Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

OREM, UT - The New Mexico State baseball team closed out its weekend series in Utah Valley on Sunday afternoon. The offense kept rolling and the pitching was superb in the finale allowing the Aggies to shutout the Wolverines, 6-0, to get the series sweep.

How it happened
Southpaw Jonathan Groff got the start for NM State (30-19, 14-4 WAC) against Utah Valley (15-30, 8-10 WAC) freshman hurler Paxton Schultz. The game opened unlike the previous two with the pitchers throwing two scoreless innings to open the contest.

In the top of the third, Brent Sakurai led off with an infield single. Dan Hetzel then mashed a home run just inside of the left field foul pole with the man on to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead early on.

Groff continued to dominate on the mound throwing back-to-back one-two-three innings through the fourth to hold the team’s two-run edge.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State softball defeated FAU 5-4 on Thursday to close out the regular season.

How it happened

Kayla Green earned the start in the circle for NM State (25-22, 11-4 WAC) but hit trouble early when she walked Emily Lochten and hit Madisyn Palmer with a pitch. After a sacrifice bunt moved both runners into scoring position, Alex Miller hit into a fielder's choice and scored the first run of the game.

Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the first, Kelsey Horton brought the offense to life by hitting a single to center field. Nikki Butler followed the sophomore with a two-run homer, which gave the Aggies a 2-1 advantage over FAU (33-19, 13-8 C-USA).  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - New Mexico State’s women’s golf and women’s tennis teams were recognized on Wednesday with the NCAA Public Recognition Award for the 2015-16 academic year. Both Aggie squads posted a perfect 1,000 multiyear rate for the 2012-16 school years.

“Striving for Academic Progress Rate (APR) excellence is a vision all of our athletic teams aspire to accomplish and when respective teams reach that milestone, the entire athletic department celebrates the honored victory with them,” said Associate AD/Academics James Hall said.

This is the third-straight year where the women’s tennis team has posted a perfect multi-year APR grade while it is the women’s golf team’s second-straight year.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State Director of Athletics Mario Moccia has announced Brooke Atkinson as the 11th head coach in Aggie women’s basketball history Wednesday morning to the community and media.

Atkinson joins NM State after spending the past three seasons at Colorado State University. However, Atkinson is no stranger Las Cruces as the Colorado native spent eight seasons on the Aggie bench from 2003-11.

In her three seasons in Fort Collins, Colo., the Rams enjoyed three-consecutive Mountain West Conference regular-season titles, including an NCAA appearance during the 2015-16 campaign – their first appearance in the Big Dance in 14 years (2002).  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - The New Mexico State baseball team traveled just north to square off against Battle of I-25 rival New Mexico for the third and final time this season on Tuesday night. The Aggie bats clobbered the team to a 12-5 victory in which the team had three homers.

How it happened
NM State (27-19) sent out Andy Frakes for his third start of the season against UNM (26-19-1) right-hander James Harrington. The Aggies got going early offensively when Austin Botello crushed the first pitch of his at-bat to the parking lot behind the right field wall for a solo home run to put the team out in front 1-0.

The Lobos responded in the bottom of the second when a one-out triple to left center scored a pair. In the following at-bat, a ground out to shortstop scored the man from third and gave the opposition a 3-1 lead after two innings.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - New Mexico State softball defeated I-25 rival New Mexico on Tuesday. The Aggies defeated the Lobos 7-6 to complete the season sweep of their in-state rivals. It was also head coach Kathy Rodolph's 500th win at the NCAA level.

How it happened

NM State (24-22) struck first in the top of the third when Destiny Blueford started the inning with a bunt single. Jeanelle Medina followed with a single of her own, putting runners on first and second with no outs in the inning. After Rachel Rodriguez advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt, Blueford scored when Caity Szczesny reached on a fielder's choice. A sacrifice fly by Kelsey Horton brought Medina home, giving the Aggies the 2-0 lead.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State baseball team closed out their weekends series against conference opponent Grand Canyon on Sunday afternoon. A quiet night for the Aggie bats saw the team get shutout at home for the first time in three years (3/29 vs. Sacramento State) in a 9-0 loss to Grand Canyon University.

How it happened
NM State (26-19, 11-4 WAC) sent usual Sunday starter Jonathan Groff to the mound to square off against GCU (22-21, 16-2 WAC) righty Jack Schneider. In the top of the first inning, a tight strike zone forced Groff to walk in the first run of the game for the Lopes before escaping a bases loaded situation.

Each pitcher held the offenses quiet in the second inning, then in the third GCU opened the inning with a three-run rally before the Aggies could force and out which put the opponent up 4-0 heading to the fourth.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State split a doubleheader with Grand Canyon on Saturday as the Aggies won the early game 13-5 but fell in the series finale 13-10. Despite losing the series, NM State ended conference play as the Western Athletic Conference Regular Season Co-Champions along with GCU.

Game One

After a scoreless first inning, Grand Canyon (36-15, 11-4) drew first blood as two singles and a walk loaded the bases with two outs in the inning. Back-to-back singles by Jenna Coates and Madelyn Dowdle gave GCU the 2-0 lead.

The Aggies scored a run of their own in the bottom of the inning as three-straight singles for NM State (23-22, 11-4) loaded the bases. Rachel Rodriguez's keen eye at the plate led to a walk, scoring New Mexico State's first run. NM State scored again in the third inning as Victoria Castro hit a two-run blast over the left field fence to give the Aggies a 3-2 lead.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State baseball team Hosted Western Athletic Conference opponent Grand Canyon University for the second game of their weekend series on Saturday. The day game saw the Aggies have trouble advancing the runners in game two and the team dropped the contest, 7-2.

How it happened
NM State (26-18, 11-3 WAC) started sophomore Kyle Bradish for the two o’clock showdown against GCU (21-21, 15-2 WAC) southpaw Jake Repavich. Each hurler kept the bats quiet in the first two innings with Bradish tossing back-to-back one-two-three outings and the Aggies leaving three men on to keep the score at 0-0.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State baseball team opened a weekend series against Western Athletic Conference foe Grand Canyon University on Friday night. A high-scoring contest took extra innings to decide a winner in a game which saw the Aggies fall 11-9.

How it happened

NM State (26-17, 11-2 WAC) starter Marcel Renteria took the mound against Grand Canyon (20-21, 14-2 WAC) right-hander Jake Wong to open the three-game series on Friday evening. After a scoreless first, the Aggies took the lead in the bottom of the second when Marcus Still roped a single to left center which brought home the one run.  Continue Reading This Post >>