LAS CRUCES, N.M. – NM State makes its final trip up north to close out a four-game extended series against in-state rival New Mexico. The Aggies will be seeking their first win over the Lobos during the 2025 campaign after taking two of three contests last season.
 
Tuesday's contest will be one of the final three midweek games that NM State will compete in this season. It will also be the Aggies last midweek game against a non-Power-Four opponent as they will travel to take on Arizona and Texas Tech to close the season. This week, the Aggies will also seek their first victory in Albuquerque since 2023. First pitch for the final Battle of I-25 meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network.
 
GAME INFO
NM State (19-21, 7-8 CUSA) at New Mexico (22-17, 10-8 MW)
Santa Ana Star Field
Albuquerque, N.M.
 
Tuesday, April 22 – 6 p.m. MT
Watch: Mountain West Network
Stats: StatBroadcast
 
LAST TIME OUT              
NM State hosted Jax State over the weekend and earned a walk-off victory on Saturday afternoon to avoid their first sweep of the season. On Thursday, the Aggies came up short in a high-scoring affair that the Gamecocks took 17-12 despite the Aggies' fourth three-home-run game of the season.
 
The pitching staffs of the two sides had more success on Friday as Jax State earned a 6-1 win after a three-run ninth put the game away for the visiting Gamecocks. In the series finale, the Aggies took a 4-3 lead in the seventh inning on a three-run home run from Steve Solorzano, but allowed JSU to regain control in the ninth. Trailing by two runs in the ninth, the Aggies fought back and ultimately claimed its 19th win thanks to a two-RBI walk-off hit from Bryce Campbell.
 
HOSLETT ON THE BUMP          
Junior right-hander Ian Hoslett will officially make his first collegiate star on Tuesday when the Aggies take on the Lobos. Including his time at Feather River College, Hoslett has made 38 appearances as a collegiate pitcher with all coming in relief. Most recently, Hoslett recorded his longest outing as an Aggie when he tossed 3.2 innings against Jax State on April 17 while also recording his highest strikeout count since his first appearance as an Aggie.
 
THIRD TIMES THE CHARM     
This year, the Aggies have been exceptional when playing a team a third time during a weekend series and following a Saturday win over Jax State, NM State is now 8-2 in the third game of a weekend series, including being 5-1 in Presley Askew Field.
 
SALVAGING THE SERIES           
NM State has now completed 10 series of three games or more and has avoided the sweep in all 10. Tuesday, the Aggies will look to continue this trend as New Mexico has bested the Aggies in each of the first three meetings this year.
 
WALK-OFF WINNER   
On Saturday, a two-out, two-RBI base hit from Bryce Campbell allowed the Aggies to claim a 7-6 walk-off win. This marked the Aggies' third walk-off win of the season as the Aggies also earned wins on the final hit of the game against both Oakland (Feb. 28) and Portland (March 16).
 
FRIDAY ACE                       
On Friday April 11, starter Jack Turner produced one of the deepest outings by an Aggie pitcher in quite some time when he tossed 8.0 innings on his way to picking up the win against FIU. This marked the longest outing of any Aggie pitcher since March 13, 2022, when Ian Mejia also threw 8.0 innings.
 
PATIENCE AT THE PLATE        
In last Tuesday's loss against UNM, NM State hitters tallied 11 walks to mark the second time this season that the Aggies earned 11 free passes after also doing so against Dallas Baptist on March 29.
 
TURN TWO                         
With 40 games down, the Aggie infield has been one of the best teams in the nation at turning double plays. With four double plays against Jax State over the weekend, NM State now has 44 double plays on the season, which ranks second in the country.
 
This year, the Aggies have tallied multiple double plays in 14 games, including recording three double plays in five different contests.
 
WHEN YOU'RE WRIGHT, YOU'RE RIGHT        
This season, true freshman Hazen Wright has proved to be one of the Aggies' top relievers and once again looked mature beyond his age over the weekend. The right-hander from Carlsbad, N.M., has now appeared in 11 games this season and has allowed an earned run in just two games, including surrendering only one earned run across his last 10.1 innings, which include appearances against No. 17 Dallas Baptist and No. 25 Arizona. In total, Wright has pitched 15.1 innings, allowed five earned runs and tallied 19 strikeouts.
 
SOMETHING ABOUT SUNDAYS              
Despite a loss on Sunday at FIU, NM State has been dominant in Sunday games and currently boasts a 7-2 record on Sundays, including stacking wins over two ranked programs in No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 17 Dallas Baptist.
 
LIMITING THE DAMAGE            
On Tuesday, NM State once again fell victim to a big inning from its opponent as New Mexico posted six runs in the first inning on its way to defeating the Aggies 12-10. This season, big innings from their opponents have been one of the primary contributing factors to the Aggies' losses. Thus far, NM State is 16-5 when it doesn't allow its opponent to score four or more runs in a single inning. On the contrary, the Aggies are just 2-14 when their opponent produces four or more runs in a single frame.
 
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).
 
Through the Aggies' first 40 games, Namie's offensive power has been on full display as he has recorded a hit in all but four games this season, including posting a hit in each of the Aggies' first 15 games. Additionally, Namie is the only Aggie to appear in the starting lineup in every game this season.
 
Currently, the outfielder paces the Aggies in hits (55), RBIs (33) and his 14 doubles rank first on the team and tied for fourth among CUSA hitters.
 
Namie has also been the Aggies' top producer against the Lobos this season as he enters Tuesday batting .500 (6-12) with two doubles, two RBIs and three walks in the previous three rivalry games this year.
 
BEATING THE BEST    
With the Aggies' win over No. 17 DBU on March 30, NM State now has two wins over ranked opponents this season, which marks just the fifth time in program history that NM State has notched multiple ranked wins in a single season. Prior to this season, the Aggies had only accomplished this in 2012, 1999, 1997 and 1996.
 
TRIPLE PLAY ALERT  
On March 23 against Liberty, the Aggies accomplished something they hadn't done in over 10 years. A ground ball hit to Brandon Forrester ultimately turned into the program's first triple play since April 29, 2014, when the Aggies recorded a triple play on the road against Arizona State. NM State is one of just four Division I teams to pull off a triple play this season, joined by UIC, Stetson and Texas Southern.
 
STELLAR STEVE             
Two-way player Steve Solorzano turned in one of the most impressive individual performances of the season in the Aggies' win over Liberty on March 23. At the plate, the Las Cruces native finished with two hits and drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning. In addition, the right-hander who started at first base moved over to the mound, where he ultimately earned the win after tossing three scoreless innings to close out the game.
 
Entering Tuesday, Solorzano paces the Aggies in batting average (.363), slugging percentage (.613) and on-base percentage (.500) while ranking among the conference's best in batting average (5th), on-base percentage (2nd) and slugging percentage (9th).
 
CRAIG NAMED CUSA HITTER OF THE WEEK                 
After a stellar weekend in which he played a pivotal role in the Aggies' series win on the road against Liberty, outfielder Joey Craig was named Conference USA Hitter of the Week. Over the three-game series, Craig batted .600 (6-10) and was tied for the team lead in RBIs with five, including a four-RBI performance on Saturday. He finished the weekend with a home run, one double and three walks to help support a .692 on-base percentage.
 
BRING OUT THE BULLPEN      
On April 12, the Aggie relievers that came into the game to record a combined 13 total strikeouts in just 5.2 innings of work. This marked the fourth time this season that the Aggie bullpen has accounted for 10 or more strikeouts in a single game, as it also tallied exactly 10 strikeouts against Lamar on March 11 and UNC Greensboro on March 19 before recording 13 strikeouts against UNM on April 1.
 
In the loss to the Lobos on April 1, the Aggies finished the game with 17 total strikeouts to mark the most strikeouts in a single game since March 11, 2022, when NM State tallied a program-record 20 strikeouts against Seattle U
 
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.
 
AGGIES > AGGIES          
On Sunday, March 9, NM State claimed a 4-1 victory over No. 14 Texas A&M to secure the program's first win over an opponent ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA's primary ranking system since 2012, when they knocked off No. 5 Arizona.
 
The win was also the Aggies' first win over Texas A&M in nine tries and represented NM State's second win over a team in the SEC at the time of the contest. Interestingly, the Aggies' first-ever win over an SEC opponent also came on March 9, when they defeated Alabama 3-0 in 2018.
 
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).
 
O'CONNOR NAMED CUSA PLAYER OF THE WEEK      
On Monday, Feb. 17, 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 ended the weekend 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.
 
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.
 
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. Currently, Angier is the second-shortest-tenured head coach in the league as only Liberty's Bradley LeCroy, who is in his first season, has been in his current assignment for less time.
 
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.
 
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 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.
 
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 their 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 without 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.
 
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 his 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.
 
ON THE BASE PATHS 
This season, first-year assistant, Camden Duzenack serves as the Aggies' first-base coach. Meanwhile, Dillon Leveille, who is in his second season on staff, is the Aggies' third-base coach.
 
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