-and-
NM State amid seven-game road swing.
Source: NMSU Athletics
By Michael Navarrette
Photo By Destinie Ramos for NMSU: Courtesy
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – After a weekend series at Sam Houston, the Aggies stretch of road games continues on Tuesday evening at No. 24 Arizona in what will be the first of two trips to Tucson this season for the Aggies. The midweek matchup is slated to begin at 7 p.m. MDT and will air live on ESPN+.
Tuesday will mark the 56th all-time meeting between the Aggies and Wildcats. While the Aggies have only come away with eight wins in the series, NM State did knock off Arizona at Hi Corbett Field just last season when they earned a 12-9 victory in Tucson. The two sides most recently met on April 24, 2024, in Las Cruces which marked just the second time ever that Arizona made the trip to Presley Askew Field. This makes Tuesday’s contest the 54th time that the two sides will collide in Tucson.
GAME INFO
NM State (17-15, 5-4 CUSA) at No. 24 Arizona (22-9, 8-4 Big 12)
Hi Corbett Field
Tucson, Ariz.
Tuesday, April 8 – 7 p.m. MDT
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: StatBroadcast
Tickets: Click Here
LAST TIME OUT
NM State earned its second CUSA series win of the year as it took two games from Sam Houston in Huntsville, Texas, over the weekend. The Aggies opened the weekend with a 6-2 victory over the Bearkats as starter Jack Turner collected a career high nine strikeouts to lead an Aggie pitching staff that allowed just five hits and tallied 14 total strikeouts.
Following a 9-6 defeat on Saturday, NM State bounced back to beat Sam Houston by an identical 9-6 score as both Mitch Namie and Bryce Campbell contributed three RBIs. Over the weekend, Namie batted .538 and logged seven hits, four RBIs and three doubles to lead the Aggie offense.
With the series win, the Aggies are now 2-0 in road series against CUSA opponents after also defeating Liberty earlier in the season.
ROAD WARRIORS
With a series win on the road at Sam Houston this past weekend, the Aggies are now 6-2 in their last eight road contests after opening the season with a 1-5 record in road games. The Aggies’ recent success on the road has been fueled by powerful offense as four Aggies (Namie, Campbell, Woodcook and Craig) are maintaining averages above .300 during this stretch.
Left fielder Mitch Namie has been the driving force as he is batting .364 with 12 hits and six RBIs. Bryce Campbell has also contributed timely hitting and is batting .324 with 11 hits and 15 RBIs during the Aggies’ last eight road bouts.
TURN TWO
With 32 games down, the Aggie infield has been one of the best teams in the nation at turning double plays. With three double plays in its three-game series against Sam Houston, NM State now has 32 double plays on the season which ranks tied for third in the country.
LIMITING THE DAMAGE
On Saturday, NM State once again fell victim to a big inning from its opponent as Sam Houston posted four runs in the fourth inning on its way to defeating the Aggies 9-6. This season, big innings from their opponents have been one of the primary contributing factors to the Aggies’ losses. Thus far, NM State is an impressive 15-3 when it doesn’t allow its opponent to score four or more runs in a single inning. On the contrary, the Aggies are just 2-12 when their opponent produces four or more runs in a single frame.
ARIZONA AGGIES
This weekend will mark the 56th all-time meeting with Arizona and will be the 54th time that the Aggies make the trip to Tucson. Thus far, the Aggies have defeated the Wildcats just eight times, including a 12-9 road win last season which marked the program’s first win over Arizona since 2012.
In last year’s win, five different Aggies recorded multiple hits, including a four-hit, five-RBI performance from Preston Godfrey. Of the players that played in the win over Arizona last season, only Sheehan O’Connor, Mitch Namie and Hayden Lewis remain on the team this season.
Tuesday’s matchup will mark the 13th time that the Aggies take on a ranked Wildcats team as Arizona appeared in this week’s top-25 rankings following a series win over No. 24 Arizona State. Of the Aggis’ eight wins over Arizona, two have come when the Wildcats were ranked as they earned back-to-back wins over a fifth-ranked Arizona squad in 2012 – a year in which the Wildcats went on to win the National Championship.
SAY HIS NAMIE
Entering the 2024 campaign, returner Mitch Namie was slated to be one of the Aggies’ key contributors once again after appearing in 50 of the Aggies’ 54 games and making 49 starts during his sophomore season. The Mesa, Ariz., serves as the leading returner in batting average (.333), at-bats (183), runs (50), hits (61), doubles (13), triples (2), home runs (5), RBIs (35) and walks (31).
Through the Aggies’ first 31 games, Namie’s offensive power has been on full display as he has recorded a hit in all but three games this season, including posting a hit in each of the Aggies’ first 15 games. Additionally, Namie is the only Aggie to appear in the starting lineup in every game this season.
Currently, the outfielder paces the Aggies in RBIs with 28 and his 13 doubles ranks first among CUSA hitters and 26th in the nation. He is also tied with Brandon Forrester for the team lead in hits with 44 on the season.
BEATING THE BEST
With the Aggies’ win over No. 17 DBU last Sunday, NM State now has two wins over ranked opponents this season, which marks just the fifth time in program history that NM State has notched multiple ranked wins in a single season. Prior to this season, the Aggies had only accomplished this in 2012, 1999, 1997 and 1996.
Tuesday, the Aggies will seek their third win over a ranked program this season when they take on nationally-ranked Arizona. A win over the Wildcats would mark the first time since 1997 that NM State recorded three or more wins over ranked opponents in a single season.
TRIPLE THREAT
On March 23 against Liberty, the Aggies accomplished something they hadn’t done in over 10 years. A ground ball hit to Brandon Forrester ultimately turned into the program’s first triple play since April 29, 2014, when the Aggies recorded a triple play on the road against Arizona State. NM State is one of just three Division I teams to pull off a triple play this season, joined by UIC and Stetson.
STELLAR STEVE
Two-way player Steve Solorzano turned in one of the most impressive individual performances of the season in the Aggies’ win over Liberty on March 23. At the plate, the Las Cruces native finished with two hits and drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning. In addition, the right-hander who started at first base moved over to the mound, where he ultimately earned the win after tossing three scoreless innings to close out the game.
Entering Tuesday, Solorzano paces the Aggies in batting average (.390), slugging percentage (.660) and on-base percentage (.513) while ranking among the conference’s best in batting average (2nd), on-base percentage (1st) and slugging percentage (6th). However, the Aggies have been without the sophomore slugger for the last five games due to an injury.
CRAIG NAMED CUSA HITTER OF THE WEEK
After a stellar weekend in which he played a pivotal role in the Aggies’ series win on the road against Liberty, outfielder Joey Craig was named Conference USA Hitter of the Week. Over the three-game series, Craig batted .600 (6-10) and was tied for the team lead in RBIs with five, including a four-RBI performance on Saturday. He finished the weekend with a home run, one double and three walks to help support a .692 on-base percentage.
BRING OUT THE BULLPEN
On April 1, the Aggie relievers that came into the game combined to record 13 total strikeouts in just six innings of work. This marked the third time this season that the Aggie bullpen has accounted for 10 or more strikeouts in a single game, as it also tallied exactly 10 strikeouts against Lamar on March 11 and UNC Greensboro on March 19.
Last Tuesday’s outing was bolstered by an outing from Matthew Yarc who logged 2.1 innings of work and notched five strikeouts.
In the loss to the Lobos, the Aggies finished the game with 17 total strikeouts to mark the most strikeouts in a single game since March 11, 2022, when NM State tallied a program-record 20 strikeouts against Seattle U
FRESHMAN ARMS
The Aggies have leaned on their young arms this season and all eight of the Aggies’ freshmen pitchers have now appeared in at least four games this season.
In total, the Aggie freshmen, who make up eight of the team’s 19 pitchers, have combined to throw 99.2 innings and have given up just 79 earned runs while combining for 90 strikeouts.
This has been bolstered by Matthew Yarc, who has tossed 27.1 innings and has 23 strikeouts. Yarc is one of five freshmen pitchers with 10 or more strikeouts as Dylan Weekly (16), Carson Timmons (15), Hazen Wright (11) and Jaden Davis (10) each have double-digit strikeouts this year.
AGGIES > AGGIES
On Sunday, March 9, NM State claimed a 4-1 victory over No. 14 Texas A&M to secure the program’s first win over an opponent ranked in the top 25 of the NCAA’s primary ranking system since 2012, when they knocked off No. 5 Arizona.
The win was also the Aggies’ first win over Texas A&M in nine tries and represented NM State’s second win over a team in the SEC at the time of the contest. Interestingly, the Aggies’ first-ever win over an SEC opponent also came on March 9, when they defeated Alabama 3-0 in 2018.
TRENDING UP
After finishing No. 297 in RPI in 2023, the Aggies jumped to No. 138 at the conclusion of the 2024 season to mark the largest RPI increase in the nation.
O’CONNOR NAMED CUSA PLAYER OF THE WEEK
On Monday, Feb. 17, it was announced that standout second baseman Sheehan O’Connor earned Conference USA Hitter of the Week honors after an impressive trio of games to open the season.
Following a two-hit performance on Sunday, O’Connor ended the weekend with a .583 batting average, three home runs, eight RBIs and a pair of doubles to help guide the Aggies to a pair of wins and earn the season’s first hitter of the week honor, which is announced every Monday.
LOCAL PRODUCTS
The 2025 NM State roster features four Aggies from the Land of Enchantment. This includes Kade Benavidez (Belen), Jaden Davis (Jemez Pueblo), Steve Solorzano (Las Cruces) and Hazen Wright (Carlsbad).
PRESEASON DOUBT
On Jan. 30, Conference USA released is preseason poll and preseason award recipients and, notably, no Aggies were included on the preseason all-conference team while NM State landed in a tie for eighth place as a team on the 2025 CUSA Preseason Poll which is based on a vote of the league’s 10 head coaches.
However, the Aggies did receive one first-place vote in the preseason poll as Head Coach Jake Angier has publicly backed his team and made known that he was the lone coach to not cast his first-place vote for preseason favorite Dallas Baptist.
YEAR TWO
NM State is amid its second season under Head Coach Jake Angier and looks to continue to make strides after increasing its win total by 11 games and posting the highest number of wins since 2019.
In year one under Angier, the Aggies landed three on the all-conference awards list as Keith Jones II earned first team All-CUSA honors, Titus Dumitru earned second team honors and Steve Solorzano secured all-freshman team honors.
Angier was previously at the University of Oregon where he operated as the pitching coach for the 2020-2023 seasons. Before Oregon, Angier was at Sacramento State from 2014-2019. Angier was named by Baseball America as one of the 50 names to watch in the 2023 coaching cycle. Currently, Angier is the second shortest-tenured head coach in the league as only Liberty’s Bradley LeCroy, who is in his first season, has been in his current assignment for less time.
WELCOME ABOARD
This offseason, NM State added Assistant Coach Camden Duzenack to its staff. Following an impressive playing career which included six seasons in the farm system for the Arizona Diamondbacks, he will assist primarily with the infield for the Aggies.
In college, Duzenack spent four seasons with CUSA foe Dallas Baptist, where he recorded a career batting average of .291 and was named a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American as a freshman in 2014. He was also named MVC Defensive Player of the Year as a senior and garnered All-MVC honors three years in a row.
EASTWARD EXPANSION
This season, the Aggies will spend their fair share of time on the road as they are slated to play 27 games away from Presley Askew Field. Unlike American settlers, the Aggies will do most of their traveling to the east as their contests against Arizona will represent the only two times that the Aggies will travel west of Las Cruces.
During its season, NM State will rack up frequent flyer miles as seven of its 11 road trips will include games that require over 700 miles of travel. This includes three extra lengthy trips as its road trip to UNC Greensboro and Liberty (1,789 miles to UNCG), its trip to FIU (2,030 miles) and its trip to Kennesaw State (1,461 miles) all exceed 1,000 miles.
BIG SPIKES TO FILL
NM State entered the 2025 season with nearly two-thirds of its 2024 roster no longer in the picture. This year, NM State brings back just 12 players while 22 individuals have departed.
With a new-look roster comes opportunity as the Aggies will be looking to replace nearly all of its offensive and pitching production. With the departures, the Aggies lost over 70% of their runs (72.9%), hits (72.4%), home runs (86.1%), RBIs (78.2%), stolen bases (87.8%) and innings pitched (72.6%). NM State will also be without Keith Jones II, Romeo Ballesteros and Nick Gorewho were the only three Aggies last season to start more than 50 games – starting 53, 53 and 52, respectively.
ONCE AN AGGIE…
This season, Head Coach Jake Angier is supported by a pair of former Aggies on his staff as both Assistant Coach David Bellamy and Director of Pitching Analytics Aaron Treloar each spent time during their collegiate playing days at NM State.
Bellamy, a two-year letter winner at NM State, is amid his second season on Angier’s staff. As a player, he was a standout outfielder for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He batted .307 his senior year to help lead the Aggies to the Lubbock Regional before being named to the Google Cloud Academic All-District First-Team and Academic All-WAC First-Team. Bellamy now serves as the Aggies’ hitting coach and is tasked with calling the offensive plays.
Meanwhile, Treloar is in his first season on staff after wrapping up his playing career just last season. Treloar ultimately spent his final two years with the Aggies and appeared in 35 games while totaling 42 strikeouts, including 26 in 2024.
ON THE BASE PATHS
This season, first-year assistant, Camden Duzenack serves as the Aggies’ first-base coach. Meanwhile, Dillon Leveille, who is in his second season on staff, is the Aggies’ third-base coach.
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 (NM State Baseball).
