LYNCHBURG, Va. – After wrapping up its regular season on the road at LA Tech over the weekend, NM State now makes a trip east for the Conference USA tournament, which begins Wednesday, May 19. NM State enters the week as the No. 7 seed and will begin with a first-round tilt against WKU, which finished the year 18-9 in league play to earn the second seed in the eight-team bracket.
 
The entire tournament, with the exception of the championship game, will stream live on ESPN+ with radio coverage provided by Adam Young via Magic 104.9 FM. Sunday's title game will air live on CBS Sports Network. The first round matchup against WKU will serve as the 25th all-time meeting between the two sides, while also being the fourth matchup this month after the Aggies and Hilltoppers met in Las Cruces on May 9-11. NM State is seeking its fourth conference tournament title in program history and first since 2022 when they were crowned WAC champs.
 
GAME INFO       
2025 Conference USA Baseball Championship
No. 7 NM State (23-31, 11-15 CUSA) vs. No. 2 WKU (42-12, 18-9 CUSA)
Worthington Field at Liberty Baseball Stadium
Lynchburg, Va.
 
Wednesday, May 21 – 10:30 a.m. MDT
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Magic 104.9 FM
Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Purchase Here
 
LAST TIME OUT              
In their final series of the regular season, the Aggies dropped two of three games on the road at LA Tech, picking up a 10-5 win on Friday night. In Thursday's opener, the Aggies fell behind 8-0 before a seven-run fifth inning immediately brought the Aggies back within one run. However, LA Tech would tack on four runs across the sixth and seventh to earn a 12-7 win.
 
NM State flipped the script on Friday as a two-run home run off the bat of Steve Solorzano gave the Aggies a 10-0 lead in the 6th. Despite a comeback effort, the Aggies held on to win 10-5. On Saturday, the Aggie offense struggled to convert on its opportunities, stranding nine runners on the way to falling 8-1 in the regular season finale. NM State ultimately finished the year with a 9-17 record in road games and an 11-15 mark in CUSA contests.
 
TOURNAMENT AGGIES              
NM State has now officially qualified for the CUSA Championship in each of its first two seasons in the league and will seek its first CUSA tournament title in program history. In total, the Aggies have been crowned conference tournament champs three times, doing so twice in the Western Athletic Conference (2018 and 2022) and once as a member of the Sun Belt Conference (2002).
 
SO WE MEET AGAIN    
This will also be the second consecutive year that the Aggies earned the No. 7 seed in the CUSA tournament and will once again matchup against WKU, which eliminated the Aggies from the CUSA Championship last year. Including last year, the Aggies have now met the Hilltoppers three times in the postseason as they also collided in the 2002 Sun Belt Conference Tournament, when they faced off and defeated WKU two times on their way to winning the title.
 
Last year, NM State was ultimately bounced by WKU, however, only three of the 14 Aggies that appeared in that game still remain on the roster, with Steve Solorzano, Mitch Namie and Connor Wylde making up the trio of returners.
 
MAY MEETING NO. 4  
Wednesday will mark the fourth meeting this month between the Aggies and Hilltoppers after WKU made the trip to Las Cruces on May 9-11. The Aggies will look to produce a different outcome on Wednesday after being 41-11 during the regular season series.
 
During the series in the City of Crosses, the Aggies were led by Brandon Forrester, who finished the weekend batting .455 (5-11). Meanwhile, Mitch Namie and Steve Solorzano finished the weekend as the only Aggies with double-digit RBIs as Namie drove in three runs on four hits and Solorzano notched four RBIs on two hits, including a home run.
 
ALL-CUSA HONORS     
Tuesday, the league office released its list of all-conference honorees and NM State's Steve Solorzano (First Team), Brandon Forrester (First Team) and Mitch Namie (Second Team) each garnered recognition. Notably, the Aggies were one of just two teams not to land a single player on the league's preseason all-conference team.
 
AGGIES OUT EAST        
This will be the second time during the 2025 campaign that the Aggies make the long journey to Lynchburg, Va., after opening the conference slate on the road against Liberty. From city to city, the trip spans 1,600 miles as the crow flies, making Liberty the second furthest conference foe from the Aggies, behind only FIU.
 
Despite the lengthy travel, the Aggies did find success the last time they came to the Old Dominion State, going 4-1 across a five-game road swing against UNC Greensboro and Liberty. During the road trip, the Aggies knocked off the Spartans twice, while winning the series against the Flames, 2-1.
 
Inside Liberty Baseball Stadium this year, the Aggies hit .294 and produced 23 runs across three games. This effort was led by Joey Craig, who finished the series 6-for-10 at the plate and turned in five RBIs. Craig was just one of two Aggies to have five RBIs against the Flames, as Steve Solorzano also notched a handful of RBIs during the series in late March.
 
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 Thursday, Solorzano paces the Aggies' regulars in batting average (.341), slugging percentage (.568) and on-base percentage (.478) while ranking among the conference's best in both batting average (8th) and on-base percentage (2nd).
 
FRESHMEN IN THE BULLPEN                  
This season, eight of the Aggies' 19 pitchers are true freshmen, and despite it being just their first year at the collegiate level, these eight freshmen have been called upon all year long. In fact, there have been eight games this season in which every reliever called out of the bullpen was a true freshman.
 
This season, Aggie freshmen have pitched a total of 156.2 innings and allowed 138 earned runs to maintain an ERA of 7.93.
 
REVOLVING DOOR       
This season, the Aggies have dealt with a multitude of injuries, and that has been reflected by their lack of continuity in the starting lineup. With Camden Kaufman collecting a start at center field on April 29 at Arizona, he became the sixth different Aggie to make a start at center field this year.
 
WYLDE RIDE   
On Saturday, April 26, against Middle Tennessee, NM State starter Connor Wylde tossed a seven-inning, complete-game shutout. With Dane Woodcook behind the plate, the 6-foot, 7-inch, lefty allowed just five hits while striking out four Blue Raiders to help the Aggies collect a 10-0 victory in seven innings.
 
With the performance, Wylde became the first Aggie pitcher since Pablo Cortes on March 5, 2022, to record a complete-game shutout. For Cortes, his seven-inning shutout came against Prairie View A&M.
 
The win also marked the Aggies' first shutout victory since March 13, 2022, when they knocked off Seattle U 9-0.
 
CREAM OF THE CONFERENCE CROP 
This season, Conference USA has been among the best of the best as a whole. According to WarrenNolan.com, the Aggies' league is ranked the fifth-best conference in the nation, behind only the nation's four power conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 12, Big Ten).
 
LAS CRUCES LAUNCH PAD       
As it always seems to be, Presley Askew Field was once again a launching pad this season, with a total of 86 home runs being hit between the Aggies and their opponents across the 28 total games played in Las Cruces. This includes 38 of the Aggies' 47 home runs on the year.
 
To end the year, NM State recorded at least one home run in 23 of their 28 home games, including tallying multiple home runs in 10 games.
 
OFFENSIVE OUTBURST             
On Sunday, April 27, against MTSU, the Aggies tallied 16 runs to account for their highest run total in a single game this season. This marks the Aggies' highest run total since NM State also recorded 16 runs in a 13-inning home victory over LA Tech on May 4, 2024. The Aggies logged 18 total hits on Sunday which marks their most hits this season. NM State also produced a season-high 16 RBIs against the Blue Raiders.
 
THIRD TIMES THE CHARM     
This year, the Aggies have been exceptional when playing a team a third time during a weekend series. Despite a loss to LA Tech last Saturday, NM State finished the year 9-4 in the third game of a weekend series, including finishing the year with a 6-2 record at Presley Askew Field.
 
SALVAGING THE SERIES           
This season, NM State completed 13 weekend series in which it played three games or more and avoided the sweep in 12 of 13 series. This includes winning the final game of the series in series against Texas A&M, Dallas Baptist and Jax State to salvage the series. However, on Wednesday the Aggies will face the only opponent that earned the three-game sweep over them when they collide with WKU.
 
WALK-OFF WINNER   
On Saturday, April 19, 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).
 
TURN TWO                         
With 54 games down, the Aggie infield has been one of the best teams in the nation at turning double plays. With another two double plays against LA Tech over the weekend, NM State now has 53 double plays on the season, which ranks tied for second in the country alongside UCLA.
 
This year, the Aggies have tallied multiple double plays in 16 games, including recording three double plays in five different contests.
 
SOMETHING ABOUT SUNDAYS              
Despite a Sunday loss to WKU, NM State has turned in some quality performances in Sunday games and currently boasts an 8-4 record on Sundays, including stacking wins over two ranked programs in No. 14 Texas A&M and No. 17 Dallas Baptist.
 
LIMITING THE DAMAGE            
Over the weekend, NM State once again fell victim to big innings from its opponent. This season, high-scoring innings from their opponents have been one of the primary contributing factors to the Aggies' losses. Thus far, NM State is 19-10 when it doesn't allow its opponent to score four or more runs in a single inning. On the contrary, the Aggies are just 4-20 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' 54 games, Namie's strength at the plate has been on full display as he has recorded a hit in all but seven games this season, including posting a hit in each of the Aggies' first 15 games. Additionally, Namie leads the team in both games played (53) and starts (53).
 
Currently, the outfielder is the team leader in hits (59) and RBIs (41). Additionally, his 16 doubles rank first on the team and are tied for sixth among CUSA hitters. His 67 hits also rank tied for seventh in the conference this season.
 
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 five Division I teams to pull off a triple play this season, joined by UIC, Stetson, Texas Southern and VCU.
 
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.
 
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. Currently, the Aggies sit at No. 166 in the RPI rankings.
 
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.
 
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.
 
YEAR TWO                          
NM State is amid its second season under Head Coach Jake Angier and is continuing to make strides. With 45 wins under the leadership of Angier, this marks the most combined wins for an Aggie head coach across his first two seasons since Rocky Ward compile 61 wins during the 2004 and 2005 to begin his tenure.
 
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.
 
The Aggies collected three more all-conference honors once again this season as Solorzano and Brandon Forrester collected first team honors and Mitch Namie garnered a second team selection.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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 this week's contest against Arizona will represent one of 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.
 
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 (NM State Baseball).