Ah, it was a beautiful day here in the desert
southwest. The temperature was in the
mid 80’s with hardly a cloud in the sky.
There was a stiff breeze, but it actually helped cool things off. However, Garth Brooks was in town to do five
concerts this weekend. Yes, five. No, I don’t know why, but they all sold
out. At Friday night’s game (10-2
Aggies), it was Garth Brooks night, and they played his music between
innings. (I was only splitting time last
night between that game, the Chihuahuas, Aggie softball, and the Astros and
Royals.) Given the influx of people for
the concerts at the Pan-Am Center, University street was blocked, and along
with it, our usual path to the ball field.
Ron had to take a circuitous route to get to the park, but we got there
without any trouble.
Today’s promotion was by ASNMSU (the student association). They handed out free pizza and souvenir cups. To students. So much for the fans and alumni. However, the team handed out baseball cards of the players, unfortunately one at a time. Today’s game card was Greg Popylisen. He’d injured himself in the Texas Tech game earlier this week, but at least he wasn’t traded, like what happens to major league players on their bobblehead giveaway days.
I was in my new crimson shirt, which I hadn’t had a chance
to wear for months, with my Aggie button.
Meanwhile, UT Rio Grande Valley was on the field wearing super bright
orange tops. I didn’t see any of their
fans wearing similar shirts. As their
workout ended, they came off the field, one at a time, and lined up in front of
the dugout. They have a better record
than the Aggies, but mostly because they had a softer pre-conference
schedule. I’m getting worried about this
Grand Canyon University team mentioned during the radio pre-game. They’re like 6-0 in conference, though not
eligible for the WAC tournament.
The crowd was small to start with. Some hot girls, who were presumably the
players’ girlfriends, were camped out next to the Aggie dugout. The ASNMSU guys sat by the UTRGV dugout, but
were pretty quiet. One of them threw out
the first pitch and got ragged on by his friends. A Vaquero player was seated in the section
next to us with a radar gun and a stopwatch.
I saw broadcaster Adam Young chatting with some fans in the stands. The son of a co-worker came by and said “Hi”
to me. He was working the camera for
Aggievision today, as part of his A/V degree.
I don’t know if likes the sports he’s broadcasting or not. If not, this would be a terrible job.
The wind was gusting hard across the field to the right. The pitchers would be trying to keep the ball
down until it died down later in the game.
The Vaqueros got a couple runners on right away in the first. The lead runner, though, got thrown out at
third, trying to advance on a wild pitch.
That pitch bounced off the ump, instead of to the backstop. Adam reported seeing Aggie catcher, Jason
Bush, smiling after the play, having gotten lucky. That probably killed that rally. In the bottom, strangely, just about the same
thing happened. Joey Ortiz would be
thrown out at third, trying to take the base on a wild pitch.
By the second, the late-arriving crowd filled in the place
(603 attendance). Maybe they got caught
by surprise by University being shutdown.
Aggie starter, Marcel Renteria, was firing in the mid 90’s. The Vaqueros loaded the bases, but Marcel
wriggled out of it. In the bottom, Dan
Hetzel walked and Tristan Carranza was hit by a pitch, but called back for
failing to try to get out of the way. He
ended up walking anyway. LJ Hatch
sacrificed the runners over and got a huge cheer from the dugout. Mason Fishback was intentionally walked (more
or less) to load the bases. With Brent
Sakurai at bat, Adam mentioned how hard it is to double up the speedy
infielder, at which point he grounded into a double play to end the
inning. Why do broadcasters insist on
tempting the baseball gods?
In the third, Aggie Athletic Director, Mario Moccia, came in
and sat in front of us briefly with three little girls in tow. The top of the third ended with Austin
Botello going to the left field wall to catch a long fly ball. Me and the UTRGV player next to us both
thought that it was going out, but the wind knocked it down. In the bottom, Botello drove in Ortiz for
the game’s first run. 1-0 Aggies.
For the fourth, I noticed the girl in front of me was
watching a softball game on her phone. I
don’t think it was the Aggie girls.
Mario attempted to do an interview with Adam in the booth, but had to leave
quickly as one of his little girls was wandering around the grandstands looking
for him. He returned for the bottom of
the inning and would take credit for the Aggies’ offense coming to life. With the bases loaded, Marcus Still sacrificed
a run in. Ortiz singled in a couple of
runs. Botello followed that with a drive
to center field. The fielder made a
great dive at it, but didn’t come up with it and another run scored. 5-0 Aggies.
In the fifth, a ball went through the net and right into the
stands. Scary. Even scarier, Renteria loaded the bases again,
but two strikeouts and a ground out ended the threat. Nails.
Carranza and Sakurai both solo homered in the bottom. An Aggie wind seemed to carry both balls over
the fence. Brent’s went about 400’. 7-0 Aggies
The main news of the sixth was Mario wandering around the
grandstands looking for his girls. In
the seventh, Marcel was touching 96 mph and triumphantly finished off his
appearance. This should have been end of
the game, or it should have ended on a run-rule when the Aggies loaded the bases
in the bottom of the seventh. Instead
the Aggies didn’t score any more runs.
Unfortunately, their relievers started giving them up. Keaton Graf was removed after coming in and
giving up two walks. Dalton Shalberg
loaded the bases and walked in a run, but finished the inning without further
damage. 7-1 Aggies.
The top of the ninth got downright hairy for a having a
six-run lead going in. Normally reliable
Matt McHugh surrendered two runs without getting an out. With three on and the tying run at the plate,
closer, Ruger Rodriguez, was brought in.
He yielded a run on a sacrifice, but got the outs and ended game. Aggies 7, Vaqueros 4 final. Frankly, those last two innings took forever
and shouldn’t have happened. I was
starting to bake in the sun too. Oh
well, a win’s a win.
Going seven innings with no runs allowed, Marcel Renteria is
the easy-to-pick star of the game. Joey
Ortiz gets the offensive nod for going 2 for 3, with 2 runs and 2 RBI’s. For UTRGV, Anthony Gomez had a pretty good
game, going 4 for 5, and Josh Witherspoon did pretty well in relief, giving up
only two runs in over four innings.
It was like a model convention in the “kiss and cry” area
next to the Aggie dugout after the game.
Lucky bastard players. Good thing
they won after nearly blowing that seven-run lead, otherwise the girls might
have deserted them. Expired
What-A-Burgers were handed out at the gate because of the win. Mixed feelings there. Ron and I had dinner at Arby’s. It was swell, especially the salted caramel
chocolate chip cookie I had afterward.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s Sunday game.
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