Damone Hale’s walk-off homer powers NMSU baseball past Sam Houston
LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The NM State Aggies won in dramatic fashion over the Sam Houston Bearkats 7-6 on March 17 at Presley Askew Field. With just one out remaining in regulation Damone Hale blasted a solo-home run to walk the game off.
Hayden Walker took the bump to begin Sunday’s contest, striking out his first batter of the game. The Corrales native would need just 11 pitches to get out of the first inning unscathed.
Keith Jones II got the Aggie bats going early, knocking a second pitch single up the middle, advancing to second on an error. Moving to third on a ground out, a wild pitch by Bearkats starting pitcher Garrett Coldiron brought Jones across home plate. Titus Dumitru threatened with a double, but the inning would end with a 1-0 NM State lead.
Sam Houston tallied their first hit of the ballgame in the second, but another shutout inning from Walker stifled the Bearkats attacks. Walker recorded his second strikeout of the afternoon to tally the third out and send the bats out.
Following a pair of quick outs Nick Gore stepped up to the plate, launching a solo shot to centerfield to double the Crimson & White lead, 2-0.
A lull through the middle innings of the game provided zero runs, as Hayden Walker pitched a gem; going five innings, allowing zero runs on five hits with a quartet of strikeouts. Saul Soto came in to relieve Walker to begin the sixth, notching a strikeout to record the final out of the inning.
In the seventh Sam Houston tied the game at two after a pair of hits. In the bottom of the inning, Sheehan O’Connor and Romeo Ballesteros got on the base paths with a pair of singles, setting up Jones for a three-run blast to right center field. This became Jones’ fifth home run of the season and put NM State on top 5-2.
Saul Soto’s day ended in the top of the eighth inning, as Hayden Lewis was the next Aggie arm on the mound. Soto’s day would finish with two innings of work, allowing two runs on three hits with one strikeout.
In the Eighth, the Bearkats took the lead as they scored two runs on a double steal. Lewis would overthrow Sheehan O’Connor to allow both runners that were stealing score. The Bearkats managed to keep the scoring going as they would notch two more runs in the ninth on a double play ball with runners on first and third, scoring the runner on third and a solo home run by Hunter Autrey.
With just three outs remaining the Aggies had one more chance at the plate to win the ballgame. The game got intense as Logan Gallina would come into the game as a pinch hitter and blasted a triple to centerfield. He would then be pinch run for by Jadon Arakaki, with Arakaki on third he would manage to score due to a wild pitch.
With one out remaining in the game Damone Hale would step up to the plate and launch a home run on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to give the Aggies their first Conference USA win.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
Titus Dumitru tallied his team leading ninth double of the season as part of a 1-for-4 afternoon.
Jones would earn his second three RBI game of the year.
Lewis earned his first win on the mound this season.
Jones would also earn his ninth multi hit game of the season with two hits.
O’Connor earned his fourth multi hit game of the season.
Gallina would earn his first hit of the season on a triple in the ninth.
UP NEXT:
The NM State Aggies will head north to Albuquerque to face off against UNM on Tuesday, March 19. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. MT.
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