Game 1
Here we are playing Mississippi
Valley State again. Couldn’t we get Mississippi Valley? At least we’re not playing Southwest Mississippi Valley Tech or Mississippi Valley State-Biloxi. After yesterday’s rout (2-23-18), I admire them
for showing up. Weather-wise, seldom has
there been a more miserable beautiful day here in the Mesilla Valley. It was a sunny, cloudless blue sky with a
slight breeze blowing. Unfortunately, the
cold ambient temperature combined with that wind made for freezing conditions,
regardless of what the thermometer said (50-something degrees). Worse, the sun was burningly intense, not
that that was a big deal, since I was bundled up, but I still had to wear sun
block.
Ron acknowledged the cold, but was more enthusiastic about
going to today’s double header than I was.
Worse, he likes to show up really early to watch the team take infield. There was only one RV in the parking
lot. Ron noted that their new parking
area was in the line of fire for foul balls.
It was not a great crowd, though people filled in a bit later along with
an invited Little League team. There was
no radio today, but I got a program this time, so no excuses for getting names
wrong. MSVS brought a good, lively
contingent of fans with them. The PA
played the warm up music really loud to start off, but turned it down a bit
later. At least it was pretty good music
and very eclectic mix from Country to Rap.
A Genesis tune led us into the first pitch.
Speaking of the program, it was hard not to notice that the Delta Devils had about 2/3 of the
roster that the Aggies have. Several of
their players were listed as Pitcher/fielder.
The wind was blowing in, which made it rough in the stands, but should
keep the ball from flying out. A couple
of the MSVS fans brought portable heaters.
They came prepared. Every so
often, we could smell them working. Unfortunately,
the sun was glaring off the scoreboard, which made it almost impossible to read
for much of the game. I ran to the
bathroom right after the Anthem (it’s hard to hold it in cold weather). I came back and found Ron still
standing. “Remember, keep standing until
the opposing team scores,” I told him, as they say at the basketball
games. He thought it was funny.
It was the first inning and I couldn’t feel my fingers. That seemed like a bad sign. Morgan
Lomax for the Devils hustled his way into a run with a single, stolen base,
moved over on a grounder, and then scored on a passed ball. 1-0 Delta Devils. More interestingly, Megan Hart and Tatyana
Battle from the Aggie Volleyball
team came in and sat behind us. Under
normal circumstances this might be awesome, but I was bundled up and wearing
sunglasses (mostly for the wind actually) and did not feel brave or look sociable.
Sasha-Lee Thomas
and Hannah Combs joined them in the bottom. They left after about ten minutes in the
cold, but they did come back shortly after.
(Hannah did seem to have some trouble negotiating the stairs, which may
mean she’s not over her injury.) Striking the Wonder Dog and his human
staff made an entrance. The girls immediately
recognized the BDOC (Big Dog on Campus) and swooned over him. They didn’t go over and
introduce themselves
to him though. Wow, even the girls could
get intimidated by celebrity, just like I get around them. Striking was sitting behind us too, on the
other side. I made eye contact with him
a couple of times (well, except for the sunglasses), but I still haven’t met
him in person.
Back to the action, Noah
Haupt continued his hot hitting with a double and Mason Fishback drove him in with another. Lomax made a good play on sinking liner in
center, but it scored a run on the sacrifice.
Trey Stine also drove in a
run to make it 3-1 Aggies. Much of the
rest of the Volleyball team came in in the second. Gossip ensued, but I forced myself not to
listen. I don’t want to know about their
love lives (unless they were going to get really naughty and graphic in talking
about it). Speaking of that, they were a
rather “colorful” in their conversation.
You couldn’t be sitting near them and not notice that. If I didn’t know they were there, I might
have thought they were a group of sailors on shore leave. They did also talk about recruits for their
team and maybe the current NCAA scandal.
Justin Dehn struck out the
side for the Aggies in the top of the second.
Tristen Carranza knocked in a
run in the bottom, 4-1. Lomax made
another good play in the outfield, robbing Marcus
Still of a sure gapper to start the inning.
For the third, mini footballs were tossed to the crowd from
the pressbox. Once again, kids were
around, I wasn’t going to try for the giveaways. A pick off and rundown at first ended the top
of the inning. I made an attempt to
remember who all touched the ball, but by the fifth or sixth player, I gave
up. Stine tripled in a run in the bottom
that went all the way to wall. A new
pitcher came in a couple batters later, but three errors, including a throwing
error by Lomax and two by the third baseman, made for a five-run inning. 9-1 Aggies.
For the fourth, the Devils switched around their
infield. Third base was out, first went
to third, and a new first baseman came in (I think). The wind was noticeably playing with some fly
balls this inning. Nothing was going to
go out, certainly not in this cold.
Fishback threw out a runner at second in the top. The Aggies didn’t score in their half,
breaking their 11-inning scoring streak.
In the fifth, a foul went into the stands and bounced in
front of a late-arriving Lia Mosher,
also from the Volleyball team. She came
with another pretty blonde, who was wearing teardrop mirror shades and had her long hair pulled back. It might have been her
teammate, Natalie Mikels. With the sunglasses and different hairstyle,
it was hard to tell. Sorry. They sat nearby me. Certainly I wanted to ask Lia about her time on
the Softball team, but I was not feeling confident enough to bother her. She is a natural ballplayer; every other word
from her was an explicative. Lia was
into the game while she was there and explaining it to her teammate. Is there still game going on? I’ve really been distracted.
For the sixth, the girls knew the Aggie trivia question:
“What record did the Aggies break yesterday?”
(School record for runs scored.)
They must have been here for that.
Were they hanging out with the Softball girls? The Volleyball girls also discussed what
their walkup songs would be if they were playing and they even sang it. (Didn’t recognize it. I’m going to be collecting these blog posts
into a book someday. I already have a
title, Your Walkup Song Sucks: Tales From
the Grandstand at NMSU.) Back to the
game, I guess. Joey Ortiz got some style points for doing a 360 on his throw to
get an out at first. Unfortunately, he
made an error on the previous batter, who came around to score on a wild
pitch. 9-2 Aggies. In the bottom, another Aggie was hit by a
pitch, but the Devil’s pitcher was hit on a slow comeback, which still resulted
in an out.
For the seventh, there was an Aggie Baseball t-shirt toss
into the crowd. Yes, I wanted one, but I
didn’t try. The girls next to me were
going crazy for them. This was also the
inning where they abandoned ship finally and the game just became cold and
dreary. I didn’t see Megan McGuire with them. She’s always out for baseball (might be
dating a player). AD Mario Moccia came in as they went out (not a great trade, no
offense). He was on the phone with
business stuff for most of the inning he was around. The Devils picked up another run, but Aggie
reliever, Andrew Edwards, made a
great defensive catch on a liner right at him.
Fishback drove in a run in the bottom, 10-3 Aggies.
In the top of the eighth, Lomax worked a walk to start the
inning. He was moved over on a rare
balk, when reliever Mathew Munden
accidently spiked the ball into the ground on a throw over. Lomax stole third and scored on a
single. 10-4 Aggies. The wheels came off for MSVS in the
bottom. Three hit batters, a wild pitch,
and an error contributed to a five-run inning for the Aggies. The coach went out to talk to the
pitcher. The PA started playing goodbye
music, probably trying to protect the Aggie batters from further bruising, but
the coach kept him in. The ninth went
quick. 15-4 Aggies was the final.
Okay, yes, the Volleyball team was the most interesting
thing about the game. They at least
warmed me up a little. Forgive a little
teasing at their expense. They’re fine,
upstanding young women. For gameballs, Justin Dehn did pretty well with six
innings and two runs, neither earned. Mason Fishback went 4 for 5 with 3
RBI’s for a good game at the plate. Noah Haupt went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI’s as
well. Morgan Lomax on the Delta Devils showed some real effort out there
too. It’s getting colder and there’s
another game to come.
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