RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The New Mexico State baseball team fell to UC Riverside 8-2 in the first game of the series on Friday night at the Riverside Sports Complex. Junior Matthew McHugh suffered his first loss of the season, giving up six runs on 11 hits in six innings.
 
Neither team was able to get a run across until the bottom of the second, when UCR hit a single to second which scored a run from third.
 
The Highlanders scored two more runs in the home half of the third. The first run came when the runner at third scored on a single to left. The second run came when a runner from second scored on a hard hit ball up the middle. They got another run in the fourth with a single to left scoring a runner from third.
 
The Aggies finally got on the board in the fifth as Joseph Koerper led off with a single to center, and advanced to second on an E8. Koerper moved to third during the next at-bat. Mason Fishback plated Koerper on a sac fly to center.
 
UCR answered back with two more runs in the bottom half. The both runs came on a two-RBI single to left center.
 
NM State got a run back in the top of sixth as Roman Trujillo walked on four pitches to lead off the inning. L.J. Hatch singled on a hard hit through the right side. Daniel Johnson sacrifice bunted both into scoring position. Dan Hetzel grounded out to third scoring Trujillo.
 
The Highlanders would get two more runs in the seventh. The first came on a strange play that saw Chris Butcher make a wild throw to third on a sacrifice bunt that would score a run from second. The second run would score on a wild pitch.
 
The two teams are back at it tomorrow at 2 p.m. tomorrow.