Spring time is baseball time and that means Presley Askew Field is one of main attraction for Aggie sports. However this past weekend, the NMSU baseball team made the trek all the way to Lynchburg, Virginia to battle it out against the Liberty Flames, in hopes of snagging their first conference victory of the 2025 season.
Coach Angier went with pitcher Jack Turner to start and with his 4.45 earned run average, he started out the game strong. Turner shut out the Flames offense in the first inning but surrendered the first run of the same in the second with an Anderson Fulk double for the Flames.
Big time players make big time plays in big time games. Steve Smith Sr. knew what he was talking about because that would describe the set up of NMSU’s Steve Solorzanos third inning at bat with the perfect set up. Joey Craig and Tariq Freeny were on base and neither team had any runs on the board. That all changed with a three run home run started the scoring and gave Turner some breathing room with a two run cushion of a lead to protect.
Unfortunately, the Flames were able to creep back into the game courtesy of a Nick Barone double which added another run to Turners ERA to cut the lead in half. But then, the Aggies answered with another score of their own from Joey King. His hit brought in Tommy Meluskey to keep the lead at two.
Liberty, however, would not back down. Camden Troyer cut the lead in half.
The Flames showed why they’re the Aggies bad luck charm with another fielders choice that allowed another run from third base to tie the game at four a piece. Coach Angier had finally seen enough, as he handed the ball to freshman Cooper Reese who kept the flames from scoring.
Unfortunately, the Aggies couldn’t score either as the tension built. The Aggies changed pitchers again late in the eighth inning to another freshman, Carson Timmons who got the last out to take it to the climactic final inning.
As much as talent plays a role in winning, as tough as it is to admit, sometimes you just need a little bit of luck to go your way. A wild pitch – that’s all it took to give NMSU’s Brandon Forrester the opening to score and take the lead back 5-4 as it was all up to Timmons to get the win, but would the freshman be up to the task? The Aggies lost Friday’s game 5-6. But a comeback was brewing.
Saturdays game against the Flames was the opposite. Another scoring explosion from the Aggies allowed them to walk off the field winning 10-6 off a steady diet of singles, doubles and triples.
Sunday was a bit more tension filled, with an extra inning battle with that saw the Aggies grab another dramatic 8-7 win. The win came after a comeback that started in the seventh inning off scores from a Brandon Forrester sacrifice fly that carried over into the ninth as Tommy Meluskey smacked a two-run single into center field. But to cross the finish line, Steve Solorzano put on the superhero cape with a single into right field that brings in Forrester for the game wining score.
The Aggies will now face off against Dallas Baptist in another weekend series at Presley Askew Field March 28-30. You can watch the Aggies battle it out on ESPN+.
