Nevada-New Mexico State baseball preview box

BASEBALL: NEVADA (21-26, 8-12) AT NEW MEXICO STATE (19-33, 6-15)

When: Tonight 5:05, Friday 5:05, Saturday 10:05 a.m.

Where: Askew Field, Las Cruces, N.M.

Radio: ESPN Radio 630 AM, pre-game is 15 minutes prior to first pitch

Coaches: Gary Powers (Nevada); Rocky Ward (New Mexico State)

Probable starters: NEVADA - 1B Bake Krukow (.278, 1 HR, 22 RBI); 2B David Ciarlo (.214, 4 HR, 19 RBI); SS Ryan Foley (.214, 12 RBI); 3B Matt Bowman (.358, 7 HR, 34 RBI); LF Trevor O'Sullivan (.245, 3 RBI) or Matt Suleski (.226, 11 RBI); CF Durrell Williams (.252, HR, 8 RBI); RF Shawn Scobee (.358, 18 HR, 40 RBI); C Jordan Opdyke (.231, 5 HR, 12 RBI); DH Terry Walsh (.269, 6 HR, 32 RBI). NMSU - 1B Luke Hopkins (.396, 14 HR, 62 RBI); 2B Jason Long (.291, 4 HR, 36 RBI); SS Abe Aguirre (.325, 3 HR, 27 RBI); 3B Joe Godinez (.288, 2 HR, 30 RBI); LF Adam Harvey (.332, 10 HR, 51 RBI); CF Vince Rodden (.294, 20 RBI); RF Patrick Fields (.264, HR, 17 RBI); C Brandon Lance .313, 6 HR, 45 RBI); DH Derek Maytubby (.291, 4 HR, 20 RBI)

Probable pitching matchups: Tonight - Nevada's Tim Schoeninger (4-6, 4.33) vs. Beto Romo (2-1, 7.32); Friday - Nevada's Ryan Rodriguez (5-7, 4.57) vs. Justin Conner (3-4, 5.40); Saturday - Nevada's Travis Sutton (4-3, 5.46) or Steve Taylor (0-1, 4.79) vs. Brian Gausman (4-5, 5.80)

Scouting New Mexico State: The Aggies have struggled at the plate in their last four games, hitting .176 as a team with only one player over .300 ... New Mexico State lost two of three to Louisiana Tech, including a 12-8 decision on Sunday, a game in which the Aggies led 8-7 heading into the bottom of the eighth ... Lance hit .438 with two RBI in the series and Marcus Quade hit .333 with two homers and four RBI ... Jason Conner has 211 career strikeouts, good for seventh all-time. He is one whiff shy of the sixth spot ...The ever dangerous Luke Hopkins averaged .444 with a homer, double and five RBI last weekend.

Scouting Nevada: The Pack is 2-15 on the road and 1-2 in neutral site game, which is certainly nothing to brag about ... Reliever Wes Dorsett notched a win and save in the series against Sac State ... Nevada's team ERA is 5.42, not a particularly impressive stat ... Hitting a homer is key for the Pack. Nevada is 16-11 when it hits one or more homers and 5-15 when it doesn't homer ... The Pack is on a four-game win streak after knocking off UC Davis and then sweeping Sac State last weekend.

Compiled by Darrell Moody