The Nevada Sagebrush

Nevada pitcher Brock Stassi. Photo by Daniel Clark/The Nevada Sagebrush

Note:  There has been a correction made to “Aggies bring big, overrated numbers”

Don’t be fooled by prodigious batting numbers and a national ranking — New Mexico State isn’t that good.

A cupcake schedule is the culprit.

Earlier this year, the Aggies beat the New Mexico State alumni team 15-3, and actually included the win and stats in the season statistics.

A few weeks after their battle with the old guys, the Aggies took two games from Sul Ross State. Where in the heck is Sul Ross State?

The Aggies record, 30-6, seems quite impressive but it’s all about the weak out-of-conference teams they’ve played.

New Mexico State, Nevada’s next opponent and the supposed best hitting team in the Western Athletic Conference, started the season 25-3. The Aggies, though, have already lost as many WAC games as they lost in the out-of-conference schedule, proving their schedule isn’t nearly as hard as the NMSU Athletics Department would like you to believe.

Aggies’ legitimate players

There is a little secret on the Aggies athletic site.

WAC stats are conveniently not independently compiled on the site. Nevada shows its WAC stats and so do most teams in the conference. The problem with this: It gives the impression Bryan Marquez is really a .398 hitter with 16 home runs.

The College Baseball Newspaper Poll bought the hype last week and placed the Aggies No. 20 in their rankings. Shame on you College Baseball Newspaper: Do your homework.

New Mexico State looked decent against National Champion Fresno State this weekend, splitting a four-game series, but they still have a horrid out-of-conference schedule.

But not all the Aggies are pretenders like their schedule. Here are three legit New Mexico State players who will give Nevada a run for its money this weekend:

The unknown star

Daniel Simon, a Lassen Community College transfer, is 7-0 this season. He is coming off a six-inning shutout performance against Fresno State on Friday and his earned run average (2.93) is fifth best in the WAC.

The speedster

Richard Stout leads the WAC with 19 stolen bases and a ridiculous .540 on-base percentage. If Nevada can keep him off the base paths, the Wolf Pack will quell the pretenders in the over hyped lineup.

The ace

Tyler Sturdevant has reverse-Aggies syndrome — his numbers this season are actually worse than his talent level.

Sturdevant, a member of the WAC All-Preseason team, is the team’s ace this season and will pitch Friday against Brock Stassi. Sturdevant is 4-2 with a 4.62 ERA in 2009. Nevada will hit Sturdevant, but his ability, as Simon’s, to contain the strong Wolf Pack offense will be the key.

Don’t fear the stats

New Mexico State head coach Rocky Ward blamed injuries for his team’s lack of success in past years last week in a report by the Las Cruces Bulletin.

Every team has injuries. Every team has its problems. But not every team can beat its alumni squad 15-3 and count it as a win in the standings.

The Aggies proved they could hang with Fresno State this weekend, but that doesn’t mean the Wolf Pack should be afraid of one of the most padded schedules in college sports this year.

Emerson Marcus can be reached at emarcus@nevadasagebrush.com.

*Correction: New Mexico State does not include the numbers of its Feb. 22 alumni game in its season totals. Games against  the University of Texas-Brownsville Mar. 24-25 in which the Aggies scored 33 runs in two games are in the season totals but are not posted in the NMStatesports.com schedule. New Mexico State was forced to schedule the games during the season because Texas Tech dropped out of its arrangement to play the Aggies, New Mexico State head baseball coach Rocky Ward said in an email. The games are counted as official. New Mexico State was forced to add UT-Brownsville to the schedule in order to make the required 56 games for a collegiate season, Ward said. NMStatesports.com still hasn’t posted the scores of the two UT-Brownsville games on the team’s schedule but it has posted the 33 runs scored in the team’s season stat box.

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