MESA, Ariz. -- In the postseason, every pitch matters.

Never was that sentiment more evident than Wednesday night in the NM State Aggies baseball program's 7-5 victory over Seattle University at Hohokam Stadium.

With his fourth-seeded Aggies (20-31) club down 3-2 after four-and-a-half innings, head coach Mike Kirby gathered his team for meeting.

The message: keep grinding.

The result? An epic 10-batter, five run inning that flipped the 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 Aggie lead after five.

The inning began with a hustle single from Tommy Tabak who later advanced to second on a Zerek Saenz free pass. NMSU's next batter, Kevin Jimenez ripped a two-bagger to right-center that scored Tabak from second and Sanez from first.

A walk by first baseman Ethan Mann followed by a foul out from Cal Villareal, brough up Brandon Dieter with a pair on and one out.

Dieter ultimately battled back from down 0-2 in the count, and won a seven pitch at-bat, singling home Jimenez from second. Mann scampered to third and scored one batter later on an RBI ground from designated hitter Ronnie Allen Jr.

NMSU recorded its seventh run of the game, and fifth of the inning, one batter later when Jason Bush singled home Dieter.

After allowing singular runs in the third, fourth and fifth, NMSU starter Chris Jefferson emerged for the sixth, and worked around a one-out double to fire a zero.

With his pitch count at 120 pitches and following a scoreless frame for the Aggies at the plate, Jefferson re-emerged for the seventh. The righty struck out the first batter he faced before allowing a one-out single.

The next Seattle batter Justin Mazzone singled with one out. Jefferson rebounded to coax a fly ball, but ultimately allowed a single to Julian Kodama and a two-run triple to Connor O'Brien that cut the once 7-3 lead in half.

Kirby and the Aggies summoned Ian Mejia from the 'pen who struck out Derek Gellos on three pitches to end the Seattle threat and close the book on Jefferson. In his first postseason start,

Jefferson threw 134 pitches over his 6.2 innings of work. The righty allowed five runs (four earned) and struck out nine.

After Alex Jemel threw a scoreless top of the seventh, Mejia returned for the top of the eighth, and used a pair of strikeouts and a 1-3 put out to retire the side in order.

Returning for his second full inning of work, Mejia retired the first batter of the frame on a flyout to right. Seattle used a one-out single from Mazzone to bring the tying run to the dish, but Mejia coaxed a foul out and a fly ball to right to seal the victory, The Aggies third consecutive opening round victory at the WAC Tournament.

Despite not recording a hit for the first four innings, the Aggies worked seven walks from Seattle starter Morgan White and a pair of walks from Alex Jemal.

AT THE PLATE:
• The Aggies 1-2-3 hitters (Saenz, Jimenez and Mann) combined for seven walks and five runs scored.
• Saenz and Jimenez scored twice, while Mann scored once.
• Four Aggies worked multiple walks (Saenz, Jimenez, Mann and Laux).
• Saenz raised his average to .385 for the season. The outfielder reached base four times Wednesday, raising his on-base percentage to .48
• The Aggies worked nine walks Wednesday to tie the season-best output.
• The Aggies improve to 4-2 this season when working at least eight free passes.
• NMSU batted around in the five-run fifth.

ON THE MOUND:
• Jefferson threw a career-high 136 pitches. The righty located 88 of those offerings for strikes.
• The senior recorded his sixth win of the season.
• Jefferson recorded his sixth consecutive start with at least six innings.  
• Mejia recorded three of the Aggies 12 punchouts on the night.
• The righty recorded his second save of the season

HEAD COACH MIKE KIRBY:
"Chris pitched his heart out tonight and gave us a great chance to win the game. He's our best starter so we knew coming in we were going to roll with him. We had a meeting before the bottom of the fifth and I told them that we were going on too many emotional swings. I told them that Tommy was going to break up the no-hitter and we were going to score. And that's what happened. This is what happens in tournament time. Guys get excited and out of character."
On Mejia:
"Ian has really been putting in a lot of quality work with [pitching] coach [Keith] Zuinga and has really come a long way since the start of the season. And I could not be more of proud of him."

UP NEXT:
With the victory, NMSU advances to the WAC Tournament winners bracket, where they will face off with top-seeded Grand Canyon. First pitch from Hohokam is set for 8 p.m. Mountain Time. Freshman Sammy Natera will take the ball for the Aggies. He will be opposed by Carter Young for GCU.