Baseball: Turner Shines as Aggies Return to Win Penultimate Game

Senior throws six scoreless in victory.

Source: NMSU Athletics
By Michael Navarrette
Photo By Gabe Katko for NMSU: Courtesy

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – NM State evened its series with FIU on Friday night, holding off a late rally to secure a 6-5 victory at Presley Askew Field at Johnson Stadium and set up a rubber match on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Aggies improve to 20-33 overall and 9-20 in Conference USA play.

The Aggies did their damage early, breaking through with a five-run third inning to take control. Jonatan Clough ignited the rally with a triple before Steve Solorzano, Easton Rulli, and Boston Vest each drove in runs as NM State capitalized on quality at-bats and an FIU error.

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Behind that support, Jack Turner delivered a strong start on the mound, tossing six scoreless innings while limiting FIU to three hits and striking out five.

FIU threatened late, scoring three runs in the seventh to cut into the lead, but NM State answered with an insurance run in the bottom half when Aidan Lombardi came around to score on a wild pitch to maintain a three-run advantage.

The Panthers added two more runs in the ninth, but Dylan Weekly closed the door to record the save and secure the win. NM State totaled 11 hits in the victory, led by three-hit performances from Solorzano and Lombardi, while Vest added a pair of RBIs.

NOTABLES

• With five strikeouts on Friday night, Jack Turner concludes his career with exactly 100 strikeouts as an Aggie. He also earned his fourth win of the season and ninth of his career with NM State.
• Jonatan Clough logged his sixth triple of the season to become just the 13^th Aggie in program history to record six or more triples in a single season.
• Steve Solorzano collected his 20^th multi-hit game of the season, while extending his hit streak to 15 games. Friday also marked Solorzano’s fifth game of the season with three or more hits.
• The win marked the Aggies fourth win of the season with fewer than seven runs scored.
• With the victory, the Aggies improved to 15-1 when carrying a lead into the seventh inning.
• The win also represents the 20^th win of the year, making Head Coach Jake Angier just the third coach in program history to guide the team to 20 or more wins in each of their first three seasons at the helm.
• Boston Vest recorded his sixth multi-RBI game of the season.
• Aidan Lombardi posted his sixth multi-hit game of the year and second straight three-hit outing. This is also Lombardi’s third three-hit game in his last five games played.
• Jack Turner threw six innings to mark his fourth straight outing of five or more innings. This also marked the first time he threw five or more scoreless innings in his career with the Aggies.
• The win puts an end to the Aggies’ eight-game losing streak.

For complete coverage of NM State Baseball, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of Aggie athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateBaseball), Instagram (@NMStateBaseball) and like us on Facebook (NMState Baseball).