LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State baseball team took on Western Athletic Conference opponent Chicago State in a series finale on Sunday at Presley Askew Field. After posting three multi-run innings, the Aggies cruised to a 12-4 victory in game three and completed the series sweep of the Cougars. This is the second straight sweep of a conference opponent for the Crimson & White.
 
Following the strong weekend of play, head coach Brian Green said, "A sweep is really hard to do in baseball and we now have six in a row in conference play. I am really proud of these guys and their effort to get us where we are right now."
 
Alex Pinedo took the mound for NM State (23-13, 9-3 WAC) to face off against Chicago State's 5-27, 0-12 WAC) Zach Thomas in the finale. The NM State bats struck first in the bottom half of the opening inning when a Logan Ehnes single to center scored a man from third to give the Aggies an early 1-0 lead.
 
In the third inning, Chicago State was able to start producing offensively to erase the NM State lead. With the bases loaded, the Cougars saw a single through the left side plate a pair and the Aggies trailed 2-1.
 
This deficit was short-lived when the bottom of the third saw NM State regain the lead. With two runners on and no outs, Trey Stine crushed a three-run blast over the left field wall to put the Aggies up 4-2. Then Logan Ehnes laced a double to the same part of the field and Tristen Carranza followed up with an RBI double to expand the Aggies lead to 5-2.
 
Chicago State tried to chip away at the three-run hole beginning with a run brought home on an error in the top of the fourth. Then in the fifth, the Cougars led off with a triple to center and an infield ground out brought in the runner to put the NM State lead at just one, 5-4.
 
The small lead was expanded upon in the sixth, which was the highest scoring frame for the Crimson & White. With one out, Tristen Carranza knocked a single to center field that loaded the bases. The next batter, Mason Fishback, was then plunked for the second time in the game to bring home the first run of the inning.
 
Nick Gonzales then stepped to the plate with the bases still juiced and sent a sacrifice fly to center to plate one more Aggie and put the lead at 7-4. The scoring was not done there and with the bases loaded once again, the Cougars went to the bullpen. The new pitcher proceeded to throw back-to-back wild pitches that brought in two more runs. Logan Bottrell then added an RBI double for a 10-4 Aggie lead after six innings.
 
Each side kept the bats quiet in the seventh before NM State added a couple insurance runs in the eighth. The Aggies had one man on and two outs when Bruno Teramoto roped a double to left to score one run. Two batters later, Marcus Still laced a single through the left side that brought in another runner for a 12-4 lead.
 
Matt Perea then came out in the ninth and made quick work of the Cougars to close the game with a one-two-three final frame to secure the 12-4 victory and series sweep. Pinedo (4-1) earned the win after 5.0 innings of work and the Aggie bats combined for 13 base knocks, including five extra-base hits.
 
New Mexico State is riding a seven-game winning streak that features back-to-back conference sweeps. The team now turns its attention to Sul Ross State for a midweek contest on Tuesday, April 17, at 3 p.m. MT on Presley Askew Field.