The Aggie baseball team defeated the Lobos at Isotopes Park by a final score of 15-2. The late afternoon light made the ball difficult to see and the first two Aggie hitters struck out. The Aggies weren't hitting the ball hard in the early part of the game but with each at ensuing at bat, the contact the Aggie batters were getting on the ball was a little more crisp and it you could tell that it was just a matter of time until the Aggie offense would explode. The Aggies gave up one run in the bottom of the first inning but solid pitching and a couple of strong defensive plays kept the Aggies in the game over the next five innings and the Aggies trailed just 1-0 heading into the sixth inning. In the sixth inning the Aggies put six runs on the board to grab the lead. The Aggies followed that up with six runs in the seventh inning to take a 12-1 lead. The Lobos would add a meaningless run in the bottom of the seventh but the Aggies came back in the eight and Gavin Heinemann drilled a three run home run to left field to push the score to 15-2.
As we mentioned earlier, the Aggies got a strong outing from starter Oliver Webster who went five innings and gave up just one earned run on three hits. In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Lobos had men on 2nd and 3rd with no one out and Webster came up with three straight outs to get out of the jam and keep the score 1-0.
The key play of the game defensively for the Aggies was a diving catch by center fielder Joe Scaperotta in the bottom of the third to take away a basehit from the leadoff hitter Scott Gracey. The Lobos went down 1-2-3 in the inning and for a team that had committed 26 errors the previous week, the play was a welcome sight.
The Aggies will face the Lobos again Wednesday and will look to even the season series at two games apiece. The victory by the baseball team is also the first points for the Aggies in the Rio Grande Rivalry Series since the swimming and diving team's victory over the Lobos back in January.
