The Aggie baseball team heads to Lubbock today to take on the Red Raiders from Texas Tech. The Aggies are seeking a 13th consecutive victory and if they are to do so, they'll have to beat an improved Texas Tech squad that will send Brannon Easterling (2-0, 0.53 ERA) to the hill to face the nation's leading run-scoring offense. The Aggies counter with ace Ryan Beck who is 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA.

Assistand coach Nate Shaver will once again coach the ball club as both Rocky and Gary Ward will not travel while they tend to their family's medical situation. One thing that we talked with Coach Ward about at the beginning of the season and again yesterday was the maturity and experience of the ball club and it has shown itself over the past couple of weeks. The Aggies have been able to handle not having the top three coaches in the dugout during last week's wins over Arizona, they've also been able to follow up big wins with other big wins, something that New Mexico State teams (not just baseball) have struggled with historically.

This is the Aggies' only game this week and they'll have their entire pitching staff available for today's game should they need it. We expect the Aggies to come out and play well and aggressively just as they did in the second game against Arizona. This is a ball club that has proven that they can control the game's momentum with the bat but also from the mound. Beck has pitched in two of the Aggies' other big non-conference showdowns, a four inning relief appearance at Rice early in the season in which he was dominant and then again last week against Arizona where he didn't have his best stuff but the Aggies still controlled the game.

Today's game is scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. (MDT) first pitch. Streaming audio will be available via Aggie Access (subscription required). Live Stats will also be available via the Texas Tech athletic website.

Today's Links...

Aggie Baseball
The Texas Tech athletic website previews today's game.

The NM State athletic website previews today's game.

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