bleedCrimson.net: After today's win is the mood around the team a lot lighter and that maybe a weight has been lifted?
Rocky Ward: Yeah and in particular for Ryan Beck and Parker Hipp who were with me through the full run. I know that Parker is usually pretty active around the dugout and he was sitting on the bench with a towel over his head waiting for the last out. He couldn't look. I gave Ryan a big hug after the game. It was a big deal. It gets that out of the way. It doesn't guarantee anything for tomorrow or the next day but it gets rid of a run. Over the years I've talked to you about establishing bases. Going into the game it was starting to get to me. It hadn't gotten to me before now. We've done a lot of things with this program. We've put it on the map, gotten national rankings, led the country in statistical categories, have a couple conference championships but it was starting to weigh on me, I know that.

To see Ryan Beck go and dominate like he did again under that type of pressure made it really special. It's something that no matter what happens from this point forward, that's what athletics is about. It's one of those things with Ryan that he can go back throughout most of his life and remember that day. When the chips were down and his back was against the wall, he brought his best. To me that's more cool than anything else. The significance it might have on a player's life.

Parker had a good day but as a DH he can only impact so much. His run, he got a great break on a bases loaded wild pitch. It didn't get but about 15 feet from the catcher. He got a great break. It was going to be pretty tight but he was safe and the catcher threw the ball away and Bobby scored on the back side. That broke open the game. He obviously had a lot of impact in getting it done.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

GRAND PRAIRIE, TX - The New Mexico State baseball team ended the Western Athletic Conference Tournament losing streak defeating No. 2 seed UT Arlington 4-3 in QuikTrip Park, Friday, May 24. The Aggie lost nine straight WAC Tournament games dating back to 2009 when the tournament was held in Honolulu.

The Aggies are now 29-27 on the year after senior Ryan Beck picked up the win working 7.2 innings to hold off UTA. Senior right-hander Evan Mott, a second team all-WAC selection, finished the game working 1.1 innings and striking two Mavericks. Beck is now 8-4 this season while Mott now has four saves.

“I would have liked to see more from our offense today, but it is great to get this win, especially for seniors like Beck and Hipp who have been with us for the past four years,” head coach Rocky Ward said. “Now we have to take care of business tomorrow and hope that UTA also gets a win.”  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the game today against Texas State?
Rocky Ward: Well it's been a little bit like what it's been lately. We start off the game okay. We gave up a run and that was fine. Then we get a two run home run by Bobby and kind of get it moving. Then we give up a cheap run in the second. In the top of the third we get back-to-back singles but Rust lines out to first and at the time considering it was a line drive at the first baseman, Mack is able to beat the first baseman back to the bag so we don't line into a double play. So you feel okay about it. It could have been worse. The end result is we have runners at first and second, nobody out with our three, four and five coming and we don't score.

We follow it up, Adam gives up a solo home run to a guy that hit this third home run of the year. The humidity is high and it's hot and the wind is blowing in from right and the guy just sneaks it over the wall in right but he hit it good. Then we walk a guy, hit a guy, give up a dumper to second for the second run of the inning. We have an error, that by the way was a pretty tough chance, that makes it 5-2.

We continue to get guys on base but we can't drive them in. We can't put together a big inning. This is has kind of been the problem with this club all year. We've left a lot of people on base and haven't been able to get the big inning and yet find a way to give up the big inning. So it's 5-2, you get a couple zeroes to work with and the game is kind of stabilized but we can't get anything going offensively and we give up a four-spot and it's more or less over at 9-2.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

GRAND PRAIRIE, TX – The New Mexico State baseball team lost its ninth consecutive Western Athletic Conference Tournament game after falling 9-4 to No. 3 seed Texas State, Thursday, May 23 at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, Texas.

The No. 6 seeded Aggies tallied two runs in the second and two more in the eighth but it was not enough as Texas State scored four runs in the first three innings of play and another four runs in the bottom of the fifth. NM State finished the afternoon with nine hits and two errors as junior Michael Medina, a second-team all-WAC selection, posted a 3-of-5 day.

Senior starting pitcher Adam Mott was credited with the loss and is now 6-6 on the year after he worked 4.1 innings with five strikeouts, two walks and two hit-batters. Texas State pitcher L. Humpal worked a career-high 6.2 innings and moved to 5-2 on the season with the win.  Continue Reading This Post >>

CoSIDA Academic All-American Teams (PDF)

New Mexico State senior outfielder Amber Olive was named to the 2013 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Softball second team as selected today (May 23) by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).

Olive carried a 3.88 grade point average in communication studies.

To be eligible for Academic All-America consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.

Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 18,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

CLEVELAND, OH - The New Mexico State football team landed 11 players on the Phil Steele's 2013 Preseason All-Independent Team as announced by Phil Steele, Thursday morning. The Aggies had four offensive players including two offensive linemen on the list, while the defense grabbed six awards as well. Special teams were not overlooked as two Aggies were recognized.

Junior Austin Franklin was named a first team selection at wide receiver and was the only Aggie to be named to the first team for the offense. Offensive tackle Davonte Wallace earned second team honors, while running back Germi Morrison and offensive guard Andy Cunningham and were named a third team picks.  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: You had four players, Bobby Lecount, Tanner Rust, Michael Medina and Evan Mott earn All-WAC honors and all four were very deserving.
Rocky Ward: It was a little different this year because you have ten teams instead of seven and the same number of all-conference spots available. I think Rust and Lecount were clear First Teamers and I thought Medina had earned First Team in particular because of his play in league. He was in the top six or eight hitters in conference play. I'm sure he was happy with the Second Team honor. Evan Mott, when you consider that a couple years ago was the first time we'd had a pitcher earn an all-conference honor, it's good to get a guy on and he was well deserving. I think both Medina and Mott were on the borderline of being First Team. I think we were well represented, especially when you finish as the six-seed out of a ten team league you expect the guys who finished in the top two or three to get a few more guys and I think that's how it worked out.

I've always been a big proponent of honoring as many guys as you can with what they did in their career. In the old Big Eight every senior was honorable mention at the least. I think that overall the guy that I felt got left out was Kyle Phillips. I thought his numbers were good enough to be considered to a Second Team guy. His conference numbers were very good. I think in the big picture Tanner Rust and Bobby Lecount are guys who should be given serious consideration for All-American honors with their overall numbers. You pretty much have to be First Team all-conference to be considered for All-American. Those are two marquee guys who have good enough numbers to be All-American guys.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas (May 21, 2013) – The Western Athletic Conference released its 2013 all-WAC baseball teams and postseason awards as selected by the league’s head coaches and four New Mexico State baseball players were selected, with two on the first team and two on the second team.

Senior third baseman Bobby Lecount and junior catcher Tanner Rust were named to the first team, while junior right fielder Michael Medina and senior relief pitcher Evan Mott were voted to the second team.

Lecount played in 54 games this year and led the league with 67 RBI. He hit .356 against WAC opponents and posted more than half of his RBI (37) against league foes. Lecount also led the team and the lead with 38 walks while 21 of those walks came in WAC play. He led the team and finished second in the WAC with 14 home runs during the 2013 regular season.  Continue Reading This Post >>

After finishing the 2013 regular season with a 28-26 overall record and a 13-14 record in WAC play, the Aggie baseball team will head to Grand Prairie, Texas as the six-seed in the 2013 WAC Tournament.

Due to a format change for this year's WAC tournament to a pool play format the Aggies know their three opponents prior to playing their first game of the tournament. As the six-seed the Aggies will face 3-seed Texas State on Thursday at 10:00 a.m. (MT). On day two the Aggies will face two-seed UT-Arlington at 2:00 p.m. (MT). On the final day of pool play the Aggies will play seven-seed Dallas Baptist at 2:00 p.m. (MT).

The team with the best record head to head against their fellow pool members will advance to the championship game on Sunday, May 26th.

Pool A
No. 1
No. 4
No. 5
No. 8

Pool B
No. 2
No. 3
No. 6
No. 7

WAC Tournament Bracket/Schedule

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

BELLEVUE, WA - The New Mexico State baseball team lost the regular-season finale 7-6 to Seattle U in Bellevue, Wash., Saturday, May 18. The Aggies finish the regular season 28-26 and 13-14 in Western Athletic Conference play and the Redhawks ended their year at 21-33 and 10-16 in league play.

The Aggies started the game with back-to-back home runs as senior Parker Hipp hit a two-run shot to right field, which was followed by a solo shot that was blasted by senior Bobby Lecount to left field. Hipp tallied home run No. 9 of the year while Lecount marked his 14th homer of 2013.  Continue Reading This Post >>