OREM, Utah – New Mexico State pulled away late to top Utah Valley University, 16-6, on Saturday night at Brent Brown Ballpark to clinch the series for the Aggies (29-19, 13-4). The Wolverines (15-29, 8-9) will look to avoid the sweep in Sunday's noon MT finale.
UVU led 6-3 midway through the game, but NM State scored twice in the sixth to tie it, added three in the seventh to take the lead, and got a two-run home run from Dan Hetzel, and a solo shot from Tristen Carranza – his WAC-best 16th -- in the eighth. The Aggies scored 12 times over the final four innings.
Trevor Peterson went 4-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs for UVU while David Modler was 2-for-3 and scored twice. Zac Willis and Callahan Moltzan both had two runs batted in for UVU.
Hitting out of the nine hole, Joey Ortiz went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs while Mason Fishback homered for the second straight day, going 4-for-6 with four RBIs. Carranza also homered for the second straight game in the series and third straight game overall and has four home runs during that stretch while Hetzel added four RBIs and four runs scored in addition to his home run.
The game was tied 6-6 with two outs and nobody on in the top of the seventh when the Aggies had rallied for three pivotal runs. Marcus Still blooped a hustle double into shallow left and then scored the go-ahead run on a base hit by Greg Popylisen. Poplylisen stole second and scored on a base hit by Ortiz, who also stole second and then came in on a single by Brent Sakurai, giving NM State a 9-6 lead.
The Aggies scored three more times in the eighth and broke it open with four more in the ninth.
After New Mexico State scored once in the top of the first, the Wolverines answered with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Jackson Overlund doubled to left-center and came in on the next pitch, a single into center, from Willis.
Ortiz had an RBI single in the second to give New Mexico State a 2-1 lead and the Aggies pushed it to 3-1 in the third with consecutive doubles by Hetzel and Fishback.
UVU took its first lead of the series with a three-run third inning after loading the bases with nobody out. Modler and Peterson had back-to-back base hits and Trevor Howell was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Two batters later, Willis grounded into a fielder's choice to bring in a run before Moltzan had a two-out, two-run single to put the Wolverines in front, 4-3.
Peterson's home run came in the fourth, an opposite-field, two-run shot to right that followed a Modler base hit and gave the Wolverines their 6-3 lead.
New Mexico State came back though, getting a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to tie it at 6-6. An error to lead off the fifth inning aided the Aggies in scoring their fourth run. In the sixth, LJ Hatch and Austin Botello had consecutive RBI doubles to tie it. The Aggies scored 13 unanswered runs to finish the game.
