The Aggie baseball team dropped game one of their four game series last night 11-5. As we mentioned in our weekly preview (part one) of the WAC baseball weekend, we feel that pitching will be the difference in the series. Last night pitching was definitely the difference. The normally solid Tyler Sturdevant didn't have his best stuff last night. He's one of the league leaders in strikeouts but registered just two last night. He also issued five walks, had a balk and hit a batter. That being said, the Aggies were in the game late after having tied it up at 4-4 heading into the bottom of the sixth inning. After getting two Nevada batters out, Sturdevant walked the nine hole hitter and then gave up a home run, he then allowed a single and then gave up a second home run. Four runs with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. The Aggies got the leadoff man aboard in the seventh but hit into a double play and then the next batter, Jeff Farnham hit a solo home run. Had it not been for the double play ball, the Aggies would certainly had a two run shot and might have had themselves a three run home run instead of a one run home run which would have dramatically altered the game. But in the words of the great Don Meredith, "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a Merry Christmas." The Aggies will return to action today at 2:00 p.m., the game time was moved up to accommodate the debut of the Reno Aces AAA team. There will be no radio coverage in Las Cruces but you can follow the action via Live Stats

The Aggie softball team looks to continue their march towards a possible postseason bid as they host WAC newcomer Boise State. This is BSU's inaugural season in WAC softball and the program is off to a pretty good start. The Broncos are 19-19 overall and 4-7 in league play with an impressive series sweep of Utah State. At 4-7 overall, Boise State is hoping to make the conference tournament in their first season which would be a big accomplishment. The Aggies are looking to win their first regular season league title and if they hope to do so, they'll need some help from Fresno State this weekend. The Aggies need to sweep the series against Boise State and then sweep the series against Utah State on Monday and Tuesday and hope for Fresno State to take two of three from Nevada. Aggie fans don't want a Fresno Sweep because the Bulldogs hold the tiebreaker over NM State and Fresno has two more series after this weekend, against Boise State and Utah State, both series that the Bulldogs will likely sweep. The Aggies must still face Hawai'i on the road and defending conference tournament champion Louisiana Tech (Senior Weekend). Nevada also has just two series remaining after this weekend, against Utah State and San Jose State, also series that will likely result in sweeps.

Also factoring into the equation is the fact that the Aggies' canceled game against Nevada cannot be made up. Prior to the season the league coaches decided that any game that started and then was canceled could not be made up. This figures to have a big impact on the final standings in the league as we near the finish line.

Today's doubleheader is set to start at 5:00 p.m. at the NM State Softball Complex.

Congratulations to Aggie softball pitcher Kim Watson and Aggie football linebacker Ross Connor. The duo was named as the 2009 Athletic Council Outstanding Scholar Athletes.

The Aggie equestrian team moved on to the second round of the Varsity Equestrian National Championships after defeating Auburn. The Aggies will now face top seeded Texas A&M. The Aggies fell earlier in the season to the Texas Aggies 15-5.

On to today's links...

Aggie Softball
Teddy Feinberg of the Las Cruces Sun-News writes that the Aggie offense is much more potent in 2009 as the team is a year older.

Aggie Baseball
The NM State athletic website recaps last night's 11-5 loss to Nevada.

The Nevada athletic website recaps last night's loss.

Aggie Football
Felix Chavez of the Las Cruces Sun-News writes that the strength of the Aggies' offense could lie in its running game.

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