In the third day of three-game series against the 10th ranked Dallas Baptist Patriots, New Mexico State baseball suffered a series sweep following a 13-3 loss in just seven innings, their second straight seven-inning defeat. The Aggies struggled on the pitching front and were forced to use five pitchers in an effort to stump Patriots. With the three losses, the Aggies are 1-5 in conference play and 11-16 overall, putting them in the eighth seed in Conference USA standings.
The Patriots offense, led by Ethan Mann, overpowered the Aggies defense from the jump. After taking the intentional walk, Grant Jay earned an RBI on a sacrifice fly to give the Patriots an early 1-0 lead.
The Aggies retaliated in the top of the second and managed to take the lead with a single home run from senior Logan Gallina, his first of the season, over the right field fence followed by an RBI double from senior Nick Gore.
After gaining the lead, the Aggies found their groove defensively and held the Patriots scoreless in the bottom half. A single from Alex Pendergast looked to have given the Patriots confidence, but a grounder turning into a double play erased any chance of the Patriots retaking the lead. Despite not scoring, the Patriots defense responded by retiring the next three batters for the Aggies. Luke Pettitte struck out the first two batters and Godfrey hit a flyball to left field for an out.
After the Aggies went three up and three down in the top of the third, the Patriots retaliated when Miguel Santos singled to left field which propelled a two-run home run from Ethan Mann to give the Patriots a 3-2 lead. The Patriots looked to extend their lead when Luke Heefner sent a hit to right field for a double, but the inning ended on a fly ball hit to center field.
A solid defensive effort resulted in two scoreless innings before the Patriots completely took control of the game. Luke Heefer hit a line drive towards the middle for a two-run RBI single, Pendergast then bashed one down the left field line for an RBI double capping a three-run inning for the Patriots.
After retiring three Aggie batters in the top of the sixth inning, the Patriots offense continued knocking the Aggies defense out of the park. Mann hit his second two-run home run of the night while Jay tallied on another home run for the Patriots with a solo over left field to extend the Patriots lead to seven runs.
Refusing to extend the game any further, the Patriots came out and delivered a four-run inning in the bottom of the seventh after another scoreless effort from the Aggies. Mann led the Patriots with four RBIs on two home runs and drove a final shot down to center field for a three-run RBI double to end his night with 7 RBIs. After giving the Patriots a nine-run lead, Mann touched home for the go ahead run off an RBI single from Chayton Krauss for the 13-3 win.
The Aggies will now return to Las Cruces to prepare for a three-game series against the Liberty Flames this weekend which is set to start on Friday, April 5 at 6 p.m. followed by Saturday at 2 p.m. and will end on Sunday at 11 a.m. Friday and Saturday’s games will be streamed on ESPN+, while Sunday’s game will be on 91.5 FM KRUX. All updates will be posted on the official NMSU Athletics website.
