PROVO, Utah – Eight runs allowed in the fifth and six innings stung BYU baseball in an 8-6 loss to New Mexico State Tuesday at Miller Park.

"I felt like we were on our heels and came out complacent," BYU head coach Mike Littlewood said. "The feeling in the dugout was that we were just going to show up and win the game. New Mexico State is too good of a team for us to do that. The guys know where they need to go and what they need to do for that to happen."

The Cougars (7-8) had 10 hits but stranded 10 runners and surrendered five earned runs from the bullpen to drop back below .500 on the season. BYU took the initial lead against the Aggies and held it through four innings.

Kyle Dean took two bases on a wild pitch to score BYU’s first run in the bottom of the second inning. A low offering to batter Nate Favero took a sharp bounce toward the Cougar dugout to allow Dean to take third base, round it and sprint home before Aggie catcher Mason Fishback could corral the ball and send it home.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Favero roped a single to right field to score Keaton Kringlen from second base and give the Cougars a 2-0 lead.

Mason Marshall (loss, 0-2)  replaced starting pitcher Keaton Cenatiempo in the fifth inning. Cenatiempo went four innings, giving up four hits and no runs.

Marshall got into trouble in the top of the fifth inning and walked Brent Sakurai with the bases loaded for the first New Mexico State run. The Aggies took a 3-2 lead a couple pitches later, as Tristen Carranza sent a single up the middle to bring two runners home.

Rhett Parkinson began the sixth inning on the mound for BYU and allowed three hits and beaned a batter before being relieved by Connor Williams. Williams gave up consecutive triples before getting the third out. All said, New Mexico State plated five runners for a 8-2 lead.

The Cougars chipped away with four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, capped by David Clawson's two-run double. No runs in the last two innings gave the Aggies the 8-6 win.

BYU stays at Miller Park for a three-game series against Connecticut with the opener on Thursday at 6 p.m. MDT.

A second consecutive four-game home stand is on tap this week for BYU baseball (7-7), beginning with Tuesday’s single game against New Mexico State (10-8).

“We have another tough week ahead of us with New Mexico State and UConn coming to Miller Park,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said.  “Both programs are very well coached and have great baseball tradition.”

Following the NMSU game, the Cougars host a three-game series starting Thursday against UConn (8-5 prior to Tuesday night at Santa Clara). The Cougars have a second chance to go above the .500 mark in winning percentage since the opening weekend of the season.

Senior Keaton Cenatiempo (0-0, 9.00) will get his first start of the season against the NMSU Aggies who won the last of a three-game series over the weekend at Utah.

The Cougars have settled in on a rotation for the second week in a row with Maverik Buffo (1-3, 5.06), Brady Corless (2-0, 3.33) and Hayden Rogers (1-0, 1.89) scheduled to start the UConn series.

Sophomore rightfielder Brock Hale continues to lead the team with a .436 batting average and a 15-game hitting streak.  Senior Brennon Anderson raised his batting average from .282 to .404 following BYU taking three of four games from UC Santa Barbara.

Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday’s games will be televised live by BYUtv, while ESPN 960 AM Radio has added broadcasting Friday’s 6 p.m. game to its schedule.  Game times are 6 p.m. MDT for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, while Saturday’s tilt begins at 1 p.m.

Thursday at Miller Park is one of four head-to-head contests at Miller Park’s unique back-to-back fields this year when both BYU baseball and softball play at the same time. Softball hosts Wagner in a doubleheader starting at 4 p.m.

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