March 29, 2005
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State rallied from three runs down and scored five decisive runs in the bottom of the seventh to come back and defeat the New Mexico baseball team, 9-8, Tuesday night at Presley Askew Field. Down 7-4, Jason Long hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to give the Aggies the lead for good. The Lobos return to action to face Utah this weekend (April 1-3) in Salt Lake City.
After the grand slam, New Mexico State (14-12) added another run on a Brandon Lance RBI double to go up 9-7.
The Lobos (12-15) rallied for one run in the eighth as Jordan Pacheco delivered a run-scoring single through the left side to score Matt Foote. Pacheco had another outstanding game at the plate, going 4-for-5 with three RBI. He hit his sixth homer of the year, a two-run shot, in the second.
Down 9-8 entering the ninth, Aggie reliever Dustin Cameron retired the first two Lobo batters. UNM then put two runners on base with two consecutive singles by Daniel Stovall and Tim Grady, but a Chris Dabbs groundout ended the rally. Dabbs did have an overall good game at the plate, going 3-for-5.
The Lobos were in control most of the game until Long’s shot in the seventh. Garrick Haymore started the scoring early, hitting a solo shot to right field in the top of the first. The Aggies countered with one run in the bottom of the first.
UNM added three more in the second on Pacheco’s two-run homer and an RBI double by Carlos Castillo to take a 4-1 lead. Again, the Aggies bounced back with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-3.
New Mexico went up 5-3 as Dabbs smoked an RBI single to right-center in the third. NMSU cut it to 5-4 on a bases loaded walk in the fourth.The Lobos made it 7-4 as Foote had a RBI groundout in the sixth and Ian Hollick hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh.
Javier Lopez (0-1) took the loss after giving up the grand slam to Long. Travis Hearne earned the win for NMSU, while Cameron tallied the save.