The Basics
Game Five
Score: Oakland 2, NM State 6
Records: Oakland (2-3); NM State (4-1)
Location: Las Cruces, N.M. (Presley Askew Field)
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – For the second straight weekend, the NM State baseball team has won their three-game series. With a 6-2 win on Saturday at Presley Askew Field, the Aggies will go for the sweep during a Sunday matinee at home.
Wasting no time on Saturday afternoon, the Aggies hung a three spot on the Golden Grizzlies in the bottom of the first inning. After Gunner Antillon was hit by a pitch and Kevin Jiminez doubled to right field, Preston Godfrey plated a run with a sacrifice fly to center. Just moments later, Nolan Funke homered in his second consecutive plate appearance to put NM State up by three.
The Sammy Natera show picked up right where it left off. After picking up a pair of National Player of the Week awards, Natera fanned six batters for his first six outs of the ballgame.
NM State extended their lead to four in the bottom of the third with some little league magic on Las Cruces Youth Baseball Association weekend. After what appeared to be a routine ground ball to third base, Gunner Antillon reached on a throwing error. As the ball rolled well into right field, Antillon found his way to third base – Just 90 feet from scoring. With nobody covering home plate, the Aggie third baseman scampered in to score on the little league home run.
Despite a Superman-esque effort from Jimenez, Oakland picked up a run in the top of the fourth inning on a single to right-center. The Aggie second baseman was extended completely horizontally above the playing surface but the hard-hit smash went just off the tip of his glove.
Brandon Dieter got the run back for the Aggies with a single to left field to score Logan Gallina from second. With the run, NM State pushed their lead back to four.
Cam Blazek was nearly lights out for the Aggies in relief of Natera. The Fargo, North Dakota native worked 3.0 innings allowing just one run on two hits. The lone run against Blazek came in the seventh inning when a single to right field moved the Golden Grizzlies runner to third but a slight bobble in right field allowed the run to score.
Just as he did last Saturday against UIC, Logan Gallina used the long ball to bring a run around for the Aggies. On a 1-0 count, Gallina launched a no-doubt home run, his second of the year, over the trees in right field and gave NM State a 6-2 lead.
Alex Bustamonte worked the ninth inning for the Aggies, taking over for Pablo Cortes. Despite issuing a pair of free passes, Bustamonte worked out of the jam and induced a ground ball to Dieter at shortstop to end the ballgame.
Quick Hits
- Cam Blazek picked up his first win of the season out of the bullpen. Through two appearances and 6.0 innings of work, Blazek has a WHIP of 0.83.
- Logan Gallina and Nolan Funke both homered for the second time this season in Saturday's win.
- With eight more strikeouts on Saturday, Sammy Natera now sits at 22 strikeouts on the season.
- Brandon Dieter and Gallina both sit at five RBI for the season – The first two Aggies to plate at least five runs.
- With the win, NM State won their second consecutive series. The last time NM State won consecutive series was when the Aggies took seven of eight contests against Dixie State and Northern Colorado last season.
- If the Aggies win Sunday, it will mark their first sweep of an opponent since the Northern Colorado series last season – March 19-21.
On-Deck
NM State will look to do some spring cleaning as they go for the sweep of Oakland on Sunday afternoon. With Ian Mejia on the hill at 1 p.m., fans can enjoy the action from anywhere across the globe. All the action will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network, while Adam Young will have the call on 91.5 FM KRUX.
For complete coverage of NM State baseball throughout the Aggies 2022 campaign visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics - and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Baseball), Twitter (@NMStateBaseball), and Instagram (@NMStateBaseball).
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