New Mexico Softball – Hosting New Mexico State “Rio Grande Rivalry”
Tuesday, March 24: New Mexico vs. New Mexico State, 4:30 p.m. MT (Live Stats) (Live Stream)
Promotions: $2 Tuesday – All tickets are just $2. Also wear red in support of the Lobos and healthy hearts for heart disease awareness.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico softball team will take a break from Mountain West play to play host to the annual Rio Grande Rivalry as New Mexico State comes to Lobo Softball Field Tuesday, March 24.
This will be the 139th meeting between the Lobos and the Aggies. New Mexico leads the all-time series record 82-56 after splitting with New Mexico State last season. The Lobos claimed a tight 4-3 win over the Aggies in Las Cruces but fell at home 14-2 in five innings.
NMSU is off to 23-11 start to the season. The Aggies have not started WAC play yet. The game with the Lobos will be the last game before they play Utah Valley over the weekend.
The Aggies have played four top-25 teams this season but have only come out on top in one of those games, beating No. 18 Nebraska 16-11. They did fall to then No. 19 Arizona, No. 19 Arizona State and No. 15 Minnesota
NMSU comes to the Lobos team batting average of .352. They have hit 53 home runs thus far in the season which is 13th in the nation at 1.56 home runs per game. Junior Fiana Finau is 25th in the nation with 10 home runs.
The Aggies top pitcher is 21st in the nation with four shutouts. She is 12-3 on the season with a 3.01 earned run average. She has struck out 79 batters and walked 55 in 88.1 innings of work. She has allowed 43 runs off 84 hits while holding her opponents to a .249 batting average.
The Lobos started conference action last week as they claimed two of three victories at Utah State to improve to 18-13 on the season and 2-1 in the Mountain West.
After only registering one hit in the 4-0 loss on Friday, the Lobos bounced back to pound out 23 hits to claim the next two games. The Lobos captured a tight 8-7 win on Saturday and put together a dominating 12-2 six-inning victory on Sunday. The Lobos used six home runs on Sunday to claim the victory which included four, two from Mariah Rimmer, of those coming in the sixth inning.
For the season, the Lobos are hitting .301 with Rimmer leading the way at .416. The Lobos have pounded out 254 hits this season which is ranked third in the MW. They lead the conference in home runs with 24.
In the circle, the Lobos have a team earned run average of 3.82. Krissy Fortner has the lowest ERA of the group at 2.87 which is the fourth-best in conference. Fortner leads the conference in opposing batting average at .224. She is also second in runs allowed with 29.
HOME RUN EXTRAVAGANZA
In the series finale against Utah State, the Lobos pounded out six home runs which included four in the sixth inning. Those four home runs tie for eighth in NCAA history for home runs in an inning.
The Lobos also matched another mark in NCAA softball history as the three consecutive home runs from Mariah Rimmer, Karissa Haleman and Mia Hignojos tied for fifth for consecutive home runs in an inning.
Rimmer blasted out two in the sixth. Research is on-going as this could tie an NCAA record as well. Haleman and Hignojos’ homeruns were their first of the season while Michala Erickson keeps on blasting them out.
Both Erickson’s home runs came in the first inning of the second and third games. She put out a solo shot in the first inning on Saturday and a two-run bomb in Sunday’s first inning.
GETTING THE WINS IN THE CIRCLE
Krissy Fortner and Lauren Soles each earned a win over the weekend. Fortner was the second pitcher in Saturday’s 8-7 tight victory over Utah State while Soles claimed her sixth win of the season in Sunday’s 12-2 victory. Fortner allowed three runs off four hits while walking one in 2.2 innings of work. Soles allowed two runs off just four hits while walking four and striking out one in a full complete six innings.