LAS CRUCES – The job that New Mexico State head coach Brian Green has done to revitalize the baseball program is a story that just keeps on getting better and better.
After going 11-38-1 in his first season back at his alma mater, Green increased the win total by 23 games in year two, then by one in year three and then last year, the steady improvement culminated with a 40-win season and a Western Athletic Conference tournament championship.
So what is being done as an encore this season?
This year’s version of the Aggies are off to an 19-6 start entering this weekend's series at Chicago State, statistically owning the best offense in the country.
NM State currently ranks in the top-20 nationally in 13 categories, including nine NCAA-leading statistics (batting average, .389; hits, 325; home runs, 48; runs, 295; scoring per game, 12.8; slugging percentage, .665; on-base percentage, .498; hit by pitches, 57).
“We are just really committed to two-strike hitting and if you can do that offensively, then you have a lot more confidence earlier in the count to not chase or get outside of yourself and that was a commitment we wanted to make as a program and that has been one of the keys for us,” Green said after the team’s 13-5 win over New Mexico this week, marking the fifth time in a row the Aggies have knocked off the Lobos on the diamond. “We’ve got a veteran group of guys – guys that have a ton of experience and have been there before so for us, that experience is really showing right now with players like (Logan) Bottrell, (Joey) Ortiz, (Tristan) Carranza, Gonzo (Nick Gonzales).
Gonzales kicked off the season on an historic tear, batting .590 with 10 home runs and 37 RBIs through the team’s first 13 games, leading the country in all three national Triple Crown categories through the month of February before earning the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association’s National Player of the Month award.
It was the first time in program history an Aggie had earned that accolade.
The buck starts with Gonzales but it certainly does not end with him when it comes to the team’s offensive production.
The Aggies have eight players that have started at least 15 games this season that are batting above .380 on the season and six different guys that have at least 20 RBIs despite the team having only played 24 games this season.
It was first baseman Tristan Peterson that most-recently led the Aggies to the win over UNM, going 3-for-4 from the plate with seven RBIs including a grand slam in the first inning, and he thinks the patience at the plate from guys one through nine in the lineup has been a major reason behind the gaudy numbers being put up by the team right now.