as the Aggies' hitting coach and is tasked with calling the offensive plays.
 
Meanwhile, Treloar is in his first season on staff after wrapping up his playing career just last season. Treloar ultimately spent his final two years with the Aggies and appeared in 35 games while totaling 42 strikeouts, including 26 in 2024.
 
EASTWARD EXPANSION           
This season, the Aggies will spend their fair share of time on the road as they are slated to play 27 games away from Presley Askew Field. Unlike American settlers, the Aggies will do most of their traveling to the east as their contests against Arizona will represent the only two times that the Aggies will travel west of Las Cruces.
 
During its season, NM State will rack up the frequent flyer miles as seven of its 11 road trips will include games that require over 700 miles of travel. This includes three extra lengthy trips as its road trip to UNC Greensboro and Liberty (1,789 miles to UNCG), its trip to FIU (2,030 miles) and its trip to Kennesaw State (1,461 miles) all exceed 1,000 miles.
 
SCOUTING THE LOBOS               
The Aggies' long-time rival will enter Tuesday's matchup with a 4-4 overall record and is coming off of a four-game home series against Northern Colorado in which they went 2-2 in.
 
At the plate, the Lobos are led by Cooper Brass who is batting .458 and Jordy Oriach who currently ranks 6th in the nation in total hits with 15. Akili Carris has also provided a spark for UNM has he is maintaining a .452 average and has logged a team-high 12 RBIs on 14 hits.
 
New Mexico is projected to start right-hander Dayne Pengelly who has appeared in two games this season. Pengelly has thrown a total of 5.0 innings and has allowed nine earned runs on 11 hits to maintain an ERA of 16.20.
 
The Lobos are led by Head Coach Tod Brown who is amid his fourth year at UNM and 18th year as a collegiate head coach. Prior to moving to Albuquerque, Brown spent 14 years at North Dakota State where he amassed 341 wins. Last year, Brown guided the Lobos to a 28-26 record to mark their highest win total since he took over. In his career with UNM, Brown is 7-4 against the Aggies.
 
UP NEXT             
Following the midweek bout, the Aggies will return home for another four-game homestand against Oakland that is set to begin on Friday night. The series opener is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at Presley Askew Field.
 
Ahead of the weekend series, the Aggies hold an all-time record of 7-3 against the Grizzlies and most recently met in 2022.
 
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