The Lobos just finished an offensive thrashing of the Air Force Falcons in Colorado over the weekend, but a familiar opponent down south has had even hotter bats so far in 2017.
Lobo baseball will pack its bags and go on the road once again for their next matchup, this time facing New Mexico State in El Paso at the home of the Chihuahuas, the minor league Triple-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres.
The game marks the 243rd meeting between the two teams, with the Lobos leading the all-time series 158-84.
Last season, the Lobos won three of its four games against NMSU, with the lone loss coming in El Paso on the same field they’ll be playing at Tuesday.
The Aggies are a program on the rise, posing a record of 34-23 last season after only winning 11 games in their 2015 run.
The Aggies have started out this season on the right foot, posing a 9-5 record thus far while outscoring opponents 155 - 83.
The Lobos are off to a successful start of their own, having posted a 7-3 overall record and an undefeated 3-0 record in conference after a weekend series sweep over Air Force. They’ve outscored their opponents 104 - 64 in those games.
The Lobo offense was particularly explosive against Air Force, as their bats were connecting with seemingly every pitch. All together, the Lobos scored 59 runs on 68 hits in three games last weekend.
During the series, four Lobos hit above .500 — junior Luis Gonzalez (.786), sophomore Jared Mang (.700), senior Jack Zoellner (.588) and junior Carl Stajduhar (.560).
However, NMSU poses the best-hitting in the country in the young season, hitting .366 as a team. The Lobos are ranked 13th, with the club hitting .337.
NMSU has three hitters over .400 on the season in Austin Botello (.464), Marcus Still (.426) and Joey Ortiz (.404).
For the Lobos, Gonzalez is hitting a whopping .537, while also posting a .618 on-base percentage and a .780 slugging percentage. Zoellner, too, is performing well at the plate for the Lobos, posting a .413 batting average.
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Sophomore Austin Isenhart is expected to get the start on the mound for the Lobos, while the Aggies plan to start Chris Kucko. Both pitchers have a clean slate on the year, with no wins or losses. Isenhart is posing a 4.50 ERA , while Kucko has a 5.40 ERA.
Tuesday's game is set to start at 6:30 p.m. The game will be broadcasted live on ESPN Radio 101.7 The TEAM.
Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women's basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz.
