(This is the fortieth installment of Bill Harty’s game recaps as part of The Mid Majority ninth season taking readers to mid-major college basketball games around the country. Visit midmajority.com to find out more about this group-sourced effort to spread the word about the many fine basketball programs around the country that are having success on and off the court while generally not having access to the resources brought to athletic programs by big-time college football. Bill will be recapping most Aggie home games, and the occasional road foray, for both The Mid Majority and bleedCrimson.net.)

I was sure at the end of my nineteen-game week in Las Vegas (the WCC final, all 18 M/W WAC tournament games) that my season was over. I was so tired that I slept the entire trip on the plane home, through the St. Patrick’s Day party at my spouse’s college roommate’s home, and through the family birthday dinner at my sister’s. But late that night, I checked on whether bleedcrimson.net, where my NMSU recaps are published, could get us media credentials for San Jose, where the Aggies were to meet A-10 champion Saint Louis. I had an orphaned free ticket on Southwest that I had been trying to use for over a year; it would expire forever in April. So I gave that a shot and, surprise (!), there was a seat available to get to San Jose. I checked my frequent hotel stayer programs and found that I had enough points for a four-night stay. So, I made the decision that fate was taking me to the NCAA Tournament, reserved a small rental car, obtained the ok for three more days of annual leave, and headed to California. Here’s a snapshot of the east side of the Franklin Mountains from the car on the way to the El Paso airport.   Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LOGAN, UT - The New Mexico State softball team worked for its first two road wins in Western Athletic Conference play on Friday afternoon, March 29, as the Aggies hit five home runs in the two games for a 5-2 win in game one and capped off the double bill with a 17-6 win over USU.
NM State finished the day with 26 hits and a combined four stolen bases.

Both Aggie teams took a slow start in game one with the first seven innings staying scoreless. The Aggies did work for five hits through the seven rounds, but it took until the first extra inning to make some noise.

With the teams scoreless through the first seven innings of play, the Aggies put two on base with a fielding error by Utah State and a bunt single by senior Amber Olive. With two outs, senior Teresa Conrad came to the plate to smack a three-run home run over the left field wall to give NM State a 3-0 lead over the blue Aggies.  Continue Reading This Post >>

On this week's episode Sam and Teddy discuss the Aggie basketball team's loss in the NCAA Tournament, the Aggie football team's entrance into the Sun Belt Conference and a myriad of other items.

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

BAKERSFIELD, CA - The New Mexico State baseball team was shut out for the third time this season after falling 4-0 to CSU Bakersfield at Hardt Field, Thursday, March 28. With the loss, the Aggies fall to 14-13 overall and 1-3 in Western Athletic Conference play. The Roadrunners improve to 18-8 on the season and 3-1 in league play.

Senior starter Adam Mott pitched effectively through five innings before giving up three runs in the bottom of the sixth. CSU Bakersfield posted a triple that plated a the first run of the evening before a bunt single allowed the second run to come in. The third base runner of the inning came home on a balk. Mott finished the game working 7.1 innings, while striking out eight batters and allowing just three walks.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State Athletics Director Dr. McKinley Boston announced Thursday afternoon that Associate Athletic Director/Senior Woman Administrator Maria Roth has accepted the position of Senior Associate Athletic Director for Sports Services and the Senior Woman Administrator at the University of Memphis, joining the Tigers’ staff on May 1st.

“We are happy and excited for Maria (Roth) as she gets a chance to grow professionally in college athletics,” Boston said. “I know her long term goal is to be an athletic director, and I think this position takes her one step closer to achieving that goal. She has been an outstanding administrator at NM State and has been very effective in her role as senior woman administrator. Maria will be missed, but at the same time we are very happy for her.”  Continue Reading This Post >>

bleedCrimson.net: Your thoughts on the conference opening weekend against Texas State?
Rocky Ward: Day one, Adam didn't have very good stuff and maybe we undervalued Texas State's offense but their statistics showed a team that had only hit a couple home and was hitting about .240. We knew historically that they'd been a pretty good pitching team and so I was a little surprised I guess at how poorly Adam did but maybe after you look back at the weekend they were a little better than what we thought.

It was a game in which he didn't pitch well but we got stabilized and swung the bats well and felt good about the game. I always feel good about winning the opening conference game. I was pleased with the way we played.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State University and its athletics department announced Wednesday that an invitation has been extended and accepted to join the Sun Belt Conference as a football-only member. This move is pending NM State Board of Regents approval. NM State will begin competition in the Sun Belt in the fall of 2014.

There is no question that the Sun Belt Conference is a league on the rise in football. The conference finished with its most non-conference wins in league history in 2012 and also sent a record four teams to bowl games. The conference also finished the 2012 season with its best ever average computer ranking – finishing ahead of Conference USA and the Mountain West. The league also had two wins over top-25 ranked opponents and Louisiana-Lafayette and Arkansas State won their respective bowl games.   Continue Reading This Post >>

(This is the thirty-ninth installment of Bill Harty’s game recaps as part of The Mid Majority ninth season taking readers to mid-major college basketball games around the country. Visit midmajority.com to find out more about this group-sourced effort to spread the word about the many fine basketball programs around the country that are having success on and off the court while generally not having access to the resources brought to athletic programs by big-time college football. Bill will be recapping most Aggie home games, and the occasional road foray, for both The Mid Majority and bleedCrimson.net.)

Following a Friday of upsets in the WAC Tournament, the championship game matched the third-seeded New Mexico State Aggies (23-10, 14-4 WAC) and the fourth-seeded University of Texas at Arlington Mavericks (19-12, 11-7 WAC). The regular season games between these teams were the first of the conference season for each, a December 29 Maverick 68-47 victory in Arlington, and the final game of the regular season just a week ago, a March 9 Aggie 69-66 victory in Las Cruces. The Aggies reached the final by defeating Idaho, 65-49, and Texas State, 74-65. The Mavericks advanced with wins over Utah State, 83-78, and UTSA, 69-53.   Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - Five home runs in two games by the New Mexico State softball team lifted the Aggies past Louisiana Tech 11-3 in game one of the doubleheader and 9-7 in the nightcap. The Aggies swept the day and claim the series 2-1. NM State moves to 18-13 on the season and 2-1 in Western Athletic Conference play.

With the Lady Techsters ahead in the series with a win on Friday evening, NM State came back for a run-rule 11-3 win in the first of a doubleheader.

La Tech lit up the board first with two unearned runs off a single and sacrifice bunt in the top of the first. The Aggies got things started early as well, with a grand slam by sophomore Kelsey Dodd. The Clovis, Calif., native earned her first career grand slam and lifted NM State to an early 4-2 lead.  Continue Reading This Post >>