Monday, May 20, 2019

NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Baseball 5-16-19


It was Chihuahuas Day at Presley Askew Stadium today, if you couldn’t tell from the picture.  Yes, I finally met the man . . . err . . . dog himself, Chico.  Hey, when they say it’s Chihuahuas Day at the stadium and you’re the only one there in a Chihuahuas shirt and hat, you get posted on the team Instagram.  When I told one of my co-workers, he looked up the picture, liked it, and forwarded it to his girlfriend.  I got my 15 seconds of Internet fame.

I was taking this Thursday and Friday off from work for the final Aggie Baseball home series of the year.  Ron wasn’t able to really get time off from his job, but was still going to be going with me.  For this evening game, we had an early dinner beforehand at Sonic.  It’s not my usual choice, because I’m not a fan of eating in cars.  However, they were recommended to me and that commercial for the Kings Hawaiian Bun Burger looked good.  In reality, it was awkward to eat in Ron’s car, the burger looked nothing like its pictures, but boy, was it good.  Thumbs up!

Ron did wear his new Chihuahuas camo floppy hat to the game.  I asked why he didn’t his division winner shirt that he got a couple of years ago.  He sheepishly admitted that he couldn’t fit into it anymore.  I feel like I’ve been a bad influence wanting to go out to fast food places before and after games.  I’ve had some trouble getting into my own pants lately.  The evening was warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze blowing.  There were two news vehicles in the parking lot.  This was a battle to win first place, or a share thereof, in conference.  The Aggies just needed to win one of these three final games to clinch the #1 seed in the tournament, since Cal Baptist University isn’t eligible for it. 

But never mind all that, I had another celebrity encounter before the game.  Coach Brian Green waved at me from the dugout while I was waiting outside the bathroom for Ron.  What a friendly guy.  Unfortunately for him, he’s had to go back to rolling around on that scooter for his bad foot.  Coach needs to take it easy for a while in the offseason to let that heal.  Also saw Nick Gonzales in the dugout.  I should have shouted to him that I voted for him 25 times on the Golden Spikes Award website, as directed by the team Twitter account.  It doesn’t make any sense to me why they let you vote 25 times a day, but okay.

Meanwhile on field, Chico was working it.  He chatted with the guys in the dugout.  He practiced his first pitch.  I think he actually wanted to play catch with Brock Whittlesey, who was warming up in the outfield.  Chico waved to the stands and was joined by the “Chicas,” the Chihuahuas’ cheerleaders.  They handed out posters to some kids.  Chico went over to the opposing dugout and turned around and waved his tail at them.  He made a snow angel on field.  He came into the stands and I got my picture taken with him.  Finally, Chico threw out the first pitch with two camera crews filming him. 

After all that, Chico kicked back in a seat in the grandstand afterward and interacted with some kids.  A good crowd showed up for the game.  CBU brought quite a few vocal fans.  Some of the Softball team came in for the game.  There were two groups of players, but they weren’t sitting together, though they did wave to each other. 

On field, Whitt, starting for the Aggies, ran into trouble right off the bat in the first.  The first five batters reached and three runs scored.  3-0 CBU.  Our first indicator of what would be an ongoing storyline for the game happened on Billy Rockefeller’s at bat.  With a full count and a close pitch, he ran to first.  A second later, the ump called him out for a looking strikeout.  In the bottom, Logan Rinehart, the CBU pitcher, had a warmup pitch deflect off the catcher and hit the ump.  I don’t think that improved the ump’s disposition.  Rinehart walked two batters, but got two strikeouts and the Aggies didn’t score.

To start the second, Chico and the Chicas threw some Chihuahuas’ stuff into the stands.  With that, they left for the night.  They did a great job.  Whitt came back with a 1-2-3 inning in the second.  With two out in the bottom, Eric Mingus was hit by a pitch.  Braden Williams walked next to advance him, and Logan Bottrell singled Mingus in to make it 3-1. 

CBU was for some reason allowed to set up their radar gun on the main walkway.  This caused issues during the whole series and was a general annoyance.  An older attendant for the stadium handed a foul ball to a kid sitting in front of us.  To this point, I’d seen him get a Chihuahuas’ poster and towel and a pair of Aggie sunglasses.  He was making out like a bandit.

The ump’s strikezone was getting inconsistent to the point that fans were complaining.  This started in earnest on the first batter of the third getting struckout and the CBU fans yelling.  Aggie fans would get their opportunities too.  The wind picked up and started blowing hard out.  This caused an adventure on a foul ball caught by Mingus in the third.  Neither team scored in the inning.  Rinehart did get a rare 1 unassisted out in the bottom.

“Is anyone wearing Chihuahuas gear?” announced PA Alexia for the Pocket Contest.  When no one got up immediately, I thought I’d finally participate in a giveaway, but the giveaway kid got up and showed his towel.  He actually ended up giving the bag away to another kid.  Good show.  The fourth inning was also scoreless.  Adam Young, on the radio call, diplomatically said the ump had an “interesting strikezone.”  Fans of both teams were getting angrier as the game was close.

CBU slugger, Ryan Mota, hammered a two-run homer in the fifth.  The team celebrated like a bunch of softball players, no offense to the girls.  5-1 CBU.  Whitt struggled through the rest of the inning, but ended it with a pair of strikeouts.  The Aggies went down without scoring in the bottom.  Nick hit a big popup that a troop of Little Leaguers started to run after.  The wind blew it back in for an out, and the kids returned to their seats. 

The kid down in front got another backpack in a giveaway.  He handed this one off to someone else, too.  It really pays to be a kid sitting in the front row.  A couple of guys moved in in the row below me.  One of them had a good-looking corn-in-a-cup from the concessions.  Grrr . . . that just pisses me off.  Why couldn’t I have gotten a good corn-in-a-cup this season?  Meanwhile, Ron had wandered off to “chase balls.”  I think what he actually did was sneak off to watch the series finale of The Big Bang Theory.  He denied it.

In the sixth, I finally gave up on my radio.  The static had gotten too bad to listen to.  I thought it was because I had another bad pair of ear pods, but I found out when I got home that I’d actually somehow knocked it one digit off station.  Dumb.  Whitt finally came out this inning after a four-pitch leadoff walk.  Wyatt Kelly finished off the inning. 

The older attendant came back to the kid and exchanged balls with him.  Did he get an autographed ball, too?  There was one crowd giveaway he didn’t get.  The fans were already cheering even before the announcement was made just from seeing the boxes.  They all wanted one of the two Lou Henson commemorative bobbleheads up for grabs.  I was intrigued here, but resisted.  I already have the Cody Decker bobblehead.  Do I really even need another bobblehead?   

In the bottom of the sixth, Logan Ehnes doubled and Tristan Peterson walked.  Kevin Jimenez worked an 0-2 count into a walk to load the bases.  Rinehart was chased and replaced with a new pitcher.  Braden Williams then singled in two runs to make it 5-3.  The best play of the inning though was the Little Leaguers bopping to Mingus’ walkup song at the railing like the guys in the dugout. 

For the top of the seventh, Andrew Edwards came in.  He loaded the bases around a strikeout.  Pitching Coach Anthony Clagget came out and said something “inspirational” to him.  Edwards came back shooting peas and ended the inning with a pair of strikeouts.  He was pumped coming off the mound and his girlfriend was screaming behind me.  It was good to see him do well after a questionable season of relief work.

The Aggies loaded the bases in the bottom, but weren’t able to score.  The Lancers had to bring in another reliever to finish the inning.  Harrison Spahn made a good play on a popup.  Three players converged on the ball, as Spahn fell backward catching it.  The crowd on both sides was getting downright surly with the ump’s strikezone.  He might need protection leaving the stadium.  I noticed the Aggie dugout had a ritual of touching the rim of the dugout with their hats when there were 2 outs and 2 strikes in the inning.  I’m doubtful it was working for much luck.

Aldo Fernadez came in for the eighth.  I like his play-in music, Bad Bunny’s Fuego.  After a walk, he nearly walked the next batter, who was trying to sacrifice the runner over.  He got through the inning.  His last looking strikeout was a beauty.  In the bottom, the ump had his mask off and gave the crowd a meaningful look after too many catcalls.  That didn’t stop the hecking though.  The Aggies got two on, but didn’t score again in the bottom.

In the ninth, Nick snagged a liner and started a double play to end the top of the inning.  PA Alexia asked the crowd to cheer to rally the team.  The CBU players with the radar gun cheered and stomped along with the crowd.  Were they being sarcastic?  It didn’t matter, the Aggies did not score and 5-3 Lancers was the final.

Ryan Mota and Andrew Bash had great games for CBU offensively.  (If Andrew’s nickname was “Crush” Bash, he’d have the best baseball name.)  For the Aggies, I’ll hand it to Andrew Edwards for his inning of relief.  Your stat of the game is Aggies 14 left on base, Lancers 12 left on base.  So, the Aggies’ bats could have been better, but the score could have also been worse.  Well, Ron got his just desserts for sneaking off to watch TV during the game.  His car got dinged by two foul balls.  I admit that if I hadn’t met Chico here, I might have regretted taking this day off, but that made it all worth it in retrospect.   

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