ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobos are staying in the Land of Enchantment this week, traveling to Las Cruces to face New Mexico State on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before the Mountain West schedule begins Friday against Grand Canyon.
Tuesday’s game against the Aggies will be on ESPN+ with live stats available, and will be the first of a home-and-home with the Lobos and Aggies playing in Albuquerque on March 17 at 5 p.m.
The Lobos are 88-75 all-time against the Aggies, but have lost the last four meetings.
UNM enters the game 12-12 on the season and has won its last two behind a run-rule of South Alabama and a season-high 16 runs, and a 4-3 extra-innings win over Samford to close the Jaguar Classic.
On the week, the Lobos outscored their opponents 25-19 and had three games with three home runs, with Miracle McKenzie accounting for four, Allie Williams two and Gabrielle Briones, Caitlin Benningfield and Estrella Rowe one each.
In the circle, Caitlin Benningfield and McKenna Guest combined for 31 strikeouts to five walks with each producing season highs. Guest threw a complete game at UTEP to start the week, striking out a season-high eight, while Benningfield struck out a season-best 13 in the win against Samford, the most by a freshman Lobo pitcher since 2013. Benningfield retired 11 consecutive Bulldog batters between the second and fifth innings with eight strikeouts in that span, and also allowed one hit in the win at South Alabama, which came in the fourth inning.
On the season, the Lobos are hitting .260 behind McKenzie at .361 with Williams leading in hits at 24 and RBI at 21. In addition to batting average, McKenzie leads the team in home runs (eight), doubles (six), slugging percentage (.852) and on-base percentage (.473) and is tied with Jessica DeLeon for the team lead in walks with 11.
Williams has reached base in the last 15 games, while McKenzie has reached in the last six games and Rowe in the last three.
UNM is 14-15 in stolen base attempts this season, led by eight stolen bases from Briana Williams and two each for DeNae Vasquez-Dickson and Hayden Luderer. The Lobos stole a season-high three in the game at South Alabama with Vasquez-Dickson responsible for two.
McKenzie’s eight home runs are ranked 46h in the NCAA and is tied for the lead in the Mountain West with her home runs per game (.33) 71st in the NCAA and leads the conference. Further, her slugging percentage is 76th in the country and also leads the MW.
The Lobos have four players with over 20 hits to date with McKenzie and Briones each with 22 and Briana Williams with 20.
UNM’s pitching staff enters the game with a 3.41 ERA, ranked 68th in the NCAA, and 32nd in the NCAA and second in the Mountain West in strikeout-to-walk-ratio (2.39) with 122 strikeouts to 51 walks. Benningfield leads the staff with 59 strikeouts to 12 walks with Guest striking out 36 to 19 walks. The Lobos are also 80th in the NCAA and second in the MW in team strikeouts per seven innings with 5.41.
Benningfield’s 59 strikeouts leads the MW and are 50th in the NCAA and the freshman is also 35th in strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.92), second in the conference. Further, she is 62nd in walks allowed per seven innings (1.43).
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
New Mexico State enters the game 12-13 on the season and is coming off of a series sweep of Louisiana Tech at home to start CUSA play. The Aggies are 8-7 at home and are led at the plate by Faith Aragon’s 35 hits, .851 slugging percentage, .494 on-base percentage and .473 batting average. Aragon is also tied for the team lead with eight doubles.
On the season, the Aggies have 232 hits and have scored 163 runs but have been outscored by their opponents 187-163.
Aragon also leads the Aggies in the circle with 10 starts and seven complete games, accounting for seven of the eight complete games NMSU has on the season, and has made an appearance in 17 games. She’s thrown 74.0 of the 159.0 innings with the closest pitcher throwing 28.0 innings (Jaileen Mancha), and has struck out 97 to 29 walks.
As a staff, the Aggies have a 6.16 ERA with 136 strikeouts to 72 walks and opponents are hitting .303 against them.
Following Tuesday’s game, the Lobos open Mountain West play against Grand Canyon on Friday, the start of a three-game series.