This Week: The New Mexico State baseball team will host Utah Valley State in a three game series on March 9-11 at Presley Askew Field. Game time on Friday, March 9 will be at 6:00 p.m., while the other two games are set for at 1:00 p.m. start.
The Aggies are back at home after a three game tournament in Dallas, Texas on March 4-6. NMSU was 1-2 on the road last week beating Northwestern on Sunday, March 6 scoring 11 runs off 14 hits.
Fans can get a recap of the games at www.nmstateports.com at the conclusion of each game.
Scouting the Wolverines
The Utah Valley State baseball team is currently 4-8 on the 2007 season. They started the season in a slight slump losing five straight games to open the year. They lost two games to Arizona in Tucson, scoring only four runs in the two games.
The Wolverines got swept in three games to Saint Mary’s of California. Again UVS was unable to get the bat on the ball bringing in only six bases, while their opponents scored 32 runs.
They were able to pick up two straight wins at Southern Utah, but dropped their third game of the series.
Utah Valley lost its opener of the Banana Belt Tournament in Pullman, Wash. on March 1 to Pac-10 foe Washington State 17-7, thanks in part to 13 Cougar hits, 14 walks and four hit batters by the UV pitching staff.
Gonzaga scored two times in the bottom of the eighth inning to edge Utah Valley State 6-5 on Friday in game two of the Banana Belt Tournament in Lewiston, Idaho.
Freshman Jace Brinkerhoff pitched a complete-game six-hitter in Utah Valley’s 7-3 win over Air Force Saturday in the Banana Belt Tournament. The Wolverines improved to 3-8 on the season with the win while Air Force dropped to 4-11.
Brinkerhoff struck out seven and walked one in earning his first collegiate victory on the mound. Kevin Arendse, another young freshman, caught the game for Brinkerhoff in his first collegiate start behind the plate.
Utah Valley’s bats broke out on Sunday as the Wolverines pounded out 21 hits in a 17-2 blowout win over in-state foe Southern Utah at the Banana Belt Tournament in Lewiston, Idaho. UV finished 2-2 in tournament with the win and improved to 4-8 on the season.
On the mound for the Wolverines will be junior righthander Bryan Smith, freshman righty Jace Brinkerhoff and junior right-hander Kyle Kasper.
Last Time Out
The Aggies traveled to Dallas, Texas on March 2-4 to take part in a tournament hosted by Dallas Baptist University.
In game one of the tourney, Senior Brian Gausman threw hard for 5 2/3 innings, while striking out six batters, but the New Mexico State baseball team lost 6-2 to Dallas Baptist on Friday, March 02 at Patriot Field in Dallas, Texas. Gausman (Aurora, Colo.) is now 2-1 on the season after the loss on Friday night. He faced 28 batters giving up only three earned runs.
In game two, sophomore Richard Stout went 3-of-4 and stole two bases, but the Aggies dropped a heartbreaker 9-8 to the University of Texas-Arlington at Clay Gould Park in Arlington, Texas on Saturday, March 03.
Junior Joseph Scaperotta his team leading fourth home run of the season to help the New Mexico State baseball team beat Northwestern 11-6 and pick up a road win on the final day of the Dallas Baptist University tournament at Clay Gould Field on March 4.
Series History
This weekend’s series will be the first meeting between New Mexico State and Utah Valley State.
Fresh Hit
Freshman Leo Aguirre continues to impress the Aggie coaching staff as he is still in the top-10 in a couple of hitting categories. Currently he is fifth in batting average hittng .393 with 22 hits. Those 22 hits puts in tied for ninth in the WAC, while he is in eighth in slugging percentage at .571.
Aguirre is second on the team in hits (22), batting average (.393), slugging percentage (.571), RBI (18) and total bases (32).
West Coast Slugger
As of Tuesday, March 6 junior Joseph Scaperotta led the Western Athletic Conference in hits with 32 on the season, while he is second in RBI with 27 and doubles with 8. He is also in the top-10 in batting average (.421), slugging percentage (.737), triples (2), home runs (4) and total bases (56).
Just Get On’
Junior Ari Loiben keeps finding ways to get on base. He leads the team and is second in the WAC in walks with 18. He also has 15 hits on the year giving in 33 trips to the bags.
On the Hill
In five appearences and one start, freshman Athony Arrieta leads the team in ERA at 2.11, while he is in second in the WAC. He has pitched 21 1/3 innings striking out 12 batters while giving up only five earned runs and seven walks.
In the game against New Mexico on Feb. 13 at Presley Askew Field, Arrieta put in 3 2/3 innings of work and didn’t give up any earned runs. In New Orleans on Feb. 18, he pitched for five innings, giving up two earned runs, while striking out three batters and walking only one. Arrieta threw for 6 2/3 innings giving up only one run, but the New Mexico State Aggies lost 7-4 in game two of the series against Temple at Presley Askew Field on Saturday, Feb. 24. Arrieta came in the game with the Aggies down early 6-0 and worked hard on the mound giving up only one run, walking one batter and striking out four. He started his first collegiate game on March 3 against UT-Arlington pitching four innings, giving up one earned run and striking out three batters.
Senior Brain Gausman leads the team by a wide margin in the strike-out category. Gausman, who has made six appearences with five of those being starts, has struck out 33 batters. He is currently third in the WAC in strike outs.
Gausman also leads the team in opposing batting average at .276, while giving up only 13 earned runs in his 28 1/3 innings of work. He also leads the team in innings pitched, while sitting in the No. 8 spot in the WAC in the same category
Sophomore Frankie Duran is currently second on the team in ERA at 3.75 in six appearences and one start. He has struck out eight batters and walked only four.
A Stout Second Baseman
Sophomore second baseman Richard Stout has really worked hard to prove his spot in the Aggie line up. He has played in 16 games for NMSU, while starting in 15 of those.
Stout’s .367 batting average puts him third on the team, while he is eighth in the WAC. He is also tied for fourth in the conference in walks with 14 and his .485 on-base percentage has him sixth in the conference.
This past weekend in the DBU tournament, Stout was 7-for-11 at the plate giving him a .636 batting average in three games. He also had four RBI, stole two bases, didn’t strike out and gave up no errors.
Bring ‘Em In
On Sunday Feb. 25, the Aggie baseball team scored 23 runs, which was the most runs scored since they beat Northern Iowa 37-11 on March 4, 2006. In 2006, the most hits in one game was 22, also against Northern Iowa, and on Sunday NMSU was just one short of that with 21. The last time the Aggies scored at least 20 runs was on April 23, 2005 against Arkansas State.
The 23 runs scored on Feb. 25 was the fourth time the Aggies have scored double-digits runs this season, and they are 4-0 when scoring 10 runs or more. The NMSU baseball team score 10 or more runs 11 times in 2006.
Junior Kyle MeFadden, who usually pitches for the Aggies, hit a grand-slam during the 23-5 win against the Owls. This was his second home run of his career. He hit his first bomb on Feb. 18, 2005 against Chicago State at Presley Askew Field. It was a two-run shot on a day when he went 1-of-4 at the plate. McFadden now has eight RBI as an Aggie.
Courtesy: Rebecca Craig
