-and-
Aggies to wrap up seven-game road swing before hosting New Mexico on Tuesday.
Source: NMSU Athletics
By Michael Navarrette
Photo: Courtesy
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Aggies will continue a stretch of seven straight road games as they travel across the country to Miami for a three-game series at FIU. The Aggies’ return to conference play will begin on Friday at 4:30 p.m. MT. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 3 p.m. MT, while Sunday’s finale is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. MT.
Friday will mark the 20th all-time meeting between the Aggies and Panthers, with this marking the fourth series in Miami. This weekend, NM State will look to put an end to a six-game losing streak to the Panthers, although, the Aggies and Panthers have only played one series since 2005. NM State is also seeking its third straight road series win in CUSA play after opening the year with series wins over Liberty and Sam Houston.
SERIES INFO
NM State (17-16, 5-4 CUSA) at FIU (20-12, 4-4 CUSA)
FIU Baseball Stadium
Miami, Fla.
Friday, April 11 – 4:30 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: StatBroadcast
Saturday, April 12 – 3 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: StatBroadcast
Sunday, April 13 – 10 a.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Stats: StatBroadcast
LAST TIME OUT
NM State held its own in Tucson, Ariz., however, it came up short as it fell 11-9 to No. 24 Arizona. The Aggie offense came out of the gate strong, as a Tommy Meluskey home run fueled a four-run first inning to give the Aggies an early lead.
However, Arizona tallied five runs in the first to set the stage for a high-scoring, back-and-forth affair. Another four-run inning in the third would give the Aggies the lead once again, but Arizona would regain control in the fourth inning. NM State eventually tied things up at nine runs apiece in the fifth when Dane Woodcook drove home Aidan Lombardi. The score would remain even until the Wildcats tallied a pair of runs in the ninth inning to ultimately secure the win.
SUNDAY SUCCESS
This season, NM State has been dominant in Sunday games and will enter this weekend’s series with a 7-1 record on Sundays, including stacking wins over two ranked programs. This also includes a perfect 3-0 record away from Presley Askew Field.
TURN TWO
With 33 games down, the Aggie infield has been the best team in the nation at turning double plays. With three double plays in its Tuesday contest at No. 24 Arizona, NM State now has 35 double plays on the season which ranks first in the country.
LIMITING THE DAMAGE
On Tuesday, NM State once again fell victim to a big inning from its opponent as Sam Houston posted five runs in the first inning on its way to defeating the Aggies 11-9. 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 2-13 when their opponent produces four or more runs in a single frame.
WEAR IT
This weekend’s matchup features a pair of teams who aren’t afraid to wear a pitch or two. Currently, the Panthers and Aggies rank first and second in the league in times hit by a pitch, respectively. At 81, FIU ranks seventh in the country in hit by pitch while the Aggies’ 67 ranks 23rd in the nation.
ROAD WARRIORS
NM State will be seeking its third consecutive road series win in conference play this season. The Aggies opened the year at Liberty where they secured wins on Saturday and Sunday to bounce back from a walk-off defeat on Friday. Last weekend, the Aggies clinched another road series win as they earned victories on Friday and Sunday at Sam Houston.
In the Aggies’ six road conference games, NM State has been able to get off to fast starts and have scored first in five of the six contests, including scoring in the first inning three times.
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 33 games, Namie’s offensive power has been on full display as he has recorded a hit in all but five 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 hits (45), RBIs (28) and his 13 doubles ranks first among CUSA hitters and 34th 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 on March 30, 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.
TRIPLE PLAY ALERT
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 six 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 last Tuesday, 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 105.2 innings and have given up just 85 earned runs while combining for 95 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 Gore who 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.
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