New Mexico State University
FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State baseball head coach Rocky Ward announced Thursday, Dec. 11 that the 2009 NMSU baseball schedule is now official.
The schedule is highlighted by 38 home games and a match-up with defending National Champion Fresno State. Ward is excited to give Aggie fans the opportunity to watch some quality baseball in Las Cruces.
“We are excited about this year’s schedule because of the number of opportunities for our fans to see us play,” Ward said. We play 21 of our first 22 games at home this year and nine of our 13 weeks of the season are at home. We also get to play the defending national champion, Fresno State in a four-game series on the road.”
The Aggies will face North Dakota in the season-opening series Feb. 20-21 before playing in the annual Alumni game Sunday, Feb. 22. The Aggies continue their 12 game home stand with a four-game series against Chicago State, Feb. 27 – March 1 and then face New Mexico in the first of two games, March 3 at 6:05 p.m. NMSU then hosts Hartford March 6-8 before making its first road trip, which is against I-25 rival UNM in Albuquerque, March 10. NMSU won one of three games against the Lobos last season and will try to take two from them in 2009.
NMSU has slated three consecutive home series after traveling to Albuquerque. First up will be Northern Colorado, which the Aggies faced in 2007 going 4-2 against the Bears, which included a sweep on the road. Sul Ross State then heads to Las Cruces, March 16-17 for two games, which will be followed be a three-game home series against San Francisco, March 20-22. The Dons had a good season in 2008, finishing with a 31-26 record, making it only the sixth time since 1968 they won at least 30 games.
Then the Aggies travel to the Lone-Star State for a five-game road trip opening up conference play. NMSU takes on UT-Brownsville March 24-25 and then head to Edinburg, Texas to face-off with UT-Pan American, March 26-28. NMSU was 2-1 against UT-Pan American last year, winning 12-2 and 24-5 at Presley Askew Field.
Conference play starts with a four-game home series versus Sacramento State April 3-5. The Aggies finished fifth in 2008 and will push to improve from their 15-17 conference record last season.
After facing the Hornets, the Crimson & White take to the road for two consecutive conference road series. NMSU takes on the national defending champions Fresno State at Pete Beiden Field in Fresno, Calif. April 10-13 then heads to Reno, Nev. where the team faces the Nevada Wolf Pack, April 16-19. NMSU faced the 2008 National Champions nine times last year and won three of those games on the Bulldogs home turf and went 1-3 against Nevada.
Fans have plenty of opportunities to watch Aggie baseball from April 24-May 10 with NMSU at home for 12 straight games. Hawai’i comes to Presley Askew Field April 24-26 with a double-header scheduled on April 25. The Aggies then get a break from conference play to challenge Houston Baptist in a four-game series May 1-3. May 8-10 will be the last chance of the year Aggie fans get to see NMSU baseball in action, when San Jose State faces off with the Aggies.
The regular season concludes with a four-game road series against Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. May 14-16 before the 2009 Western Athletic Conference Tournament, which is set for May 21-24 in Honolulu, Hawai’i.
Fans can see the schedule in its entirety at www.NMStateSports.com.
