LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The Aggies will be on the road for the first time this season as they make the 224-mile drive to Albuquerque where they will meet up with I-25 rival New Mexico on Tuesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Santa Ana Star Field.
The game will be available to watch via live stream on the Mountain West Network. This will mark the first of four games against the Lobos and one of two that will take place in the Duke City. Tuesday will also serve as the 263rd alltime meeting between the rival programs, including the 118th time that the game is played up north. The road bout will be the first of 27 road games this season and will be the only time the Aggies are on the road in the month of February as they are slated to return home for a series versus Oakland.
SERIES INFO
NM State (5-2, 0-0 CUSA) at New Mexico (4-4, 0-0 MW) Santa Ana Star Field Albuquerque, N.M. Tuesday, February 25 – 6 p.m. MST RIO GRANDE RIVALRY
While the Lobos have dominated the all-time series, NM State has been much more competitive in recent years. In the last 54 contests, the Aggies and Lobos are dead-even with each side winning 27 games apiece.
Tuesday has the potential to be a high-scoring affair as both teams rank inside the top 20 nationally in both batting average (NM State - 15th, UNM - 16th) and slugging percentage (NM State - 12th, UNM -18th).
FRESHMAN ARMS
The Aggies leaned on their young arms in Sunday's 8-5 win over Western Illinois as true freshmen Jaden Davis, Hazen Wright, Dylan Weekly and Cade Shumard each made an appearance out of the bullpen. For Davis and Wright, this also marked their collegiate debuts.
The four young Aggies would combine to toss 3.2 innings and allowed just two hits while tallying four strikeouts. With one shutout inning in the fifth inning, Davis would also go on to receive credit for the win.
In total, the Aggies have eight freshman pitchers and all but one have already made an appearance this season. The lone freshman pitcher that has not spent any time on the mound is two-way player Chris Daniels who earned the start at first base in Saturday's 10-8 victory over Western Illinois.
YEAR TWO
NM State is amid its second season under Head Coach Jake Angier and looks to continue to make strides after increasing its win total by 11 games and posting the highest number of wins since 2019.
In year one under Angier, the Aggies landed three on the all-conference awards list as Keith Jones II earned first team All-CUSA honors, Titus Dumitru earned second team honors and Steve Solorzano secured all-freshman team honors.
Angier was previously at the University of Oregon where he operated as the pitching coach for the 2020-2023 seasons. Before Oregon, Angier was at Sacramento State from 2014-2019. Angier was named by Baseball America as one of the 50 names to watch in the 2023 coaching cycle.
In his first season with the Aggies, Angier helped NM State finish 2-1 against rival New Mexico to mark the first time since the 2019 season that the Aggies posted a winning record against their I-25 rival.
BIG SPIKES TO FILL
NM State entered the 2025 season with nearly twothirds of its 2024 roster no longer in the picture. This year, NM State brings back just 12 players while 22 individuals have departed.
With a new-look roster comes opportunity as the Aggies will be looking to replace nearly all of its offensive and pitching production. With the departures, the Aggies lost over 70% of its runs (72.9%), hits (72.4%), home runs (86.1%), RBIs (78.2%), stolen bases (87.8%) and innings pitched (72.6%). NM State will also be with out Keith Jones II, Romeo Ballesteros and Nick Gore who were the only three Aggies last season to start more than 50 games - starting 53, 53 and 52, respectively.
ONCE AN AGGIE...
This season, Head Coach Jake Angier is supported by a pair of former Aggies on his staff as both Assistant Coach David Bellamy and Director of Pitching Analytics Aaron Treloar each spent time during their collegiate playing days at NM State.
Bellamy, a two-year letter winner at NM State, is amid second season on Angier's staff. As a player, he was a standout outfielder for both the 2017 and 2018 seasons. He batted .307 his senior year to help lead the Aggies to the Lubbock Regional before being named to the Google Cloud academic All-District First-Team and Academic All-WAC First-Team. Bellamy now serves as the Aggies' hitting coach and is tasked with calling the offensive plays.
Meanwhile, Treloar is in his first season on staff after wrapping up his playing career just last season. Treloar ultimately spent his final two years with the Aggies and appeared in 35 games while totaling 42 strikeouts, including 26 in 2024.
SCOUTING THE LOBOS
The Aggies' long-time rival will enter Tuesday's matchup with a 4-4 overall record and is coming off of a four-game home series against Northern Colorado in which they went 2-2 in.
At the plate, the Lobos are led by Cooper Brass who is batting .458 and Jordy Oriach who currently ranks 6th in the nation in total hits with 15. Akili Carris has also provided a spark for UNM has he is maintaining a .452 average and has logged a team-high 12 RBIs on 14 hits.
New Mexico is projected to start right-hander Dayne Pengelly who has appeared in two games this season. Pengelly has thrown a total of 5.0 innings and has allowed nine earned runs on 11 hits to maintain an ERA of 16.20.
The Lobos are led by Head Coach Tod Brown who is amid his fourth year at UNM and 18th year as a collegiate head coach. Prior to moving to Albuquerque, Brown spent 14 years at North Dakota State where he amassed 341 wins. Last year, Brown guided the Lobos to a 28-26 record to mark their highest win total since he took over. In his career with UNM, Brown is 7-4 against the Aggies.
UP NEXT
Following the midweek bout, the Aggies will return home for another four-game homestand against Oakland that is set to begin on Friday night. The series opener is slated to begin at 6 p.m. at Presley Askew Field.
Ahead of the weekend series, the Aggies hold an alltime record of 7-3 against the Grizzlies and most recently met in 2022.