Aggies Prevail 6-0 on Perfect Senior Day From Start to Finish

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico (KVIA) -- With the numbers of the eight Aggie seniors painted in the outfield, NM State (27-21, 12-9 CUSA) earned its 18th home win of the season on Sunday afternoon as they defeated LA Tech 6-0 to avoid the series sweep at the NM State Softball Complex.

On Senior Day, NM State included all eight of its seniors in the starting lineup this season as Jillian Taylor, Jessica Carreon, Kayla Lunar, Jayleen Burton, Savannah Bejarano, Kristen Boyd, Xophia Venegas and Emily Dix accounted for eight of the 10 Aggies in the starting lineup.

Ultimately, this lineup proved to be up to the task as eight different Aggies recorded at least one hit to help NM State put an end to its three-game losing streak. In the circle, the Aggies only needed the efforts of Emily Dix who threw a complete-game one-hitter to record the shutout victory.

At the plate, the top of the order did the most damage for the Aggies as Jillian Taylor, Jessica Carreon, Dezianna Patmon and Riley Carley combined to record all six RBIs. This included a monster three-run home run from Taylor in the fourth inning.

HOW IT HAPPENED

After a scoreless top half of the first, NM State wasted no time beginning its attack as a double from Jessica Carreon in the Aggies’ second at-bat of the game brought home Jillian Taylor who reached via a hit-by-pitch to leadoff. Two batters later, Dezianna Patmon hit a solo home run over the wall in right-center. Riley Carley then added to the fast start with home run in the very next at-bat to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead just five batters into the game.

With the early assistance from the Aggie offense, Emily Dix imposed her will on the LA Tech batters in the circle, recording a pair of strikeouts in the second inning to hold the Bulldogs off the scoreboard through two innings. This would only be the beginning of what would eventually be a stellar day for the senior from Albuquerque.

In the fourth, Dix added to her strikeout total with two more, including the inning-ending out which marked her third strikeout looking of the day. Eventually, Dix would go on to record a career-best nine strikeouts while giving up just one hit on her way to the shutout victory.

Later in the fourth inning, the Aggies recorded their second three-run inning of the afternoon. To start, Kristen Boyd and Xophia Venegas tallied back-to-back hits to set the stage for Jillian Taylor who recorded her eighth home run of the season to push the Aggies out to a 6-0 lead. With the Bulldogs struggling to put the ball in play, this would be where the game’s scoring would come to a close.

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• Xophia Venegas recorded the first multi-hit game of her career, tallying two singles in the first and fourth innings. 
• Emily Dix tallied a career-high nine strikeouts while pitching her third shutout of the season amid her fourth complete game of the year. This also marked win No. 8 for Dix this season. Dix allowed just one hit on Sunday to equal the lowest number of total hits given up by an Aggie pitcher this season.
• Jillian Taylor notched her eighth home run of the season with the three-run shot in the fourth. This also marked her 10th multi-RBI game of the year - a number that ranks second among Aggies this season.
• Dezianna Patmon turned in her fourth straight game with a hit, thus extending her reached base streak to eight games.
• The Aggies recorded just their third Sunday win of the CUSA season. NM State is now 4-4 in its eight Sunday contests this season. 

UP NEXT

NM State will wrap up its regular-season campaign in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Aggies will clash with Middle Tennessee, who currently holds a 19-30 record, including a 5-16 mark in CUSA play. The series will begin Friday, May 3, at 5:00 PM MT. The series will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via nmstatestats.com. 

For complete coverage of NM State Softball during the 2024 season, visit NMStateSports.com – the official home of the Aggies – and follow the Aggies on Facebook (NM State Softball), Twitter (@NMStateSoftball) and Instagram (@NMStateSoftball).