LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Arizona junior shortstop Jessie Harper hit two more home runs in the first game of Arizona's doubleheader sweep of New Mexico State. The Cats beat the Aggies 11-3 (6 inn.) and 11-1 (5 inn.) in two mercy-shortened games on Tuesday night.
 
No. 12 Arizona (17-5) will now return to Tucson and host the defending national champions and No. 1 ranked Florida State in a three-game series, Friday-Sunday.
 
Game 1: #12 Arizona 11, New Mexico State 3 (6 innings)
 
Jessie Harper homered twice more and drove in four runs, helping No. 12 Arizona defeat New Mexico State, 11-3 in six innings, in the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader.
 
Harper's two homers give her an NCAA-best 13 this season, and were numbers 49 and 50 in her Wildcat career. The junior becomes the 15th Wildcat to eclipse the 50-homer mark, but the third fastest in UA history (141 games) behind only Katiyana Mauga and Stacie Chambers (both 136 games).
 
The two home runs continue an unbelievable stretch for the shortstop, who now has seven home runs over her last six games.
 
Harper finished the game 4-for-4, with four RBI and 11 total bases, finishing a triple short of the cycle. Reyna Carranco also homered for the Cats; she finished 2-for-3 with two RBI and three runs scored.
 
In all, the Cats scattered 14 hits, seven for extra bases, in the offensive onslaught. Nine of Arizona's 11 runs and 12 of its 14 hits came with two out in the game.
 
The Wildcats scored three runs in the top of the first, needing just one infield single to do so. UA took advantage of three walks and a hit batsman in the inning to take the lead. Tamara Statman, Rylee Pierce and Hannah Martinez had RBI in the frame.
 
New Mexico State got one back in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff home run.
 
Harper hit her first home run in the second inning to put the Cats up 4-1.
 
In the third, the Cats had the bases empty and two out before plating four runs on five hits, including RBI doubles from Alyssa-Palomino Cardoza and Harper and an RBI single from Carranco.
 
Harper hit a two-run homer in the fifth and Carranco hit a solo shot in the sixth to give the Cats the mercy win.
 
Alyssa Denham (6-1) picked up the win for Arizona. She allowed three runs on five hits with two strikeouts and one walk in five innings. Hanah Bowen pitched a perfect sixth inning with one strikeout to close out the game.
 
Game 2: #12 Arizona 11, New Mexico State 1 (5 innings)
 
The Wildcats run-ruled the Aggies once again in game 2, plating 11 runs, helped by an eight-run fifth, to sweep the Aggies with an 11-1, five-inning victory in the nightcap.
 
Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza drove in six of UA's 11 runs with a three-run homer in the third and then a three-run double in the fifth to lead the Cats offensively. Reyna Carranco, Tamara Statman and Hillary Edior also plated runs in the game for the Wildcats.
 
Gina Snyder got the win in the circle for the Wildcats, pitching five inning and allowing one run on two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks. The senior improved to 2-0 this season with the complete-game gem.
 
Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza put the Cats on the board with a three-run home run in the top of the second inning to give the Cats the early lead.
 
After New Mexico State cut into the lead with a solo homer in the fourth, the Cats plated eight unearned runs in the fifth to take control of the game.
 
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