LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The bats were white hot on a balmy Friday night at Presley Askew Field as the New Mexico State baseball team routed Mount St. Mary's 13-2 behind 18 hits.
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The Aggies (3-3) struck first in their bottom half of the first inning when
LJ Hatch roped a double in the left-center gap that plated a pair of runs with two outs.
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A sacrifice fly to center by
Austin Botello scored another run in the second before NM State exploded for five runs in the fourth. The Aggies batted around the order that inning with
Brent Sakurai making his second trip for the final out, but not before five Aggies crossed the dish.
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Johnathan Groff (1-1, 5.40 ERA) settled in well after giving up a run in the third and pitched back-to-back 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth frame. The Castroville, Texas, native gave up just two runs on six hits while walking two and fanned eight Mount St. Mary's batters.
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Four-straight singles in the home half of the fifth inning saw another two runs on the board for NM State before the Aggies settled for the 13-2 victory Friday night.
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Groff got the win for NM State while The Mount's Seth Schubert was on the receiving end of Friday's loss. Schubert was chased out of the game after just 3.1 innings of work while giving up eight runs, five earned. The Aggie bullpen was lights out between
Chance Hroch and
Andy Frakes, who combined to pitch 3.0 innings of play while giving up just a hit and a walk with two punch outs.
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New Mexico State now turns the ball over to
Kyle Bradish (0-0, 3.60 ERA) for the first game of the doubleheader on Saturday while
Matthew McHugh (0-1, 6.75 ERA) takes the mound for NM State in the night cap. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday followed by 30 minutes before the start of the second game.
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