NM State Aggies vs Northern Colorado Bears Baseball 4-14-19

It was a glorious day.  Unlike yesterday, it was clear blue and sunny with a slight cool breeze today.  Ron and I arrived at Presley Askew Field, but wandered through the abandoned dorms area next door looking for a foul ball Ron thought he saw yesterday.  This area is a complete eyesore and needs to be torn down. 

Inside the park, I picked up a new poster.  Cool.  I also finally noticed this old-timey picture on one of the panels under the stands.  This is the Aggie baseball team from 1903.  Even cooler.  A current team needs to wear these uniforms as throwbacks some day.  Also up front, I got to pet Logan Bottrell’s little white fluffy dog.  The dog was wearing a shirt that said “Bottrell” on it, so I’m making some assumptions.  I’d also guess his girlfriend was taking care of it.  Said dog was rather profoundly interested in another dog nearby.  I understand the feeling.

We got to watch the team take down the batting cage from the foot of the stands with another fan.  We all liked the spectacle of them doing it as fast as they could with a great amount of enthusiasm.  They were being timed by a coach.  At our seats, I said, “Hello,” TV commentator Jerry Lujan as he walked by and told him to call a good game. 

It was Attractive Blonde Day at the stadium.  The good-looking trainer girl for Northern Colorado was standing at the rail of the dugout during practice.  I wonder about her relationship to the team, since I’m sure they appreciate more about her than just her skills.  There was also a photographer at the park this weekend.  She had a large professional camera and was taking shots of the teams.  She had an impressive big hair look like from an 80’s music video.      

The last blonde was a complete surprise.  There were a bunch Little League kids at the game.  Before the Anthem, they came out and went by both dugouts.  Suddenly, Ron nudged me, “Hey, that’s Brooke Salas out there with the kids.”  Yikes, it was.  Wow, she looked spectacular too.  She must have been here as part of a Sports Marketing degree requirement.  Brooke knew at least one of the baseball guys as she fist-bumped a player going by.  I was on the lookout for her for the rest of the game. 

The Director of the Las Cruces Space Festival threw out the first pitch.  I didn’t know there was such an event.  I have a co-worker who would have probably loved to have gone, but it was only running for yesterday and today.  He would have needed to know beforehand to make plans.  [Edit: Actually, he did know about it and wasn’t impressed with their itinerary.  There was also a Comic Book convention in El Paso this weekend.]  I say “first pitch,” but the Englishman muffed the first toss.  He insisted on making a second which was only slightly better.  His presumed co-workers in the crowd gave him large “Boo.”  I’m sure he has many better skills than the one displayed.

 Play ball.  “Take him out!” a group of kids chanted during Jack Pauley’s at bat.  The crowd was fully engaged.  During Pauley’s at bat, Aggie starter Chance Hroch made a bad pickoff throw and Billy Moreland, who singled to lead off, made it to third.  It was a bad precedent for what followed in this game.  Pauley singled him to make it 1-0 Bears. 

Tom was again here with his youthful ward, explaining the game to him.  This was good, because it kept him from cheering.  Hroch got hit on a comebacker by Jake Gitter hard enough to hear it in the stands.  Hroch stayed with the play and got the lead runner at second, nearly starting a double play.  Chance was okay and stayed in.  Sam Leach doubled next, but was left stranded.

A bunch of mini-baseballs were tossed to the kids in the crowd.  Ron told me he found a pile of BP baseballs outside of the stadium.  He told him he should brought them in and to tossed them to kids.  The UNC couple from yesterday was seated in front of me, but for Sunday Dog Day, they brought in a big friendly white Lab.  It was so pretty.  The Bears’ DH was also their starting pitcher, Sam Leach.  Logan Bottrell led off for the Aggies with a triple.  The ball went past a diving Paley in right field.  It was a good start for the inning.

Deep breath.  Here we go.  Joey Ortiz drove in Botts with a single to tie the score at one.  He advanced to third with a stolen base and a wild pitch.  Nick Gonzales walked and moved to second on a wild pitch.  Tristan Peterson walked to load the bases with still nobody out.  Logan Ehnes flied out for the first out.  Tristen Carranza sacrificed in Joey to make it 2-1 Aggies with two outs.  Eric Mingus got on with a bobbled ball at short.  Nick had some heads up baserunning and came home to make it 3-1. 

Still with me?  Jason Bush singled to load the bases again.  Kevin Jimenez walked to drive in Peterson, 4-1.  We’ve batted around.  Botts was hit to force in another run, 5-1.  The least unexpected grand slam home run I’ve ever seen happened next with Joey putting one out to left.  9-1 Aggies. 

“Throw a strike!  It can’t get any worse!”  I’m sure Leach appreciated the advice from the crowd.  Nick singled, but was thrown out trying to steal second to end the inning.  A somewhat shocked PA Alexia gave the line score of “Nine runs, five hits, one error, and no one left on base.”  It was even worse than that.  That error at short on what should have been the third out meant that all the runs after were unearned.  I’ll do the counting for you.  That was seven unearned runs.

Welcome to inning number two.  We’re about an hour in to this game.  I was really looking forward to a run rule shortened game here.  Unfortunately, the Bears wouldn’t cooperate.  Hroch walked the first batter.  Joey hesitated on a possible double play ball next and ended up throwing the ball away.  This put runners at second and third.  One of those came in on a wild pitch, the next came in on a sacrifice.  Joey did make a good play on a grounder, doing a 360 and making the throw with a flourish for the second out. 

Pauley, ever the threat, homered to left next.  It just cleared the wall and Carranza nearly brought it back.  It didn’t end there.  A double, a wild pitch, and a single brought in another run.  Hroch picked off a runner at first to finally end it.  9-5 Aggies.  Okay, this game was going to take awhile.

There was a mummer in the crowd that Tiger Woods had won the Masters this morning.  Groan.  Remind me to avoid Sports Talk radio for the next few days.  There will be no other subject during that time.  I saw Brooke working in the crowd.  She was taking pictures of people and their dogs.  I saw her later with a couple of hot dogs.  Unfortunately, she was only on the other side of the stadium.  I would have liked to have asked her how her WNBA tryout went and congratulate her on the WAC championship and her career here.

Unsurprisingly, the Bears brought in a new pitcher for the second.  He hit a batter and gave up a single, but got a double play.  Pauley made a great sliding catch to end the inning.  Meanwhile, Tom was yelling up a storm.  The Colorado couple in front of me didn’t know what to make of him.  Their dog was ambivalent.   

The hits kept coming in the third.  Leach singled and stole second and was driven in.  Carranza let a single get past him.  That error put a runner on second, who was brought in with a single.  Hroch finally had to come out.  Aldo Fernandez finished the inning by striking out Pauley.  Chance’s line was two and 1/3 innings, 10 hits, 8 runs, 3 earned!  Hroch didn’t have his best stuff today, but 3 errors (including one of his own) likely shortened his outing.

We’re still in the third.  Two walks began the bottom of the frame.  Bottrell came up to the tune of Start Me Up.  The crowd actually responded to the Old School walkup music.  He had an infield hit, but a bad throw let in the two runners and put Logan on third.  Joey then hit a popup behind first.  Three fielders made a campfire around the ball as it dropped in fair for a double (not an error, by the way).  That drove in Botts.  Nick drove in Joey with a single. 

After a walk, the Bears changed pitchers.  A double play and a flyout finally ended the inning, though there was another error.  13-8 Aggies.  Alexia sounded exasperated giving out the line score.  We were probably over two hours in and were a third of the way through the game.  Much of the crowd started leaving.  It wasn’t a well-played game either.  Out of the 21 runs scored to this point, 15 were unearned.  Thankfully, events were more conventional after this.

Aldo worked an uneventful fourth, a nice quick change of pace.  The Aggies tacked on two more in the bottom.  Jimenez singled, Botts doubled, Joey drove in a run with a sacrifice, and Nick doubled in a run.  15-8 Aggies.  By the fifth, the game was definitively dragging.  The PA playing organ rally music between pitches wasn’t helping to perk the remaining crowd up.  Aldo had another thankfully quick inning.  In the bottom, the Bears turned a double play, but also added another error.  Carranza accidently helicopter-ed his bat down the third base line in his at bat.  That woke the third base coach up.

The ump was goofing a bit between innings.  We were all getting a little punchy.  Perhaps a poor choice of words on my part given what happened next.  Pauley came up in the sixth.  Thinking he’d been walked, he flipped his bat, but was called back halfway down the line.  He ran down the line again after the next pitch and was rung up.  Pauley turned to say something, but instead went to the dugout.  A moment after he went out of sight there was a massive, “F!” followed by the sound of something getting hit with a bat.  I feel like the strikeout and this incident might be connected.            

Aldo picked up another K in the sixth for another quick inning.  Meanwhile, Tom was getting louder, shouting more, and in Spanish about half the time.  The Aggies went down quick in the bottom after another double play.  Adrian Vela, at first for the Bears, caught a Bottrell liner and doubled off Jimenez.  The Colorado couple bought a Frito pie at the Concessions and took a picture of it.  I didn’t realize the miserable food here was unique.  Andrew Edwards and Mitchell Allen worked a messy seventh, but only gave up one run, in spite of loading the bases.  15-10 Aggies. 

I’d given up on a quick run rule end to this game.  Bear third baseman, Billy Moreland came in to pitch the bottom of the seventh.  I’m sure I missed a sub on field.  On his first pitch, Nick homered to center.  16-10 Aggies.  Billy’s second pitch hit Peterson, but Peterson was thrown out on an ill-advised steal attempt on a wide pitch.  It wasn’t a wild pitch; it was just wide and the catcher caught it.  Carranza tripled next and was sac’d in by Ehnes, 17-10.  Billy hit another batter, but finished the inning.

Fan-wise, I think we were down to friends, family, and Tom, along with myself and Ron somewhere beyond the outfield.  Alex Reyes came in for the eighth.  He was grunting on every pitch, but worked a quick inning.  Gitter did double, but was also inspired to make poor steal attempt of third and Bush threw him out.

“I just want to use your love . . . tonight!”  At last, PA song I liked.  I found myself singing along.  Quentin Parr came in to pitch for the Bears.  The Colorado couple brought out their phone to record his outing, so they must have been his parents.  He walked the first batter and gave up a triple to Joey, which scored Jimenez.  After another walk, he was taken out.  He came out of the game hanging his head.  Even Aggie fans, including myself, gave him a round of applause going back to the dugout.  Peterson sac’d in Joey to finally end the game. 

Aggies win 19-9 on a run rule.  Better late than never.  Yay?  Is it over?  Is it?  Even going eight innings, this still came close to four hours.  It was an endurance contest.  First, gameball to the Bears team in general.  Going down 9-1 in the first, they did not give up at that point, but couldn’t put together the pitching to stop Aggie hitting.  Thank you, Aldo Fernandez for your three and 2/3 scoreless innings.  We needed those quick innings.  Nick Gonzales’ hitting was definitely back on track, as he went 4 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and a home run.

Then there was Joey Ortiz’s day.  He went 4 for 5 with 8 RBI’s.  I found Ron outside the stadium.  He wanted to go back in.  Walking in, an Aggie fan couple said “Hi,” to Ron.  The guy was pretty happy as he mentioned that Joey had hit for the cycle.  No wonder he went for that triple at the end.  Even keeping a scorecard, I had embarrassingly not noticed.  Ron told me that the couple was Chance Hroch’s parents. 

Inside, Ron tracked down Joey and got his autograph on one of his foul balls.  He gave it to me.  I wasn’t expecting that.  Ron’s gone into an altruistic phase in his ball gathering.  I’ll find somewhere to display it.  Dinner was disappointing at What-a-burger, but that was my fault.  I’d accidentally ordered the wrong chicken sandwich, instead of what I meant to get.  I’ll do better next time.  Good job by the Aggies sweeping here this weekend.