The Daily Aggie

We were mistaken when we said earlier this week that only two Aggie teams were still in action. We completely forgot about the men's golf team! Shame on us. The men's golf team begins the NCAA regional qualifying tournament today in Tennessee. The Aggies will be sending five golfers to the regional including Mark Mueller who will be replacing the injured Josh Stewart. Stewart had to withdraw from the WAC Championship tournament with a wrist injury and the Aggies were forced to play the final round of the championship with only four players. Despite the handicap (no golf pun intended) the Aggies were able to hold off Boise State and win their second WAC title in three years. You can follow all the action via the Live Scoring through the GolfStat website.

The 2008 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships got under way yesterday with the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon. Isabel Chea is currently in 8th place after day one of the women's multi-event competition. The rest of the track and field events begin tomorrow. You can follow all of today's action via the WAC website.

On to today's links...

The '08 WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships get under way today in Boise, ID. The young Aggie team will be looking to build off of the momentum from their 38 top 10 finishes at the Don Kirby Memorial Invitational two weekends ago. As we mentioned earlier this week the Aggies have two regional qualifiers in Randi Grimes (hammer) and Jordan Veney (discus) and will be looking to have a few more girls put up regional qualifying marks. Also leading the way for the Aggies will be freshman Devin Brooks. Brooks is the standout hurdler from Seattle, WA and will also be relied upon to earn points for the team. You can follow all of the action with Live Results via the WAC website.

Two Aggie men's golfers finished in the Top 10 of the PGA Minority Championship. Chris Nieto and Henry Stetina both fired three round totals of 230 (14 over) to finish tied 7th.

Be sure to check out this week's interview with Aggie baseball coach Rocky Ward. Coach Ward talks about the Hawai'i series and this weekend's Louisiana Tech series.

On to today's links...

Women's basketball coach Darin Spence announced the signing of Kelsie Rozendaal to this year's recruiting class. Coach Spence says in the NMSU release that Rozendaal reminds him of Idaho's Katie Madison. Madison is a strong force inside averaging 14 points and seven rebounds per game and if Rozendaal can put up those kinds of number, Coach Spence will undoubtedly be quite happy. The Aggies, coming off the fifth best turnaround in college basketball last season, will have a very young team next season but with the leadership of Madison Spence and the rest of the returners, we expect them to have another outstanding season.

The women's outdoor track and field team will be in Boise, ID this week for the 2008 WAC championships. Coach Richburg is hoping that the Aggies will be able to have a strong performance this year and is also hoping that the Aggies can have a few more girls qualify for the NCAA regional meets. So far this season two players have qualified for regionals. Randi Grimes has qualified in the hammer throw and Jordan Veney has qualified in the discus. The championships get under way tomorrow.

This weekend the Aggie baseball team will wrap up their regular season hosting Louisiana Tech. The Aggies will be playing to wrap up a 4-seed in next week's WAC tournament. Those of you who were expecting Coach Ward's weekly interview today, we will have that for you tomorrow.

On to today's links...

There are only two sports still competing at NMSU, baseball and women's track and field. The Aggie baseball team, even though they were not in action, got a little help yesterday via a walk-off home by Nevada's Shaun Kort. The Wolf Pack defeated the Sacramento State Hornets and at least for the time being, keep the Aggies in 4th place. The Aggies have one final regular season series left to play. This weekend the Aggies will host Louisiana Tech and if they can get a sweep, they will wrap up the 4th seed and would then face 3rd place Hawai'i. Sacramento State and San Jose State, have series with Fresno State and Nevada respectively. With the Spartans and Hornets facing the top two teams in the league the Aggies may not need to win all four although three of four would be a minimum to sustain momentum heading into the WAC tournament.

In yesterday's post we talked about the improvement of the WAC in women's softball and how there was a slight chance that the league could get four teams into the NCAA tournament. That slight chance turned into reality as all four teams we talked about yesterday, Louisiana Tech, #10 Fresno State, Nevada and Hawai'i, will all participate in this year's tournament. While the Aggies missed out on this year's tournament, they faced perhaps one of the toughest schedules in the country. The Aggies played 12 of this year's NCAA tournament teams, a total of 22 games. In addition, they played two other teams who at the time they played them were ranked in the Top 25. Throw in the five rivalry games against UNM and UTEP and you see why we think next season the Aggies will have a bunch of battle tested kids coming back who will be ready to compete for league title and an NCAA appearance.

On to today's links...

The Aggie baseball team dropped a pair of games on Saturday afternoon to Hawai'i. The Aggies lost game one of the doubleheader by a score of 17-10 and lost game two by a score of 15-14. The game two loss was especially disappointing considering the Aggies had a 12-6 lead heading into the seventh inning and had just posted an eight run inning to take the lead. In game one the Aggies fell behind 9-1 after three innings but made a furious rally to pull to within two runs at 11-9 in the sixth, however they couldn't keep the Warriors off the board and Hawai'i would tack on six more runs to seal game one. The Aggies ended up with a split of the weekend series and despite the two losses today, still remain in 4th place in the conference as San Jose State lost both games of their doubleheader with Fresno State and Sacramento State split a pair with Nevada. Both San Jose State and Sacramento State finish up their series with Fresno State and Nevada tomorrow. Should both of those teams lose, it would further solidify the Aggies' hold on the 4th spot due in large part to the Aggies' series wins over both teams (3-1 over San Jose State and 4-0 over Sacramento State). The Aggies have one final series remaining against Louisiana Tech this coming weekend and can seal a 4-seed in the upcoming conference tournament with a series win. A 4-seed would likely result in a first round matchup with Hawai'i.

The WAC Softball Championship Tournament concluded on Saturday and two Aggies were named to the All-Tournament Team. Freshman third baseman Ashley Maroda and senior utility player Stephanie Hererra were the two Aggies who were honored. Shockingly the #10 Fresno State Bulldogs were shut out of the All-Tournament Team (namely their outstanding pitcher Morgan Melloh who was the WAC Pitcher and Freshman of the Year).

Coach Rodolph has mentioned many times in our weekly interviews, including in this past week's interview, that the WAC is a much improved league across the board. You don't have to look any further than this year's championship tournament for proof. La. Tech finished the regular season 7-10 overall and earned the 4-seed. The Lady Techsters brought home the title taking down all three top seeds (1-seed Nevada twice, 2-seed Fresno State and 3-seed Hawai'i) en-route to the title. The WAC will get at least two teams into the tournament and more than likely three and there's very slight possibility of four. Louisiana Tech will get the automatic bid, #10 Fresno State is a shoe-in for an at-large bid, and Nevada likely did enough in the regular season (regular season conference champions) and by virtue of reaching the conference final should receive very strong consideration for an at-large as well. The wildcard will be Hawai'i, which went to the NCAA tournament last season and finished 38-19 (10-7) this season. They played a strong non-conference schedule but may not have enough quality wins to get an at-large berth. Needless to say, Coach Rodolph's assertions that the league is much stronger this season were vaidated by the results of the regular season as well as the tournament.

The Agges should receive strong consideration next season for a preseason #1 ranking in the league. Of the the top four teams in the WAC this season, NMSU handed three of them losses (Nevada, Hawai'i and Louisiana Tech) and came close to beating Fresno State, Hawai'i and Nevada in three other games. All three of those were one run losses and two of them were in extra innings (10 against Nevada and 9 against Fresno State). The Aggies have five players returning who were freshmen this season and each of them played a ton of time for the Aggies. Also returning for the Aggies are the pitching duo of Kim Watson and Samantha Dillard. Both Watson and Dillard pitched masterfully during the conference tournament. The Aggies should content for a conference title as well as an appearance in the NCAA tournament next season.

On to today's links...

The Aggie baseball team beat Hawai'i 13-8 in game two of the four game series on Friday night. The Aggies were down 4-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Aggies put together an eight run inning highlighted by a grand slam by Joseph Scaperotta. With the victory the Aggies are now 13-13 in conference play and coupled with a loss by Sacramento State at Nevada, the Aggies have moved into 5th place. The Aggies and Warriors will play a doubleheader today starting at 1:05 p.m. Should the Aggies be able to sweep today's doubleheader, they would move into at least 4th place. We are not exactly sure how the WAC is calculating the standings, however, if the Aggies sweep today they would be 15-13 and if Sacramento State and San Jose State lose their doubleheaders today, the Aggies should be in third place based on losses. You can follow all of today's action on KSNM AM 570 in Las Cruces, streaming audio is also available via Aggie Access (subscription required) and as always Live Stats are available through the NMSU athletic website.

Congratulations to the 66 student-athletes who will be walking across the stage today for graduation.

On to today's links...

The Aggie softball team finished up their season losing 7-6 in 10 innings to #10 Fresno State in the second round of the WAC Softball Tournament. The result of the game was a microcosm of much of their season. This was the Aggies' 10th loss by one run or less, 5th extra inning loss, 16th loss by two or fewer runs and 14th loss against a Top 25 opponent. All season the Aggies put themselves in a position to win the close games but unfortunately more often than not, they came up just short. The good news for this team is that they only lose two seniors off of this year's battle tested club and all of the pressure packed close game wins and losses will not go to waste as the experiences they've had this season will carry over to next season where they will undoubtedly learn from them. The season began way back on February 8th with a one run loss to a ranked team (#2 Texas A&M) and the season ended on May 8th with a one run loss to a ranked team (#10 Fresno State). The Aggies finish the season at 26-36 overall and 8-13 in conference play. Congratulations to the Aggies on a fine season, no doubt the experience this very young team gained this season will propel them to great things next year.

Unfortunately the trend continued for an Aggie women's team being eliminated in postseason by the Fresno State women. The only team not have have been dealt a loss by Fresno State in postseason was Mike Jordan's volleyball squad which faced Fresno State in the quarterfinals and beat them 3-0. Coach Spence and the women's hoops team lost in the conference championship game, Coach Ball and the women's tennis team lost in the semifinals of the conference tournament, Coach Briliant and the women's golf team finished 2nd to Fresno State in the conference championship tournament, Coach Hanson and the equestrian team lost head-to-head in the Varsity Equestrian National Championships and now Coach Rodolph and the young Aggies softball team was eliminated in the second round of the WAC Softball Championships. And while not really a head to head battle, the women's cross country team finished 6th at the WAC Championships and the Fresno State women finished... 5th. Curses.

On a much brighter note the Aggie baseball team spotted Hawai'i a five run lead after the first inning and then rallied to score the final seven runs of the game on home runs by Joe Leghorn (an absolute rocket to right field that may have landed in the football practice field), a home run by Joe Scaperotta and a bomb to center from Franky Busani which would be the coup de grâce. As we mentioned immediately following the game last night, Tyler Sturdevant and closer Erik Nyquist both pitched themselves out of jams, Sturdevant a bases loaded, one out jam in the top of the seventh and Nyquist a runners on second and third with one out jam in the top of the ninth. Pitching and holding onto leads had been an issue early in the season but the Aggie bullpen has righted the ship and escaping those types of situations that they faced in the seventh and ninth can only bolster the pen's confidence. The Aggies improve to 12-13 in conference play and are now tied with Hawai'i in the loss column as the Warriors dropped to 16-13.

The Aggies and Warriors will face each other again tonight and you can follow all the action on the radio in Las Cruces on KSNM AM 570, streaming audio is also available via Aggie Access (subscription required) and Live Stats are available via the NMSU athletic website. The first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.

For a full preview of this week's WAC baseball action and standings implications and (gasp) predictions, check out our preview over at The College Baseball Blog.

Finally, Samantha Dillard and Kim Watson were named to the 2008 Academic All-District Softball Second Team in District VI and Aggie first baseman Chris Auten was named to the 2008 Academic All-District Baseball First Team in District VI. Congratulations all three players.

On to today's links...

The Aggie softball team defeated Utah State 3-0 and will keep playing out at the WAC Softball Championship Tournament. The Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters defeated Fresno State in the game before NMSU's which sends Fresno State into the loser's bracket and sets up a rematch between the Aggies and Bulldogs. This will be the fifth meeting between the two clubs in just six days. Win or go home. That's the situation for the Aggie women.

No doubt the Aggies will be hyped up to for the rematch and for the Bulldogs, the Aggies are probably the last team they wanted to see again. NMSU has played Fresno tight in the four previous games. The ladies lost 3-2 in extra innings last Friday night, then lost 4-0 and 4-1 in the doubleheader on Saturday. Then last night the Aggies once again took the Bulldogs to the brink coming up just short giving up the game winning single in the bottom of the 7th.

Kim Watson pitched 6.1 innings against Utah State and Fresno State's Morgan Melloh pitched 7.1 innings and threw 143 pitches. It will be interesting to see who takes the mound for each team. The first pitch should happen a little bit after 11:00 p.m. MDT.

UPDATE:
The Aggie baseball team overcame a five run 1st inning by Hawai'i and scored seven unanswered runs to clip the Warriors 7-5. Joe Leghorn hit a three run blast in the 4th inning to bring the Aggies to within two at 5-3. Joe Scaperotta tagged a two-run homer in the 5th to tie the game at 5-5 and Franky Busani belted a two run shot to center field in the eighth to give the Aggies the 7-5 lead. All three Aggie homers came with two outs. Tyler Sturdevant pitched eight solid innings blanking the Warriors from innings two through eight and Erik Nyquist struck out the final two batters to get the save. Sturdevant pitched his way out of a bases loaded jam with one out in the top of the 7th as he struck out the final two batters of the inning.

The Aggies are now 12-13 in conference play while Hawai'i drops to 16-13. The two teams will meet up again tomorrow for game two of the four game series. The first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m.

The Aggie softball team lost another heartbreaker last night to Fresno State in the first round of the WAC Softball tournament. The Aggies went up 1-0 in the first inning, Fresno State came back to tied the game in the bottom of the first inning, then took the lead in the bottom of the third 2-1 and then the Aggies scored one run in the top of the fifth to tie the game at 2. In the top of the seventh inning the Aggies had the first two batters reach base on walks and then advanced the runners to second and third on a put out but could not capitalize and score with either of the next two batters. The Bulldogs loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning and with one out scored on a fielder's choice to end the game. Once again the Aggies put themselves in a position to win the game but came up just short. This is the second walk off win for the ninth-ranked Bulldogs over NMSU in the past five days.

The Aggies have proven they can play with the top teams, they must now take the next step and prove that they can beat the top teams. Unfortunately with the loss the Aggies fall into the loser's bracket and will face 7-seed Utah State today at 6:30 p.m. MDT. NMSU swept Utah State in Logan in the regular season and the loser of this game goes home while the winner will advance to face the loser of the Louisiana Tech/Fresno State game. You can follow all the action via Live Stats through the Hawai'i athletic website (click on the Live Stats link from the WAC website).

Between the Bulldogs' miracle buzzer beater by Haley Munro on senior night in Las Cruces and then the women's basketball championship game in Las Cruces, Fresno State eliminating the women's tennis team in the WAC tennis championship semifinals, and the equestrian team losing in the national championships, and now two walk of wins by the softball team in five days, the Aggie women's teams are probably sick and tired of seeing Fresno State. Only the volleyball team has had success this season against the Fresno State women (thank goodness for the volleyball team). (Editorial note: We almost forgot about the women's golf team which finished second behind yep, you guessed it... Fresno State in the WAC championships).

The Aggie baseball team kicks off their weekend series with Hawai'i today in Las Cruces. The Aggies are the league's hottest team entering this weekend's WAC action and will be looking for some revenge against the Warriors. Coach Ward mentioned in this week's interview that his team is very much looking forward to paying the Warriors as they feel that their park in Hawai'i, Les Murakami Field, does not suit the Aggies' offense whatsoever but that the exact same is true for the Warriors when they visit Presley Askew Field. If the Aggies can win three of four it would go a long way towards securing the 4-seed in the conference tournament. The first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. and you can follow all of today's action on AggieVision (New Mexico only), streaming video is also available via Aggie Access and as always Live Stats are available via the NMSU athetic website.

Be sure to check out this week's interview with Aggie Track and Field coach Orin Richburg. The Aggies had 38 top ten performances in this past weekend's Don Kirby Invitational in Albuquerque and are now preparing for next weekend's WAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Boise, ID.

On to today's links...

The WAC Softball Tournament gets underway today in Honolulu. The Aggies will face #9 Fresno State at 8:30 p.m. MDT. The Aggies and Bulldogs will be very familiar with each other as they're just coming off of a three game series in Fresno. The Aggies played well against Fresno State in all three games, however, they were unable to get hits to score runners. The Aggies dropped a nine inning game in their first meeting, 3-2 then in the doubleheader games lost 4-0 and 4-1. If you look at the statistics from those two losses, in the first game the Bulldogs had seven hits and the Aggies had five and in the second game the Bulldogs had six hits and the Aggies had five. The Aggies were able to scratch out hits, they just weren't able to score. That will need to change in today's game. One thing to keep in mind is that the softball (as well as baseball) tournament

The WAC awards were handed out last night and the Aggies garnered two Second Team All-WAC Players in Stacy Lien and Stephanie Herrera. The Aggies will likely be facing WAC Freshman and Pitcher of the Year Morgan Melloh today. Coach Rodolph mentioned in this week's interview that having faced Melloh in all three games, she expects her hitters to be able to adjust to what they were seeing from Melloh. As we've mentioned numerous times throughout the season, the Aggies have been in pressure situations in many of their games and in lot of them, particularly against the higher quality teams, have fallen just short. Just like Coach Spence's women's basketball squad, we think that those experiences will help the ladies in the tournament. The Aggies will not be an easy out in this year's tournament and it would not surprise us at all if they made it to the championship game or won the whole thing. You can follow today's action via LiveStats through the WAC website.

The annual NCAA APR report was released and Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News reports on this year's APR report for NMSU. While we cannot speak for the other sports, it is important to note for our readers that in the case of the Aggie baseball team losing a portion of their scholarship allotment, in our very first interview with Coach Ward he detailed why they were losing that scholarship.

"We're losing it because a kid came to NMSU, did a couple things he shouldn't have done, and in the process decided he didn't want to stay and so he went back home. What am I supposed to do about that? He happened to be on scholarship, he came in, stayed for two weeks and went home. He didn't flunk out, technically he did because he enrolled in school and then disenrolled, I thought it was a bad interpretation but I couldn't do much about it."

While we certainly believe that the APR is well intentioned, if you don't look closely you might be under the impression that the six NMSU teams are being punished because of academic failures (for lack of a better term) however, there's a lot more that goes into calculating the APR and as is the example of the baseball team, it's not always strictly about what an athlete does in the classroom.

On to today's links...