Friday, March 20
Albuquerque, N.M.
7 p.m. (CT)
Abilene Christian
at
New Mexico
Photo by: Kaylee Kahn
ACU Meets New Mexico For First Time in Program History in Albuquerque
3/19/2026 5:24:00 PM | Baseball
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - Abilene Christian baseball and New Mexico will meet each other for the first time in program history with a three-game series at Lobo Baseball Field this weekend. The Wildcats look to return to the win column in their first true road series of the season.
Both teams will get started at 7 p.m. (CT) Friday before a 3 p.m. (CT) first pitch on Saturday. The weekend will wrap up at 2 p.m. (CT) Sunday. Each game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network. Brett Lanman, Aidan Coleman and Cade McGarrh make up the Wildcats' rotation.
In its last time out, ACU dropped a 9-8 extra-inning affair to Incarnate Word at Crutcher Scott Field at Bullock Brothers Ballpark on Wednesday night. The Wildcats banged out 12 hits and took an 8-5 lead through seven frames, but couldn't hang on in 11 innings.
Freshman Brady Ladusau collected three of ACU's 12 hits to match his season high. Nick Arias and Gavin Brzozowski registered two hits apiece, with Arias driving in a trio of runs. Grant Watkins blasted his 10th home run of the season in the third inning to tie Diego Cardenas for the lead in the Western Athletic Conference.
With a 10th-inning single, Zandt Payne reached base safely for the 15th consecutive game. Brady Coe shined in the second start of his career and first of the season, surrendering just one hit with three strikeouts in three innings of work.
Brzozowski has recorded six hits at a .375 clip in four games since entering the Wildcats' starting lineup on March 13 to begin the series victory versus Loyola Marymount. The Baylor transfer has knocked in a run in each of his last three games while manning left field.
Following a 3-for-4 effort on Wednesday, Ladusau has hits in five of his last six games, dating back to the beginning of the Rice series. He has five hits in ACU's past two contests, scoring three runs and driving in a couple. Ladusau is batting .326, leading ACU and tying for 10th in the WAC with a .467 on-base percentage.
Jones has developed into one of ACU's top hitters in his first season of collegiate action after redshirting at Texas Tech. He's one of four Wildcats batting above .300 at .304 and is one of four to appear in every game. Jones carries a .458 on-base percentage and has been hit by a team-high eight pitches.
ACU leads the conference with 159 runs and 34 home runs, with the latter in a tie for 21st nationally. Cardenas and Watkins lead the WAC and are tied for 15th nationally with 10 home runs apiece, with Cardenas topping the conference with 33 runs batted in and an .802 slugging percentage. His RBIs are tied for 13th-most nationally.
Watkins is in the WAC's top five for slugging percentage, OPS and runs batted in. His 25 runs scored are the most in the conference.
Lanman is in the top five for ERA (3.16), opposing batting average (.202), innings pitched (25.2) and strikeouts (28).
Both teams will get started at 7 p.m. (CT) Friday before a 3 p.m. (CT) first pitch on Saturday. The weekend will wrap up at 2 p.m. (CT) Sunday. Each game will be streamed on the Mountain West Network. Brett Lanman, Aidan Coleman and Cade McGarrh make up the Wildcats' rotation.
In its last time out, ACU dropped a 9-8 extra-inning affair to Incarnate Word at Crutcher Scott Field at Bullock Brothers Ballpark on Wednesday night. The Wildcats banged out 12 hits and took an 8-5 lead through seven frames, but couldn't hang on in 11 innings.
Freshman Brady Ladusau collected three of ACU's 12 hits to match his season high. Nick Arias and Gavin Brzozowski registered two hits apiece, with Arias driving in a trio of runs. Grant Watkins blasted his 10th home run of the season in the third inning to tie Diego Cardenas for the lead in the Western Athletic Conference.
With a 10th-inning single, Zandt Payne reached base safely for the 15th consecutive game. Brady Coe shined in the second start of his career and first of the season, surrendering just one hit with three strikeouts in three innings of work.
Brzozowski has recorded six hits at a .375 clip in four games since entering the Wildcats' starting lineup on March 13 to begin the series victory versus Loyola Marymount. The Baylor transfer has knocked in a run in each of his last three games while manning left field.
Following a 3-for-4 effort on Wednesday, Ladusau has hits in five of his last six games, dating back to the beginning of the Rice series. He has five hits in ACU's past two contests, scoring three runs and driving in a couple. Ladusau is batting .326, leading ACU and tying for 10th in the WAC with a .467 on-base percentage.
Jones has developed into one of ACU's top hitters in his first season of collegiate action after redshirting at Texas Tech. He's one of four Wildcats batting above .300 at .304 and is one of four to appear in every game. Jones carries a .458 on-base percentage and has been hit by a team-high eight pitches.
ACU leads the conference with 159 runs and 34 home runs, with the latter in a tie for 21st nationally. Cardenas and Watkins lead the WAC and are tied for 15th nationally with 10 home runs apiece, with Cardenas topping the conference with 33 runs batted in and an .802 slugging percentage. His RBIs are tied for 13th-most nationally.
Watkins is in the WAC's top five for slugging percentage, OPS and runs batted in. His 25 runs scored are the most in the conference.
Lanman is in the top five for ERA (3.16), opposing batting average (.202), innings pitched (25.2) and strikeouts (28).
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