Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Grading the Aggies chances as they open 2012 WAC Baseball Tournament competition

What are New Mexico State baseball's chances of winning the 2012 Western Athletic Conference Tournament?

As good as any other team, and the fact that they're seeded No. 1 overall makes them even better.

They get to role ace pitcher Ryan Beck up an extra day, and is there any team in the field you would give an advantage to over the Aggies? The answer is no.

As stated all year, NMSU's pitching has been much better in 2012, and their talent level in general is high.

Holding the No. 1 seed in the tournament is a bit eye opening, when considering the Aggies haven't played great baseball over the final month of the season.

But they did go into the tournament on an up-tick — after losing nine of 10 games, they took three straight from San Jose State.

Not that there aren't other contenders in the field.

No. 4 seed Hawaii swept the Aggies earlier in the year — granted, that series was in Honolulu — but looks a bit scary.

Louisiana Tech, seeded No. 6, played the Aggies tough in Las Cruces earlier this year — NMSU won consecutive games on walk-off hits — and didn't look bad.

The Aggies also lost two of three to Fresno State two weeks ago, although didn't play their best ball in that particular series.

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