Boyd Gaming Classic
NM State | UNLV | Washington | Houston
Game 1 – NM State vs. No. 5 Washington, Friday, March 4, 10 a.m.
Game 2 – NM State at UNLV, Friday, March 4, 3 p.m.
Game 3 – NM State vs. Houston, Saturday, March 5, 10 a.m.
Game 4 – NM State at UNLV, Saturday, March 5, 3 p.m.
Game 5 – NM State vs. No. 5 Washington, Sunday, March 6, 9 a.m.
Las Vegas | Eller Media Stadium
Watch | Live Stats | NM State Game Notes
First Pitch
The Aggies will take to the road for the first time this season as they head to Las Vegas for the Boyd Gaming Classic. After opening the season against Texas State, the Aggies will get another crack at a squad that appeared in the 2022 NCAA Softball Tournament to start the Boyd Gaming Classic as they will take on top-five ranked Washington on two separate occassions over the next three days, including Friday. While in Sin City, the Aggies will also do battle with host UNLV a pair of times while seeing Houston once on Saturday.
Where to Watch
The Boyd Gaming Classic will be shown entirely on UNLV Athletics’ Youtube page. Live stats will also be available here.
Legend in the Dugout
Kathy Rodolph has had a remarkable career as the head coach of the Aggies. In her 19th year at the helm, Rodolph is the winningest coach in NM State with a 546-447 record. She’s led the team to four WAC Tournament Championships and six WAC Regular Season Championships, including last season when the team went 14-4 in conference play. She is also a five-time WAC Coach of the Year. She has helped the Aggies capture the last eight WAC player of the year awards and back-to-back WAC Freshman of the year awards. Additionally, Rodolph has helped 17 players earn NFCA All-Regional Team honors.
Aggie Rundown
After a slow start, the Aggies are now winners of two of their last three, including a blowout win over I-10 rival UTEP on Wednesday in which the Aggies scored the most runs for any NM State squad since they defeated North Dakota 19-13 on March 7, 2015. In the win over the Miners, Felicia De La Torre picked up her first win of the season as she went three innings and gave up just four hits while striking out three UTEP batters.
Offensively, the Aggies were led by Ramsay Lopez who went 2-for-2 at the plate with a pair of two-run home runs to compile four RBIs. Meanwhile, Yazzy Avila also finished the night 2-for-2 with an RBI and three stolen bases. Kayla Bowen and Maya Martinez each helped bring across three runs as Bowen hit a three-run shot in the second and Martinez tallied a pair of hits and a home run.
In total, ten different Aggies recorded a hit on the night while eight of those batters also registered at least one RBI.
Statistically Speaking
A pair of Aggie bats have been two of the hottest in the conference thus far as both Yazzy Avila and Kayla Bowen rank inside the top-four in batting average this season. Avila’s clip of .500 ranks her second in the WAC and Bowen’s average of .478 puts her at the number four spot among league hitters.
As you would expect, Avila and Bowen have also been two of the best at getting on base as Avila ranks fourth in the conference with an on-base percentage of .571 while Bowen ranks eighth with an OBP of .500.
Meanwhile, Ramsay Lopez has been one of the top power hitters as she has five home runs to her name to rank tied for fourth in the WAC. Lopez is also tops in slugging percentage as she is slugging 1.158 through eight games. Riley Carley has also been bringing the boom as her slugging percentage of .762 ranks sixth in the WAC.
As a team, the Aggies are slugging .553 which is good for best in the league while they rank second in both batting average (.337) and on-base percentage (.412).
++NM State++