UP TO BAT
The New Mexico State baseball team (28-31, 15-17 WAC) get set to play in its first ever Western Athletic Conference tournament, which begins Thursday, May 22 at J.C. Love Field in Ruston, La. The Aggies head into the tournament as the No. 5 seed and will face theNo. 2 seed, Univeristy of Hawai’i (27-29, 18-14 WAC) in the first round of play at 2:00 p.m. (MDT) and will be tape delayed on the radio as KSNM AM 570. The tape delay will begin at 6:00 p.m. (MDT) with Jeff Matthews and Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action. Fans can also watch a live stream of the game on the Internet at www.WAC.tv for a fee. If the Aggies win their first game, the second game will be played at 6:00 p.m. (MDT), Friday, May 23 and if they lose the first game, NMSU will play at 10:00 a.m. (MDT), Friday morning.
ON DECK
The New Mexico State baseball team is set for the Western Athletic Conference tournament in Ruston, La. May 22-25.
The No. 5 seeded Aggies will take on the University of Hawai’i, which is seeded No. 2 at J.C. Love Field in Ruston, La. Thursday, May 22 with game time set for 2:00 p.m. (MDT). The game will be tape delayed and air on the radio at KSNM AM 570 starting at 6:00 p.m. (MDT).
If the Aggies win game one, the second game will be played Friday, May 23 with game time set for 6:00 p.m. (MDT), but if NMSU falls in game one, the second game will start at 10:00 a.m. (MDT) on Friday.
All games of the tournament can be viewed on the world wide web at www.WAC.tv for a fee, while the Aggie games will be aired on the radio at KSNM AM 570 with Jeff Matthews and Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.
THE OPPONENTS
HAWAI’I – The Univerisity of Hawai’i enter the WAC Tournament as they finished conference play with at 18-14 in WAC play. Although they had the same conference record as Nevada, Hawai’i beat the Wolf Pack three of four times to win the tie breaker.
UH finished its regular season with a 27-29 record, which is similar to the Aggies’ 28-31 overall record. NMSU finished 3-5 against the Rainbows with two wins at home and one in Honolulu.
The Aggie pitching staff will have to minimize Hawai’i’s Brandon Haislet, who had a career-series at New Mexico State, batting .647 (11-for-17) with 12 RBI, eight runs, two doubles and one home run, earning him his first WAC Hitter of the Week honor. He did most of his damage in the doubleheader (May 10), going a combined 9-for-10 with 10 RBI and seven runs, including a 5-for-5 game with seven RBI. Haislet has been UH’s top hitter all year, batting .376 with a team-high 39 RBI, 47 runs, nine stolen bases, five home runs and 27 walks. He also has 17 doubles and a triple, slugging .545 while carrying a .471 on-base percentage.
NMSU will have to find a way to come up with hits off the Rainbow’s pitching staff, which carries a team ERA of 5.27. Jared Alexander leads the way for UH and is second in the WAC with a 3.27 ERA, while Matt Daly has the most strikeouts on the team and is second in the conference with 78 heading into the tournament.
LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies split the final series of the year with Louisiana Tech to end the regular season 28-31 overall and 15-17 in conference play.
The New Mexico State baseball team split a double-header with Louisiana Tech after they lost the first game 5-4 and won the second game 14-11 at Presley Askew Field, Friday, May 16. NMSU fought back and came close, but dropped the day game of the double-header 5-4 to the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. The Aggies put up four runs on 10 hits and committed two errors, while LTU crossed the plate just one more time than NMSU on one less hit and committed one less error. Starting pitcher Heath Goin had a strong showing as he threw 118 pitches in eight innings of work and came up with a new season high eight strikeouts. NMSU won the second game of the double-header over the Bulldogs 14-11 on 14 hits. The Aggies committed two errors but also hit two home runs in the game. They got one from Busani and one from Auten.
The Aggies got home runs from Bryan Marquez and Colin Crouthamel but dropped the game 7-6 to Louisiana Tech at Presley Askew Field, Saturday, May 17. It was Marquez’s sixth home run of the year, while Crouthamel hit his seventh. Starting pitcher Sebestian Vendette was credited with the loss after he threw 128 pitches in 7 1/3 innings of work while he struck out six batters and fell to 2-5 on the year.
The Aggies concluded their season with a high-scoring win as they beat Louisiana Tech 15-13, which was topped off by home runs from three seniors on “Senior Day,” at Presley Askew Field, May 18. The Aggies put up 15 runs on 17 hits and committed two errors on the day, while LTU scored 13 runs on 15 hits with no errors. Right-hand pitcher, Noah Garza (Burleson, Texas) came in as a reliver and threw for a season high 5 2/3 innings and came up with a season high six strikeouts. Included in the NMSU 17 hits were home runs from seniors Joseph Scaperotta (San Diego, Calif.), Tyler Hardt (Hereford, Ariz.), and Marcus Quade (Littleton, Colo.) to take the team total to 97 homers on the year. Scaperotta home run that came in bottom of the second was his third grand slam this season.
NMSU vs. HAWAI’I
The Aggies won three games against Hawai’i this season with two wins at Presley Askew Field and one in Honolulu. At the plate, NMSU is hitting .280 as a team and have hit 12 home runs against the strong armed Rainbow pitching staff.
On the mound NMSU’s Heath Goin is 2-0 against the Rainbows as he has pitched for 14 innings against them and struck out 10 batters, while giving up only six earned runs. In his first appearance against the Rainbows, Goin stuck out three batters and gave up one earned run, while he struck out seven batters in his second appearance.
Tyler Hardt hit .364 against UH this season, while Joseph Scaperotta came up with five home runs and 12 RBI versus the Rainbows.
HARDT HITTER
Senior Tyler Hardt, who is second in the conference in batting average, hit .467 against the Bulldogs in the final week of regular season play to help NMSU clinch the No. 5 spot in the Western Athletic Conference. Hardt didn’t strikeout one time against Louisiana Tech and came up with an outstanding .933 slugging percentage. In the final game of the series, to clinch the No. 5 spot in the tournament, Hardt hit his eighth home run of the year. Hardt also hit two doubles and a triple this past weekend to get his season batting average above .400, to lead the WAC, while striking out only 15 times this season.
GARZA ENDS SEASON WITH GREAT SHOWING
Junior Noah Garza pitched a career high 5 2/3 innings to pick up his second win of the year. Down 10-9 to Louisiana Tech in the third inning, Garza came into the game and stuck out a season high six batters while not giving up a single walk. As he faced 22 Bulldogs batters, Garza gave up only three runs.
MULTIPLICITY
Chris Auten, who is now tied for fourth in the Aggie record books for doubles in a season with 22, has the most multiple hit games for NMSU. He leads the team with 25 multiple hit games, which includes seven three-hit games and three four-hit games. The record for most doubles in a season is 26 by Gabe Veloz in 2002.
Courtesy: Lindi S. Wilkinson
