Aggies being eliminated wasn't a surprise; the way they, however, was in fact one

No, I was not surprised that New Mexico State was eliminated from the 2012 WAC Baseball Tournament.

Lets be honest here — this team hasn't played well the past month of the season, and has a history of faltering in postseason play.

Was I surprised they lost their only two games they appeared in? And was I surprised in the fashion they lost — a 15-8 defeat on Thursday to Louisiana Tech and a 15-12 loss on Friday to Nevada where they had to pull together six runs in the ninth inning? Absolutely, I was surprised by those results.

I expected this team to play much better, not play rotten.

If they had lost a 3-2 battle, or a 5-3 game in extra innings, that would have been one thing.

But NMSU trailed virtually throughout their two games — they fell behind 10-0 to Fresno State by giving up 10 runs in the second inning. And while they took a 4-2 lead in the third inning against Louisiana Tech on a two-run home run from Tanner Rust, they gave up three runs in the bottom half of the inning to fall behind again.

In other words, NMSU played with scoreboard pressure throughout and didn't play particularly well from a pitching and defensive standpoint, giving up 30 runs and six errors combined in their two games of the tournament.

Now, their NCAA Tournament berth appears to be in jeopardy, and they'll likely need help at this point to get in.

Going into this week's tournament, a couple wins, maybe an advancement into the championship game, and an at-large bid would have been likely.

Yes, they have a good overall body of work — a 35-21 record, and some very quality wins over some very quality opponents, had them looking like a very good baseball team earlier this season.

But with their past month — where they lost nine of 10 games — and their performance in their two WAC Tournament games, NMSU is now on the bubble.

We'll find out on Monday where they'll land — in or out of the NCAA postseason — but there are no guarantees at this point.

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