LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State head baseball coach Brian Green announced a competitive 2018 schedule for the Aggies on Wednesday afternoon.
The 2018 slate features 56 regular-season games with 11 contests against power-5 opponents and four squads that went on to play in last year’s NCAA Tournament.
“Really excited about this year’s team and the competition that we have put in front of us,” said NM State head coach Brian Green. “Each and every year we hope the non-conference schedule puts us in the best position to make a run at the regular season championship. We’ve played for a championship on the final day of the last two conference seasons. We are excited at continuing to build the program into a champion. By going to Arizona, Arizona State, Gonzaga, Texas Tech as well as five games on the road vs Mississippi State and Alabama, I think we’ve done that and it will be as challenging a schedule as we’ve ever built here.”
NM State baseball is coming off a 2017 season which saw the team finish with a 35-20 overall record and 19-5 mark in the Western Athletic Conference during the regular season. The team earned the No. 1 seed for the WAC Tournament and saw seven players earn postseason All-WAC honors.
In 2018 the Aggies open the year at Presley Askew Field against Towson University from Feb. 16-18. Towson last entered the friendly confines for a three-game series which saw the Aggies walk away with the sweep.
NM State then plays in the first of three games on the season against Texas Tech on Feb. 20 in Lubbock, Texas. Last season, the Red Raiders took down the Aggies in all three contests and finished the season with a record of 45-17 after advancing to the NCAA Regionals.
The squad then returns home to host Mississippi Valley State for a three-game series from Feb. 23-24. February wraps up with a midweek matchup for the Aggies against the Arizona Wildcats on Feb. 27 in Tucson, Ariz. The Wildcats have made back-to-back postseason appearances including a run to the College World Series in 2016.
NM State begins the month of March back at Presley Askew Field with a four-game series versus the Harvard Crimson, March 2-4. The team out of Cambridge, Mass. Returns junior outfielder Patrick Robinson who was named to the American Baseball Coaches’ Association/Rawlings All-Northeast Region team and was fifth in the country with a .738 slugging percentage.
The Aggies then embark on a five-game road trip over six days against a pair of Southeastern Conference opponents. This begins with two games against Mississippi State from March 6-7, a team who made an appearance in the College Baseball Super Regionals in 2017. This is followed by three contests in Tuscaloosa, Ala. against Alabama, March 9-11.
The Aggies return to the City of Crosses for a four-game weekend series against Maine, March 16-18. The final road game of March features NM State traveling back to Tucson, Ariz. to take on Arizona in a midweek contest on March 20.
Western Athletic Conference play opens for the Aggies in a weekend series at home against Seattle University, March 23-25. NM State remains at Presley Askew when they welcome Texas Tech for a contest on March 27.
A three-game series against reigning WAC Tournament Champion Sacramento State takes place at home to close out the month from March 29-31.
After a midweek clash between the Aggies and the Red Raiders on April 3 in Midland, Texas, NM State hits the west coast to take on conference foe CSU Bakersfield in a three-game series, April 6-8.
Green and company begin a three-game set spread throughout the season at home against Battle of I-25 rival New Mexico on Tuesday, April 10. The Aggies and Lobos each earned a road victory in the rivalry clash last season which was the first time NM State had done so since March 13, 2012.
Remaining at Presley Askew the Aggies get set to play host to WAC opponent Chicago State in a weekend series, April 13-15. The final home game in April features Division III opponent Sul Ross State coming in for a game on April 17.
The Aggies then embark on a seven-game road swing beginning in Greeley, Colo. with a weekend series against Northern Colorado from April 20-22. The most recent matchup between the teams saw the Bears dash the Aggies hopes of capturing the WAC title in 2016 when NM State dropped the final game of the season, 6-3.
Then NM State enters the Grand Canyon State for a matchup in Tempe, Ariz. on April 25 against Arizona State then to take on Grand Canyon for a weekend series from April 27-29. 2018 is set to be the first year GCU can compete in the WAC Tournament, just one year removed from finishing with the best regular season record in the conference at 20-4.
NM State returns to campus to host in-state rival New Mexico on Tuesday, May 1 before welcoming WAC foe Utah Valley to Las Cruces, N.M. for a three-game series from May 4-6.
The 2018 regular season closes out with a tough seven-game road stint beginning up in Albuquerque, N.M. for a midweek game on May 8. NM State then heads to the northwest to take on Gonzaga in Spokane, Wash. from May 11-13.
The road slate to conclude the regular season takes place in Edinburg, Texas against WAC opponent UT Rio Grande Valley on May 17-19.
NM State then looks to make a run in the WAC Tournament, May 22-25, at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Ariz., and earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2012.
