Aggies hire new baseball coach

Jake Angier, most recently the pitching coach at the University of Oregon, has been named head baseball coach at New Mexico State University.

Angier will succeed Aggies interim head coach Keith Zuniga, who took over for Mike Kirby, who was terminated after NMSU was winless seven games into the 2023 season.

Though the Aggies won the Western Athletic Conference tournament in 2022 and made the NCAAs, 2023 was a different story, with NMSU finishing 14-37 on the year, and 9-21 in conference play.

Despite the losing record, NMSU landed four players on all-WAC teams.

Keith Jones II, Kevin Jimenez and Christian Perez were named second team all-conference, and catcher Nick Gore, a junior, earned a spot on the all-defensive team.

Jones, a junior, hit .453 on the year, third best in the WAC, and committed only one error in the outfield.

Jimenez, in his senior year, hit .321 with 11 doubles and 9 homers.

Perez, a freshman third baseman, hit .350 and led the Aggies with 12 home runs.

During the season, the Aggies hit .288 as a team and averaged 6.5 runs per game, but had a team pitching ERA of 7.60 and an opponents’ batting average of .333.

NMSU Athletic Director Mario Moccia said it’s too soon to know which players will be back for NMSU at this point, as well as which new players might be coming in to fill out Angier’s roster.

A native of Bellevue, Wash., Angier capped off a four-year stint at the University of Oregon with three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including a trip to the 2023 Super Regionals. Finishing with 41 wins in 2023, the Ducks posted the fourth-winningest season in program history. In addition, the Ducks also knocked off 26 ranked opponents in four seasons under Angier's watch, including seven wins over top-ten teams.

One of Baseball America's Top 50 Names to Watch in 2023's coaching cycle, Angier has a proven track record of developing pitchers and a winning culture. Through 15 seasons as a pitching coach, Angier has coached 32 MLB Draft picks, eight MLB players, five All-Americans, and three Freshman All-Americans. Angier's teams have also appeared in five of the past six NCAA Tournaments (2023, '22, '21, '19, and '17).

 "I, along with Aggie Nation, am excited to welcome Coach Jake Angier and his family to Las Cruces and New Mexico State University.  Jake stood out in the interview process and has a tremendous amount of success in his career at several stops," Moccia remarked. "I was amazed at how much baseball people across the country think about him personally and professionally.  While competing against the Aggies when he was at Sacramento State, he saw first-hand what Aggie baseball can be and has expressed his desire to lead us back to a premier program in the southwest and into Conference USA."

"My family and I couldn't be more happy and honored to become a part of the New Mexico State Baseball program," Angier stated. "I'd like to thank Mario [Moccia], and the entire search committee, as well as the New Mexico State administration for allowing me to become the next head coach of the Aggies. I'd also like to take the time to thank Mark Wasikowski for the tremendous opportunity he provided me and the incredible program that he has put together at Oregon."

Throughout his career as a pitching coach, Angier has coached at four different Division I schools (Oregon, Sacramento State, North Dakota State, and South Dakota State) and in three different conferences (Pac-12, Western Athletic, and Summit). In addition to several all-conference pitchers, he has tutored five All-Americans, three freshman All-Americans and four all-region pitchers. Just one win away from a trip to Omaha and the Men's College World Series, Angier and the 2023 Ducks earned a trip to the Super Regionals for just the second time in program history. Oregon finished the '23 season with 41 wins – The highest total since the 2014 season.

Before Angier arrived in Eugene, the Ducks finished the 2019 campaign with a 5.93 ERA, which was the highest mark since Oregon reestablished its baseball program in 2009. In both 2020 and 2021, Angier's pitchers posted sub-four ERA's at 3.85 and 3.71, respectively.

In 2021, the pitching staff ranked 18th in the nation and second in the Pac-12 in ERA (3.71), while also ranking in the top 35 nationally in shutouts (15th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (29th) and WHIP (35th). The Ducks led the Pac-12 in shutouts (6) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.82), while ranking third in WHIP (1.31).