Spring is starting, the weather is warming up and the NMSU baseball team was ready to play some ball as the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies came to Las Cruces for a weekend series last weekend. The Golden Grizzlies arrived just in time for the Aggies to get a warmup for a future date with ranked #14 Texas A&M.
It started on Friday with Saul Soto on the mound and even though he only pitched for almost three innings, he didn’t allow any runs and only had one hit. NMSU, however, began the scoring early with a Kade Benavidez hit into center field that brought in Steve Solorzano for the RBI. The Aggies strong presence against Oakland continued.
The Grizzlies bit back at the Aggies run in the third when John Lauinger scored off a ground out double play for the unearned run. The scoring took a bit of a break until the fifth inning when Jonatan Clough scored off a sacrifice bunt and a Mitch Namie that was hit into left field brought Brandon Forrester home.
Oakland scored again in the sixth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from Camden Kaufman, but the Grizzlies weren’t ready to go home yet. A two run eight inning from Oakland knotted the score at four and a scoreless ninth inning meant extra innings. Oakland couldn’t score first, which meant Aggie fans could see one of the best sights in baseball, a walk-off win.
Just when the team needed him most, Aiden Lombardi stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and just like that, a fielding error got him on base and the Aggies snagged their walk-off win, winning 5-4 in ten innings.
Saturdays game gave the Aggies a chance to go 2-0 against the Grizzlies, as head coach Jake Angier put the ball in the hands of Hayden Lewis to start the game.The Grizzlies started strong with a four runs in the first three innings to the Aggies two, which was capped by a Ben Clark home run to left center field.
Then, it was the Aggies turn and Joey Craig got things started with a home run of his own to spark the Aggies’ offense. Next came the bats of Solorzano and Namie, whose balls in right field put two more runs on the board to get the lead back. But with four runs in three innings, that meant a pitching change was to come.
And that’s when Hayden Lewis, with his 7.71 earned run average, took the mound but that high ERA struck again, which allowed two runners on base and a steal by the Grizzlies Sam Griffith. It was all set up for Lauinger to take the lead back with one swing to bring in two runs and end Lewis’ night.
Cooper Reese then came up to the mound and got out of the inning unscathed with an out at home base by NMSU’s second basemen Sheehan O’Connor when Griffth tried to steal second base. The Aggies were behind again, but like Solorzano said postgame, they were ready for these situations.
“Punch back, it’s one of our standards. It’s the way we like to play with each other,” he said. “If they score, all right, cool, great, we’re gonna punch back and get one on the board too.”
Solorzano was ready to punch back, with his approach in the box getting him a three-for-four night at bat with three RBI’s as the scoring took another break until the seventh inning. This was when coach Angier took out Reese for Jake Carvajal on the mound with a 7.94 ERA, which is a decision he explained after the game.
“He’s a veteran guy that’s got experience. You know, he’s had experience at this level.” Angier said. “But it was his turn to pitch in that situation so we went to him.”
With a 13-8 lead, the Aggies were able to coast to a win, with Angier confident in the firepower from the bats in the Aggie lineup.
“Yeah, I do think we can keep the offensive production up. We have a lot of good players, and in practice, this is kind of what we see,” he said. “So this is offensively, the last two days, what I’ve expected us to be like this year.”
Up next, the Aggies head to College Station, Texas to take on #14 ranked Texas A& for a three game weekend series. The first game will be on Friday, March 7, at 5 P.M.
