RUSTON – The Diamond 'Dogs (30-23, 13-12 CUSA) fell to New Mexico State (23-30, 11-14 CUSA), 10-5, at the Love Shack Friday night.
 
The Aggies only had one hit before retiring the Bulldog half in order in the first inning. New Mexico State then saw five-straight batters reach on four singles and a walk after a leadoff pop out. The next batter singled through the left side before executing a hit-and-run to put runners on the corners with one out. A wild pitch scored the first run of the game for the Aggies before a walk and a single loaded the bases.
 
A base hit to center field extended the lead to 2-0 before an RBI groundout gave the Aggies a three-run lead going into the bottom of the second. New Mexico State carried over their offensive display in the third with another three-spot on a base hit off a diving shortstop's glove, a fielder's choice and a sacrifice bunt, but a strikeout looking delivered by Connor Nation out of the bullpen ended the Aggies' threat.
 
New Mexico State added two more runs in the fourth after loading the bases on a strikeout and a wild pitch, base hit and a fielding error. A fielder's choice and a throwing error in the next at-bat saw a ball overthrown to the first base and into the visitor's dugout, allowing a pair of runs to cross and give the Aggies an 8-0 lead.
 
The 'Dogs were without a hit in the game until the fourth when Sebastian Mexico led off the frame with a base hit. Michael Ballard then reached base on a fielder's choice and advancing to second on a wild pitch before moving 90 feet away from home on a groundout. A walk put runners on the corners with two outs for Tech, but a groundout back to the pitcher ended the Bulldogs' threat.
 
The Aggies extended their lead to 10-0 after a two-run homer in the sixth followed by the Bulldogs pushing across their first run of the game in the home half. Safford led off with a walk before Mexico pulled a base hit to right field to give Tech runners on the corners with no outs. A sacrifice fly from Michael Ballard brought Safford across to make it a 10-1 game. A two-out double put two runners in scoring position for the 'Dogs but their efforts were cut short on a fly out to right.
 
Ballard cut it to an eight-run deficit with his eighth homer of the year traveling over 400 feet in the eighth inning. Trey Hawsey then drew a four-pitch walk before Brody Drost entered the game as a pinch hitter and was hit by a pitch. Cade Patterson followed with a two-out four-pitch walk to load the bases, leading up to New Mexico State throwing a wild pitch to allow Hawsey to score.
 
Thaxton Berch was hit by a pitch to load the bases for the second time in the frame with Slade Netterville coming to bat as the Aggies made a pitching change. Netterville, making just his second career start, delivered a base hit on the first pitch of his at-bat up the middle for his first career knock along with his first two career RBI, cutting New Mexico State's lead to 10-5.
 
The Bulldogs looked for a ninth-inning rally with a two-out walk and hit by pitch, but a fly out ended the game and forced the rubber match for the series.
 
Ryan Harland struck out the final batter of the top half of the ninth, marking his 86th career appearance. The senior southpaw now holds sole possession of the third-most career appearances in program history.
 
Harland, along with Landon Fontenot and Noah Magee, combined to shut out the Aggies for the final three innings of the game. Fontenot tossed two full innings allowing two hits, one walk and striking out three batters. Magee went 1 2/3 innings allowing one hit with three strikeouts, and Harland struck out the only batter he faced.
 
Mexico had two hits on the night, posting his third-straight multi-hit game and his team-best 18th of the season. Ballard has now reached base safely in five straight games, while Drost and Safford both extended their reached-base streak to four games.
 
Head Coach Lane Burroughs following Friday night's game:
"With all the stuff that went on, there still was a game played tonight. [Brooks] Roberson—we'll talk about that first. He had some issues in the bullpen before the game. He didn't feel good and he couldn't get loose, but I thought his stuff was good. The velocity was good, his changeup was good. Probably not his greatest outing, I thought they did a really good job against him. Probably the best job I've seen a team do against him all year, but when you get down like that it's going to be hard to climb back into it, but I'm proud of our guys for doing so. They got back in the game, and we had the riff raff and all that going on. We lost Zeb [Ruddell], he got ejected. Obviously, Coach [Jake] Wells got ejected and their head coach, I guess, was the only one for them. I was in the middle of it, trying to pull people back and all that stuff. But look—to me there's some unwritten rules in baseball, there's certain things you don't do, and you respect your opponent. We're going to respect our opponents, but one thing we're not going to do is back down and we're not going to let people push us around. That's what I told the guys after the game. I'm proud of the way they fought back into the game and I'm proud of the way they had each other's back. We don't need to be up there throwing haymakers and all that stuff because we don't need suspensions, but we're not going to back down either. That's just who we are and I'm proud of our guys for having each other's back. I'm thinking it could have got a lot worse—I think the umpiring crew did a really good job of getting a handle on it. There wasn't as many ejections as I thought there would be, but I guess some more could come. I'm proud of our guys, they fought back into it. There's a couple things—Slade Netterville got his first career hit and drove in a couple of runs in a huge moment. I Noah Magee did a great job and Harland with the big punchout on their leadoff guy. He's a much better left-handed hitter, so that's why we went with Harland and got a big strikeout and gave us a chance. It's a tough loss but again, I'm proud of our guys for fighting back into the game and for having each other's back and holding their ground at the Love Shack tonight."

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