Before the tournament, the Aggies made out like bandits in the conference player awards. Joey Ortiz was the Player of the Year. What a
non-shock. Also on the First-Team All-WAC was the rest of the
Aggie infield, Tristan Peterson, Nick Gonzales, and Eric Mingus. And let’s toss
in outfielder Tristen Carranza and
starting pitcher Chance Hroch. Wow, what a team!
I’ll personally add that Logan Bottrell has been playing at a
high level as a centerfielder and leadoff batter with an injured back. Logan
Ehnes has sparked the offense with some truly clutch hitting in big
games. Not to mention, Braden Williams was on a national watch
list for catchers. Jason Bush also did a good job catching, and I just like him
because he looks good as a ballplayer.
5-23-19 vs Utah Valley Wolverines
It sounded like a good crowd there at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, AZ. Brock
Whittlesey was starting for the Aggies versus Paxton Shultz for the Wolverines. I was kind of busy at work during most of the
game. That was okay from a scoring
standpoint, because there wasn’t any. It
was a classic pitcher’s duel. Perhaps
the closest call came in the top of the sixth.
The Wolverines had a runner on with two outs. There was a deep drive to right and Logan Ehnes made a great running catch
to end the inning.
In the seventh, there was Ehnes again as he beat out an infield
hit. The crowd started chanting for the Aggies. (I hope Emerson
was there.) Tristan Peterson, continuing his hot streak, hit a big double to
bring Ehnes home. That ball probably
would have been out anywhere else. 1-0
Aggies. In the eighth, Whitt was finally
taken out with one out and runners on the corners. Keaton Graf came in and worked out of it. Nicely done. Whitt came out of the dugout to congratulate
him afterward.
In the bottom of the eighth, Braden Williams singled and was moved over by Logan Bottrell. Conference
MVP Joey Ortiz singled Braden in to
make it 2-0. Joey stole second and took
third on a wild pitch. Nick Gonzales walked. Tristen
Carranza was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Shultz was taken out after 120 pitches. What tremendous efforts by both starters
tonight. Adam Young, on the radio call, reported that some UV fans were
already leaving.
There was Ehnes again, as he drew a walk to force in a
run to make it 3-0. Peterson brought in
another run on a sacrifice, 4-0. Caleb Henderson pinch hit. Earle had spent most of the season on the
shelf, but kept rehabbing was cleared to play this week. He got a standing ovation from Aggie fans in
the crowd and got a bloop single to make it 5-0. Adam was completely stoked doing the call. He was rooting for him. Eric Mingus
then tripled in two more to make it 7-0.
Graf started the ninth and let on a couple of runners. Aldo
Fernandez came in and allowed a run, but finished it out. 7-1
Aggies win! Tonight was definitely
the kind of the pitching performance the Aggies will need to win here. As is often the case, it was very hard to
shutout the Aggie offense and showing any pitching weakness to them is
lethal. In spite of the final score,
this was a very tight game. Aggie
pitching came through here until their mighty bats could come around.
5-24-19 vs GCU Lopes
Next up, the Aggies
played the more-or-less hometown Lopes. It sounded like a big crowd there in Mesa. Chance Hroch
started for the Aggies. Caleb Henderson was in at DH and Braden Williams was back catching. The Aggies were the visiting team for this
game.
GCU got the scoring
started in the second off a two-run homer by Kona Quiggle. This was after
an error by Nick Gonzales. In the third, Eric Mingus hit a leadoff homer.
The Aggies got two on after, but a good play in the outfield ended the
inning. 2-1 GCU. In the sixth, after a single, Chance uncorked
two wild pitches that advanced the runner to third. Hroch then got two strikeouts, to set a career
high at 10, and escaped without harm.
In the seventh, Logan Bottrell singled to drive in
Mingus. Joey Ortiz then singled to drive in another run. GCU starter, Jake Schiedner, was chased from game as the Aggies took a 3-2
lead. Reliever, Coen Wynne, came in and got two strikeouts to leave two Aggies
stranded. In the bottom, Joey committed
a second error. The runner then advanced
to third on a wild pickoff throw. A base
hit tied the score. A double by catcher,
David Avitia, drove in two. Avitia is a .196 hitter. Adam Young
and Jerry Lujan on the radio call
were just talking about what a terrible hitter he is before that.
After another RBI double to
make it 6-3 GCU, Chance came out after throwing 100 pitches. Sure, take him out early last week when
he was cruising, but take him out too late here when he’s obviously getting hit
hard. Good thing you coaches saved his
arm for this, instead clinching sole possession of the conference
championship. Wyatt Kelly finished the inning off. The Lopes tacked on in the bottom of the
eighth with a homer and an RBI double.
The Aggies lost 8-3. The team committed three errors and left
eight on base.
5-25-19 vs
Sac St Hornets
The Aggies fell into an elimination game against the Hornets on Saturday, also facing
elimination. Justin Dehn was pitching for the Aggies, who were the home team. Kevin
Jimenez was in at DH and Jason Bush
was catching. The Hornets’ staff was
theoretically depleted as they’d lost their first game and had to use ten
pitchers to get to this point. However,
it was a #1 seed versus a #3 seed matchup.
There was another good
crowd, but since this was a day game, they’d moved into the shaded upper deck
to avoid the sun. This put them closer
to Adam Young’s radio
broadcast. There was an annoying tapping
sound by one of the fans banging on something during most of the game.
Kevin doubled in the
second, as Adam reported that his family had just come in the stadium. Adam was able to crowd-watch a bit as they
were all nearby. Some former Aggie
players came in for the game. Joey Ortiz got a hit in the third to
tie the school record for hits in a season.
Nick Gonzales drove in Logan Bottrell with a sacrifice to make
it 1-0 Aggies. With the bases loaded, Logan Ehnes singled to score Joey as he
tied another school record for runs. 2-0
Aggies. Sac St put in a new pitcher, who
got a double play to end the inning.
At this point, I impulsively
walked over to the mall next door to get dinner at Chik-fil-a. The round trip
took 20 minutes, with a quick detour to Barnes
& Noble, but I did work up an appetite.
When I got back, it was 4-3 Aggies in the fifth. I’d missed a two-run homer by Nick. The Aggies had loaded the bases with Jason
up. The Hornet centerfielder made a
great diving catch to end the inning.
Dehn came out in the
sixth, after he’d let on two runners. Aldo Fernandez came in and let in a run
to make it 4-4. That was it for the
scoring for a while. Much like last year
in the Saturday game in the tournament (5-26-18), this game went to
extras. The Hornets took the lead in the
tenth. Brock Whittlesey came on in relief, but surrendered an inherited run. The Aggies came up in the bottom and a double
play ended the game.
6-4 Hornets was the final. The
Aggies’ season came to an end. The
Aggies actually played a cleaner game as they had no errors, while Sac St had two. The Aggies left 12 on base, but the Hornets
left 10. Sac St then went on to win 4-3
in 11 over GCU that night, and won
on Sunday 5-4 to take the championship.
After playing six games in four days, they’d certainly earned it.
I have to admit to not
wholeheartedly rooting for the Aggies to win this game. I truly doubted their chances of winning that
night against GCU, much less tomorrow. I
didn’t want a seemingly inventible loss dragged out over two more games (not
that Sac St had any trouble doing that).
I really hate this double elimination format for the tournament. I know that sounds like sour grapes, but I’ve
never liked it in softball and even less in baseball. My coverage of these two games was really
spotty because of what I was doing at the time.
You’ll understand when I post my Memorial
Day coverage of multiple other games and sports.
All I can say is that the
Aggies were not able to clutch hit in these last two games. They certainly scored a lot of runs this
season, but there were several telltale games where they left runners all over
the bases. For fielding, their last game
was good, but in that GCU game before, they’d shot themselves in the foot. They’ve had error-prone games before this
season. Aggie pitching has generally not
been their strong suit this season. I
thought they did okay here in the tournament, considering they were generally
used to more run support.
How to sum up the
season? Pretty much everything I said in
the Regular Season Recap still applies, so I’m just going to leave it at
that. Braden Williams and Brock
Whittlesey made the All-Tournament
team. I think Whitt actually hasn’t given
up a run of his own in the tournament, this year or last. That’s a big game pitcher. I’m going to add Logan Ehnes to this list for his efforts too. The result for the season was a step back,
but overall I don’t think this will hurt the program. Coach
Green will not have any trouble recruiting hitters for one of the best
offensive teams in the nation. That may
help recruiting pitchers too. Who wouldn’t
want to play behind those big bats? I
think we can still look forward to another good team next year.
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