Baseball Journal April 16-20, 2019

4-16-19

Welcome to Santa Ana Star Field in Albuquerque, where the Aggies would be playing the Lobos in baseball.  Actually, I’m glad I wasn’t there for the game.  Their facilities there, while they have a commanding view of the Albuquerque skyline, are just metal bleachers.  It makes me grateful for our park.  Adam Young, broadcasting the game, had to sit in the stands, since there wasn’t room in the pressbox.  (There was also an obnoxious fan nearby cheering.  I guess every team has one.)  The Lobos recently apparently used to play at Isotopes Park, but moved back to a stadium on university grounds.  

Again, I did a terrible job with my notes and being able to listen to the game.  Late in the game, when I was able to listen, I ended up watching the Lobo’s video coverage and their announcer.  I wanted to see what the opposition said about our team for a change.  The guy there was very impressed with our lineup.  The Aggies had built up a 7-2 lead in the fifth, but by the seventh, the Lobos had tied it.  In the bottom of eighth, literally, Keaton Graf came in and got hit on the backside on a comebacker.  The Lobos loaded the bases and took the lead on a fielder’s choice, 8-7.

Logan Ehnes came up big with a single to drive in Nick Gonzales to tie the score again.  However also on the play, Tristen Carranza should have also scored, but made contact with the third base coach, Terry Davis, and was ruled out.  The umps conferred before making a decision.  Coach Green argued the call until he was ejected. 

If there was one thing this game didn’t need, it was extra innings.  Thankfully, it only went to the tenth, but the game still went over five hours!  In the top, Logan Bottrell and Nick got on.  Tristan Peterson, who was wearing the Golden Sombrero with four strikeouts in four at bats, worked a walk to load the bases.  Carranza was hit next to drive in a run.  Ehnes then hit a grounder hard enough that it bounced off the shortstop for a hard luck error.  The centerfielder bobbled it and two runs scored.  11-8 Aggies.

In the bottom, with Graf still pitching, the Lobos managed to load the bases with two outs.  The Aggies had a couple of good defensive plays.  Nick made an over-the-shoulder running catch in foul ground.  Ehnes made a running catch in right to end the game.  Aggies win 11-8!  The Lobos’ TV coverage ended the moment Ehnes squeezed the ball.  I had to get the postgame back on the radio.  That was six wins in a row over the Lobos.  That’s never happened before.  The team posted a great Twitter video of them celebrating on the bus in uniform.

4-17-19

It wasn’t the nicest day outside for a game, but I was pleased to listen to some day baseball with the Chihuahuas this morning.  They were playing the Tacoma Rainiers in front of a crowd of mostly kids.  The gusty wind was a good deal of the story.  

The pups went down 7-2 about halfway through the game, as the ball was flying out for the Rainiers.  It turned in the eighth, as the Chihuahuas exploded for six runs, including three homers.  The crowd went wild as they took the lead.  However in the ninth, the Rainiers, down to their last strike, homered and retook the lead, 10-9.  The drama wasn’t over.  The Chihuahuas were also down to their last strike, when Ty France belted his second home run of the game with a runner on to win it 11-10. 

France was great player last year and he’s picked up right where he left off.  He’s currently blocked from coming up to the majors at first or third, so today he played second and did well there.  The game started early enough and finished quickly enough that I think the kids there got to see the whole thing.  Also, with a home Internet connection (at least for the moment), I was able to get on to MLB.TV and catch a bit of a Brewers game and hear Bob Uecker.  Actually, I was only able to listen, with the video being too choppy, but it was still great to hear him. 

4-18-19

The Aggies played Utah Valley tonight.  But, it was a baseball game and, therefore didn’t involve Basia Query, so I didn’t care.  Actually, I made an effort to listen to the whole game and take notes.  Regrettably, this wasn’t the most interesting game to finally try to do a good job of recapping.  Coach Green would also be listening to the game, as he served a two-suspension for getting ejected in Albuquerque.  In the pregame, he had no apologies and no regrets.  As I found out during Saturday’s game, the reason he’d gotten so hot was because the umps reversed a no-call that none of them actually saw.  How do you make a call that you didn’t actually see?

Just to cut to the chase, the Aggies won 14-0 on a run rule in the seventh.  Brock Whittlesey, working mostly out of the stretch for the game, went the distance, only giving up four hits.  Oddly for the Aggie offense, nine of the 14 runs were scored singularly.  Finally in the top of the seventh, Joey Ortiz doubled in two runs and Tristen Carranza hit a three-run homer, as part of a seven-run inning.  Carranza’s homer was also the only one of the game.

Adam Young, on the radio call, was impressed with the stadium as it is an Angels’ Rookie league facility after the college season.  It’s very deep to center, but reasonably short in the corners.  There was a small crowd there, which was surprising, since I wonder what else there is to do in Orem, Utah.  There was a decent Aggie contingent that piped up whenever the team made a good play.

What else?  I noticed in this game over the PA and with the Lobo announcer earlier in the week, they pronounced Logan Ehnes’ name differently than Adam.  Also, Joey is announced as “Joseph” on the road.  One of the UVU players has the same walkup music as Nick Gonzales, which was a bit disconcerting.  More troublingly, Logan Bottrell came out of the game.  His back has been bothering him ever since he was injured.  That’d be a bad loss for the team if he’s not able to go everyday.

I’m not going to cover the games, but in addition to listening to most of this game, I caught the end of four other ball games.  They were pretty close, too.  I saw the end of two games on the MLB Network, one on MLB.TV, and heard the Chihuahuas over of the radio.  I might be just bragging here instead of reporting, but this was the first time this season I’ve really been able to watch multiple games in a day.  I enjoyed it.

4-19-19

I started off this Aggie Baseball game while sitting at an Aggie Softball game with Ron.  We were both listening over the radio.  Given a pretty exciting softball game, it was hard to listen at times, but not too hard follow along.  A mutual co-worker sat down by us after the game started.  Ron kept him up to date on the baseball scoring.  Softball finished about 2/3 the way through the baseball game.  Ron and I went back to my apartment and finished listening to the game while watching some Twitch.

The coverage started with a choir singing the Anthem, which was pretty cool.  There was a bigger crowd today for this game in Orem versus Utah Valley.  There were families there for an Easter Egg hunt before the game.  How pastoral.  Then the carnage started. 

Both teams scored one in the first with an unearned run.  By the third, the Aggies had accumulated their third error.  The score was 6-1 UVU, and starter, Justin Dehn, was out.  The Aggies started a comeback.  Noah Haupt drove in a run in the fourth.  In the fifth, Nick Gonzales drove in a run on a fielder’s choice and then Tristan Peterson hit a two-run homer to make it 6-5.  All of those runs in the inning were unearned.

The Aggies tied it in the seventh with a Tristen Carranza triple, as the centerfielder lost the ball in the lights.  But, the carnage continued.  Error #4 for the Aggies on third out scored two unearned runs to put UVU back up 8-6.  The Aggies came back again in the eighth.  Nick doubled in a run, and TC sac’d in the tying run.  Logan Ehnes gave the Aggies a lead on a fielder’s choice RBI.  9-8 Aggies.

Unfortunately, Aggie pitching just couldn’t stop the Wolverines.  UVU tied it with a homer in the bottom of the eighth and left the bases loaded.  In the bottom of the ninth, a probably overworked Keaton Graf came in and loaded the bases with no outs.  A single brought in the winning run.  10-9 Utah Valley.  Well, that was disappointing, especially after listening for four hours and 15 minutes.  Your brutal stats of the game:  UVU 3 errors, NM State 5 errors.

4-20-19

I started listening to this noon game before going to Aggie Softball in the late afternoon.  Of course, the Aggie Baseball game couldn’t finish inside of four hours, so I took the game with me on the radio.  It finished right before the softball double header started.  Coach Green was back for this game.  However, Logan Bottrell was out.  His back injury actually goes back to last year.  It sounded like a good, enthusiastic crowd there in Orem for this game against Utah Valley.

The Utah Valley starter, Walker Ramsey, did not have a good record and had a .700+ BA against.  In the first, he hit Logan Ehnes, a guy he played with in junior college.  He also hit Eric Mingus to drive in a run with the bases loaded.  Unfortunately, Chance Hroch was very hittable in the bottom.  The Wolverines had three hits and drove in a run to make it 1-1 after one.  One of the UVU guys has Mariah Carey’s Heartbreaker as his walkup music.  Yeah, I question that too. 

Freshman Daniel Head came up in the second.  Adam Young, on the broadcast, said Daniel put on a show during batting practice.  Adam was surprised he didn’t have a home run in a game.  Nick Gonzales drove in a run.  Tristen Carranza hit a two-run homer to the deepest part of the park, 427’, which was called a “no-doubter.”  Ramsey hit Ehnes again.  Adam assured us that there’s no bad blood between them.  5-1 Aggies.

In the bottom, the UVU coach tried to argue that Nick didn’t touch the bag turning a play.  If this call was overturned, Adam guaranteed Coach Green was going to get ejected again.  Thankfully, the call stood.  Hroch picked off a runner from first to end the inning.  In the third, a fielder’s choice scored a run for UVU.  A bases loaded single drove in two more.  Catcher Jason Bush went down on the next batter after getting hit in his “lower area” blocking a ball.  A single then tied the score, 5-5.  Hroch came out of the game.

The Aggies came back in the fourth.  Three walks loaded the bases for the Aggies and Utah Valley brought in a new pitcher.  Mingus drove in two with a single.  Kevin Jimenez brought in another run on a fielder’s choice.  He dove into first to try and avoid the out.  A balk brought in another run to make it 9-5 Aggies.  The Wolverines brought in a run on a sac in the fifth.  They sac’d in another after a Joey Ortiz error at short.  9-7 Aggies.  In the sixth, Jimenez singled in another run.  Mingus took home on an error and a play at the plate.  Daniel drove in a run, 12-7 Aggies. 

Adam had complained that the crowd was too quiet.  They would have plenty to cheer about as the Aggies couldn’t put the Wolverines away.  UVU scored two in the sixth.  They scored again in the eighth.  Joey had another error.  In the ninth, they got a solo home run to make it 12-11.  Keaton Graf had to come in to close it out for the win.  That got way too interesting in the end.