Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - 5-0.

The Aggies' winning streak continued Friday afternoon at Presley Askew Field with a 7-5 victory over Iona (0-4). Junior infielder Nick Gonzales clobbered his fifth homer of the year, and seniors Mitchell Allen and Alex Reyes quieted the Gaels' bats across the final four innings of the ballgame.

NM State is undefeated through its first five contests of the 2020 campaign. The Aggies opened last season with six consecutive wins.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gaels got to starting pitcher Chance Hroch early. Iona's Jake Liberatore hit the very first pitch of the game over the wall in left to put the Gaels ahead, 1-0.

The lead would not last long, though, as Gonzales stepped up to the plate in the bottom half of the first and smoked an 0-1 pitch over the fence in left center. The reigning National Player of the Week has hit a home run in four of the Aggies' five games this season.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

DENVER, CO - After maintaining his perfect record in singles action through the 2020 season, NM State men's tennis freshman Jordy Visser was named the WAC Men's Tennis Singles Player of the Week it was announced by the league office in a press release issued Tuesday morning.

Visser, who hails from Bemmel, Netherlands, picked up a pair of singles triumphs Saturday and helped NM State go 1-1 in their two matches on the day.

Against Southland Conference foe Abilene Christian Saturday morning, Visser matched up with the Wildcats' Dimitrios Azoidis in flight two and emerged with a 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 come-from-behind win to keep the Aggies in contention. Visser's win helped NM State pull within one of the Wildcats before ultimately falling, 4-3.   Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Western Athletic Conference's Track & Field Athlete of the Week is an Aggie for the fourth time this season.

Senior Keosha Sanders was named the conference's track star after an impressive showing last weekend at the Don Kirby Elite Invitational in Albuquerque.

The senior from Cocoa, Fla., did her damage in the 60m dash, clocking a new personal-best time of 7.36 to finish third in the finals. Her mark, converted to 7.38 for altitude, ranks first in the WAC and 41st in the nation this season.

Her effort also reset NM State's school record in the event. She owned the previous program-best time of 7.42 before breaking it last Saturday.

Sanders joins teammates and seniors Lashira Tremble and Brooke Wallace as recipients of the WAC's track honor this season. Freshman Dascha Robinson, meanwhile, picked up the recognition one week ago for her performance in field events.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - If he wasn't already a household name, Nick Gonzales is one now.

The Aggie infielder earned National Player of the Week recognition from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and was named the Western Athletic Conference's Hitter of the Week for Feb. 10-16 after a historic season-opening weekend.

The junior from Vail, Ariz., slashed .571/.727/1.571 with four homers and 17 RBI in a four-game series sweep over Texas Southern. He extended his on-base streak to 70 games, dating back to the 2018 season.

The unanimous preseason All-American went 2-for-4 with four RBI and two runs scored in an 11-2 opening-night win over the Tigers. He combined to go 3-for-5 with four RBI, three runs scored and five walks in a doubleheader sweep Saturday.

Gonzales' best game of the weekend came in Sunday's series finale. He went 3-for-5, matching a school record with three homers and driving in nine runs.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: WAC Media Relations

DENVER, CO - NM State’s Nick Gonzales has been named TicketSmarter Western Athletic Conference Hitter of the Week for Feb. 10 – Feb. 16.

Gonzales, a junior infielder from Vail, Ariz., picked up right where he left off last season, hitting .571 in a four-game series sweep over Texas Southern and stretching his on-base streak to 70 games dating back to the 2018 season. On opening night, he was 2-for-4 with four RBIs and two runs scored in an 11-2 win over the Tigers. He combined to go 3-for-5 with four RBIs and three runs scored, also drawing five walks, in a doubleheader sweep on Saturday. He saved the best for last, going 3-for-5, all home runs, with nine RBIs on Sunday to give him 17 RBIs on the weekend.

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

OREM, UT - Rodrea Echols scored 19 points in her first game back from injury and the Aggie defense stepped up in a 65-58 win at Utah Valley on Saturday afternoon in Western Athletic Conference play.

Echols, in her return from a knee injury suffered in the first meeting with Seattle U, scored a career-high 19 points. Echols was a perfect 6-6 from the field and 4-4 from downtown. Aaliyah Prince dominated the afternoon, scoring 14 points to go with 10 boards and five assists for her first career double-double.

The Aggies (9-16, 6-6 WAC) fell behind 9-4 early in the first quarter but rallied to tie the game at 11 after one quarter of play. NM State forced three Wolverine (9-14, 6-5) turnovers and held them to 5-13 shooting from the floor in the frame.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The only thought running through Jabari Rice's mind over the course of the final 6.5 seconds Saturday evening was his last shot against New Mexico back on Nov. 21, 2019.

A three-pointer that rimmed out at the end. One that would have given the Aggies a win over their biggest rivals.

Given another chance in a similar situation nearly three months later, Rice knew failure wasn't an option a second time.

Playing in front of the team that put New Mexico State on the map a half-century ago with its run to the Final Four, Rice banked home a game-winning three-pointer with 0.6 seconds to go to cap a wild 84-82 come-from-behind victory for the Aggies over WAC foe Utah Valley inside the Pan Am Center.   Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State softball team split a doubleheader with Omaha on Friday night at the Softball Complex.

The Aggies hit six home runs on the day with two each from Ramsay Lopez and Nikki Butler. NM state and Omaha are set to play another doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 15, beginning at 2 p.m.

GAME ONE
The two sides were locked in a tight battle early with Omaha’s Sydney Hampton and Matalasi Faapito going toe-to-toe in the circle. Trailing 1-0 in the 3rd, and with runners on first and third, Janelle Medina swiped second base and Caity Szczesny scored on throw down to second base to pull the Aggies even.

Then, Nikki Butler scored Medina on a sacrifice fly before Ramsay Lopez blasted a two-run home run to give NM State a 4-1 lead through three. The Aggies extended their lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth after Szczesny drew a bases loaded walk.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The Mike Kirby era is off to a strong start.

NM State rolled to an 11-2 win against Texas Southern in Friday afternoon's season opener at The 'Skew behind senior pitcher Chance Hroch's arm and junior infielder Nick Gonzales' bat.

The Aggies (1-0) scored nine unanswered runs, including three on Gonzales' eighth-inning tater, to pull away from the Tigers (0-1).

HOW IT HAPPENED
Hroch cruised through Texas Southern's order before Roderick Coffee got the scoring started in the top half of the third. The outfielder hit his first of two home runs over the wall in left center to give the Tigers an early 1-0 lead.

The deficit would not last long, as sophomore outfielder Zerek Saenz provided the Aggies' first two runs in the bottom half of the frame. His RBI single tied the game at one apiece before his sac fly in the bottom of the fifth put NM State ahead, 2-1.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - By his own admission, junior forward Johnny McCants had been dealing with some difficulty getting off to a good start as of late for the New Mexico State men's basketball team.

Thursday night inside the Pan Am Center, McCants started well and never let up. That spelled trouble for Seattle U.

In one of the most dominant nights of his collegiate career, McCants generated a team-high 14 points and completed a monstrous double-double effort by hauling in a career-high 18 rebounds to help lead the Aggies to a scrappy 72-64 victory over the Redhawks.

With the win NM State hit the 20-win mark for the ninth-consecutive season and maintained a three-game lead for the top spot in the WAC standings with five regular season games to go.

FIRST HALF  Continue Reading This Post >>