NMSU baseball loses round one of CUSA Championship Tournament

(Courtesy: NMSU Athletics)

RUSTON, Louisiana - The Aggies lost 3-5 to the Dallas Baptist Patriots in the first round of the Conference USA Championship Tournament on Wednesday, May 22, in Ruston, La. Keith Jones II, Mitch Namie and Romeo Ballesteros recorded two hits apiece.

Hayden Walker earned the start for the Aggies and threw two scoreless innings. In the top of the third, Titus Dumitru opened the inning with his 15th double of the season.

Nick Gore followed the double up with a single, which put Dumitru on third.

Namie then hit an RBI single off the nub of his bat that just rolled down the third base line in fair territory.

DBU tied the game in the bottom of the third on an RBI single.

They then took the lead in the bottom of the fourth, on two RBI doubles and two RBI singles, to go up over the Aggies by four.

Kade Benavidez came into the game with one out in the fourth inning.

In the top of the sixth, the Aggies cut the deficit on a sacrifice fly, hit by Preston Godfrey which scored Namie who reached on a double.

Steve Solorzano was on second base when Ballesteros singled to right field scoring Solorzano to give the Aggies three runs.

Benavidez held the Patriots scoreless in his 3.2 innings of work, only giving up three hits and one walk with three strikeouts.

Treyjen Meza came onto the mound in the bottom of the eighth and only saw four batters as he hit one batter, struck one out, and retired the rest.

After the Aggies two runs in the sixth, they were unable to score any more runs but also held DBU to no runs scored after their four-run inning in the fourth.

With the loss the Aggies got bumped down into the losers’ bracket and will face the three seed Western Kentucky at 8 a.m. MT on Thursday, May 23.

The Aggies are 1-2 against Western Kentucky this season as the just wrapped up their three-game series last weekend.

The Aggies are now one loss away from their season ending. With the tournament being double elimination they will be able to fight their way back into a spot in the championship game as they will have to win the next three games.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• This was the Aggies fifth loss this season when they out-hit their opponent. They are now 21-5 when they out hit their opponent.
• Jones went 2-4 to notch 24 multi-hit games this season.
• Namie also went 2-4 at the plate for hist 16th multi-hit game of the season.
• Ballesteros went 2-4 with one RBI for his 12th multi-hit game of the season.
• Benavidez threw for 3.2 innings and struck out three Patriots for his new season high.
• Two of the three Aggies runs came on two outs.
• The Aggie Arms only allowed one two out hit.

UP NEXT:

The Aggies will play WKU on Thursday, May 23 at 8 a.m. MT, in the second round of the Conference USA Championship tournament. For complete coverage of NM State Baseball, visit NMStateSports.com - the official home of Aggie athletics – and follow us on Twitter (@NMStateBaseball), Instagram (@NMStateBaseball) and like us on Facebook (NMState Baseball)