9th-inning rally falls short for Aggie baseball

ENMU’s Burke ties career homer record in her team’s doubleheader sweep

LAS CRUCES — New Mexico State’s three-run ninth-inning rally wasn’t enough to beat Seattle, which held on for a 5-4 Western Athletic Conference baseball victory Saturday afternoon at Presley Askew Field.

Justin Dehn (2-2) allowed three runs on eight hits in 2⅔ innings for the Aggies 14-10, 1-1), who trailed 5-1 heading into the nignth inning. The Aggies touched up Seattle (13-8, 1-1) reliever Zach Wolf for three runs on four hits in the ninth. But Wolf retired the final two Aggie batters and stranded the tying and winning runs.

The rubber game of the three-game set is today at 12:05 p.m. (AggieVision).

■ In Canyon, Texas, Eastern New Mexico (14-9, 0-3 Lone Star) lost a doubleheader to Division II’s No. 16 West Texas A&M (21-7, 3-0), 13-1 and 4-3.

TENNIS: In Tucson, New Mexico State’s men (9-6) fell 5-2 to host Arizona (15-8). The Aggie victories were by Sergi Espias at No. 3 singles and freshman Louis Menard at No. 6. The Aggies return to play Thursday against UT Rio Grande Valley in Kansas City, Mo., at the Western Athletic Conference championships.

■ In Edinburg, Texas, Las Cruces native Lindsay Harias won at No. 2 singles and also teamed with Rebecca Keizerward to win a doubles match as the Aggies (6-10, 1-0) won 4-3 over Chicago State (4-15, 0-2) in the WAC opener for both teams. NMSU faces Grand Canyon in Edinburg today.

SOFTBALL: With her record-tying 33rd career homer, Erikka Burke lifted Eastern New Mexico (15-19; 8-10 Lone Star) to a 3-2 win over UT Permian Basin (12-24, 1-14) in game one of a doubleheader in Odessa, Texas. The senior first baseman also pounded out a career-best four hits as the Hounds also won the nightcap 5-0.

■ In Stephenville, Texas, Western New Mexico (2-29, 0-15 Lone Star) fell 2-0 and 6-1 to No. 25 Tarleton State.

GOLF: In Tucson, the New Mexico State women are tied for eighth out of 15 teams with a 27-over 603 at the MountainView Intercollegiate.

An impressive 3-under 69 in the second round from Pun Chanachai lifted her to 1-under 143, tying her for medalist honors heading into today’s final round.

TRACK AND FIELD: In El Paso, Katara Nelson set a New Mexico State record for a second straight week in winning the 200 meters in 23.26 seconds at the UTEP Springtime meet. Taniya Mitchell placed first in the women’s hammer throw when she posted a mark of 171 feet, 7 inches.