After starting its season opening series against Abilene Christian a disappointing 0-2 the New Mexico State baseball team picked up its first win of the season in a dominating 12-2 fashion Sunday afternoon, showing much of what made the same stuff that made last year’s team so historic.

Following a Friday night just-failed comeback attempt, the Aggies were overwhelmed by ACU’s production at the plate Saturday in a 15-9 loss that saw NM State dropping its first season-opening series since 2015, but if Sunday is any indication of what the team is capable of, head coach Mike Kirby’s squad has nothing to worry about going forward.

Unlike the first two games, today it was ACU who got on the scoreboard first thanks to a Colton Eager homer that sailed over the right outfield fence, bringing in two runners to give the Wildcats the early advantage. 

Answering back in the second was, New Mexico State who hit a two-run blast of their own off the bat Jake Baer, who nailed a missile out of right field to tie the game and give the redshirt junior his first home run as an Aggie.

After Tommy Tabak stole third, the Aggies went up 3-2 in the fourth inning after a throwing error by ACU. NM State kept it rolling into the fifth, where they scored two more off two RBI’s from Ethan Mann. The defense of the Aggies stepped up big in the bottom of the fifth, converting a beautiful double play off a line drive out and throw to first to ensure ACU wouldn’t pick any momentum up.

ACU made a pitching change and put in Austin Ruesch in the sixth after NM State’s first three batters were walked to start the inning, but that wouldn’t matter to Cal Villareal, who went yard in the next at bat to give the Aggies a 9-2 advantage with the team’s first grand slam of the season. 

NM State’s prolific offense of last season looked to be back, with back to back home runs coming later in the inning from Ethan Mann, who nailed it over left center, and Tabak, who sent the ball sailing over the center field fence, adding onto the already insurmountable lead. 

The Aggies tacked on one more run in the seventh, which would be the final inning of the game, but the explosive offense provided in the back half of the game was almost a luxury, with senior Chris Jefferson pitching a full game and allowing just six hits, striking out four and retiring the other 19 batters faced to get his and the team’s first dub of the season.

NM State looks to finally have their feet under them after a season-opening series that took a long, complicated road to get to, and will get another chance to show their quality this coming Tuesday when they travel to San Marcos for a one-off matchup against Texas State before taking on Texas A&M at the weekend.