TUCSON, Ariz. – NM State began the week with one final test on the schedule before opening WAC play on Friday. Unfortunately, that test came in the form of a doubleheader against one of the top teams in the country in No. 17 Arizona. NM State only made it five innings in both contests as the Wildcats won the first game 10-0 before knocking off the Aggies 9-1 in the second go-around.

On the day, the Aggies combined for just four hits off Wildcat pitchers with Kayla Bowen, Paige Knight, Kendal Lunar and Kristen Boyd managing the only knocks in the midweek matchup. Meanwhile, Arizona tallied 20 total hits, including five home runs.

Six different Aggies took their turn in the circle with Laurali Patane and Emily Dix serving as the only two Aggies to record six or more outs. Patane was the most effective arm on Wednesday as she threw 2.0 innings and struck out a pair of Wildcats while allowing just one run to score. 
 
GAME ONE | NM State 0, #17 Arizona 10 (5 Inn.)
 
First Inning
Kendal Lunar picked up right where she left off as she extended her hit streak to six games with a single in her first at-bat of the game. However, three other Aggie batters would be put away on strikes. Arizona then took advantage of a leadoff double and a walk as Allie Skaggs hit a two-run home run inches over the right field wall to put the Wildcats ahead 3-0 after one inning.
 
Second Inning
After another scoreless inning for the Aggie offense, the Wildcats extended their lead with a two-run home run off the bat of Paige Dimler – sparking a pitching change from Head Coach Kathy Rodolph.
 
Fourth Inning
After homering in the second off Jordin King, Dimler hit her second of the game when she took a pitch from Patane and put it over the left field wall to put the Wildcats ahead 6-0 and force another pitching change.
 
Fifth Inning
Felicia De La Torre got her chance to try to shut down the powerful offense, however, the Wildcats brought across another run in the fifth – allowing De La Torre to pitch just 0.2 innings before Ana Rodriguez came in to relieve her.
 
With two runners on base, Devyn Netz ended the game with one swing as she hit a three-run home run off Rodriguez to give the Wildcats their fifth win in their last six games.
 
 
GAME TWO | NM State 1, #17 Arizona 9 (5 inn.)
 
First Inning
As they did in the first game, the Aggies put their first base runner aboard in the first inning as Kayla Bowen recorded a two-out single, however, Bowen's hit would not amount to any runs.
 
Arizona struck first after a double from Allie Skaggs brought home the Wildcats' leadoff hitter who reached via a single.
 
Second Inning
The second inning of the second game proved to be the Aggies' most successful inning of the day at the plate. Both Hannah Lindsay and Paige Knight reached base to start the inning before Jayleen Burton eventually reached base on a throwing error by the Wildcat pitcher. The throwing error also allowed pinch runner Savannah Bejerano to come home and score the Aggies' lone run of the evening – evening the score at one. Arizona would quickly break the tie as they used three hits to bring across five runs while pushing the score to 6-1 in favor of the home side.
 
Fifth Inning
Arizona would eventually close the game out in the fifth inning as Izzy Pacho hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth to push the Wildcat's lead to eight runs.
 
UP NEXT
NM State's non-conference portion of its schedule will now be put on hold for two weeks as it engages in a pair of three-game series against Utah Valley and Utah Tech across the next two weekends.