The New Mexico State baseball team continued their form as a total juggernaut at Presley Askew Field Sunday afternoon, blowing out the University of Delaware 11-4 to secure the weekend series sweep and improve to 11-2 — tying the program’s best start since the 2011 season while starting to threaten the all-time best start in 2009 (18 wins in the first 20 games).

Starting pitcher Chance Hroch picked up the win, improving his undefeated season-record to 3-0 and his career record as an Aggie to a strong 7-2. The junior went six innings, giving up 7 hits, 3 earned runs, throwing 7 strikeouts, and zero walks.

With the game in hand, NM State was able to go to its bullpen down the strech, throwing a total of four pitchers –with Hroch, Mathew Munden, Aldo Fernandez and Allen Mitchell all being utilized and just one total walk being issued on the day.

“We had 11 strikeouts with just one walk, that was really the story of the game,” head coach Brian Green said about his pitchers. “It was kind of one of those grinder Sunday games where you really don’t have a comfortable feel, their guy [starting UD pitcher] did a nice job throwing a lot of strikes. The story of the game really was the pitching, especially the bullpen in the middle with Munden and Aldo, they did a great job.”

Surprisingly, the teams went punch for punch during the early innings with the Blue Hens leading holding a lead up until the fifth inning.

The Aggies would reclaim the lead and the game-changing sophomore Nick Gonzales would remove all doubt, crushing a three-run home run in the eighth, to extend the lead to 11-4 and put the game out of reach.

“Big hit by Nick, he’s certainly had a lot of those to start the season,” Green said. “That gets you up seven there and that changes the game going into the ninth inning.”

Gonzales went 3-for-5, knocking in five RBIs and that eighth inning dinger while coming a triple short from completing the cycle. He currently has 10 total homers, 37 total RBIs and is batting .590 – leading the nation in all three categories.

NM State will have one more home-series next weekend when they will take on the La Salle Explorers who post a 6-3 overall record, after that the Aggies will travel to Arizona and Nebraska.