NM State Aggies vs Pacific Tigers Baseball 3-5-23

The last time I wrote about the Aggie Baseball team, they had just lost three in-a-row of their opening series to Bellarmine, a university still transitioning to Division 1.  They went on the road to Sugarland and lost three there.  Tuesday night, the team hosted Benedictine Mesa and lost 9-3.  It wasn’t even that close.  BM is a DIII school.

 

Thanks to Coach Mike Kirby, NM State won a WAC Championship last year.  It was a great accomplishment.  It was especially great because the team was terrible last year.  I still don’t know how they not only won that championship, but dominated the tournament.  After all those losses last year and going 0-7 this year to poor competition, apparently that was enough.  Coach Kirby was fired on Thursday.  Pitching Coach Keith Zuniga was promoted to interim manager. 

 

There wasn’t an obvious scandal that did in Coach Kirby, though there was perhaps one issue.  During the Tuesday game, Gunner Antillon was hit on the face by a pitch.  I was listening on the radio, but it seemed like a deflected shot off his helmet.  They were cleaning up blood around home plate afterward, but Gunner walked off the field to the dugout.  He ended up getting sent to hospital . . . in El Paso, so it must have been serious.  There was a rumor that Coach Kirby didn’t take the injury seriously enough at first.  That might have been enough.But really, it was because the team lost on Sunggie Night.  How could you lose to a DIII team on Snuggie Night?

But really, it was because the team lost on Sunggie Night.  How could you lose to a DIII team on Snuggie Night?

 

One little happy sidebar I can report on.  March 1-st there was an Aggie Baseball reunion at Spring Training.  The Pirates and the Orioles met and Kyle Bradish, Nick Gonzales, and Joey Ortiz all played in the game.  (Joey and Nick respectively are pictured.)  Nick hit a home run late in the game, though not off Kyle.  This game was also notable because, while the Pirates won the game in the top of the ninth, the teams agreed to play out the bottom of the ninth anyway.  The umps had left the field, so they had to play without them.  Only in baseball.

 

This Sunday morning was another beautiful day.  This game was rescheduled to be at the same time as Aggie Softball’s first game today.  I chose baseball just because I wanted to see baseball.  Softball was running late from a preceding game anyway.  At the gate, I saw a couple of ushers that Ron is friends with.  They were wondering where he was for the last couple of games.  I told them he was out sick and they both said to tell him to get better.   

 

I picked up a stale $1 hot dog, corn-in-a-cup, and a bottle of Brisk tea at the Concessions.  I was hungry enough to not care about the quality of the food.  Inside, I saw fan Michael.  He also asked about Ron immediately.  Ron had really wanted to talk to him about the firing.  Strangely, Michael was genuinely sorry that Kirby was released.  He’d had several issues with him (including not letting him talk to the players), but he didn’t want him fired. 

 

Michael talked about Gunner’s injury.  It was much worse than described on the radio.  The whole stadium went deathly quiet and he was on the ground for quite a while sobbing.  He did walk to the dugout, but wobbled the whole way.  Once there, he threw down his helmet and starting yelling.  He was taken to El Paso just as a precaution.  I overheard later that Gunner was at today’s game watching. 

 

There was a pretty good crowd of over 600.  There were several kids in the crowd.  I noticed one little girl in a peach sundress with an Oriental parasol and clutching a baseball poster.  It was too cute, like a Rockwell painting.  I ran into a friendly retriever going down the aisle.  He trotted in front of me and demanded to be petted. 

 

Several cute sorority sisters were back to watch.  (No competition for Ryleigh Whitekettle, though.)  The Pan-Am girl was here with what looked like her little sister.  They mostly all stayed to end, even though the game was terrible (spoilers).  This would seem to confirm they’re “involved” with the team.  (The Pan-Am girl and sis did go directly to Softball afterward like I did.  Maybe they’re big Aggie Sports fans?)             

 

The team gathered on field for a meeting.  It seemed serious and was probably performance-related.  They were decked out in their new black and white threads.  They had an old-timey Field of Dreams look to them that was probably intentional. 

 

This weekend they were facing the 1-6 Pacific Tigers.  The Aggies lost 6-4 Friday night.  They had 3 errors in the game, which led to 2 unearned runs, which were the difference.  Kevin Jimenez did go 3 for 4 in the game.  Saturday night, the Aggies lost 4-3 in the 10 innings.  Logan Galina did hit a tying home run in the 9-th to force the extra frame.   

That brings us to today.  Some defensive changes had been made with Gunner out and after that 3-error Friday game.  Mitch Namie was in the outfield.  Edwin Martinez-Pagani was at third and Romeo Ballesteros was at short.  Romeo had an impressive flow going.  He really fits his name.

 

Hayden Walker started for the Aggies and had a rough first.  After the second hit batter of the inning and 3 runs had scored, the Aggie bullpen started up.  KJ and Romeo had nice plays in field to help end the inning.  3-0 Tigers.  The stands were rather quiet.  I could easily hear Coach Zuniga encouraging players at the plate from the dugout in the bottom.

 

Walker settled down in the second and only allowed a single.  The batter, Ben Nemivant, also stole second on a pitchout.  Romeo had another slick play in the inning.  In the top of the third, a difficult sky (overcast) and a bit of wind resulted in a triple.  KJ and Walker nipped the next batter at first to end the inning without damage.  Aggie catcher, Nick Gore, worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third.  He was indecisive on a wild pitch and made the wrong choice and was thrown out.

 

The Tigers broke out again with the bats in the fourth.  Walker was chased after two singles and mammoth three-run homer by Nemivant.  This started a parade of Aggie relievers.  There was another triple.  This one went into the left field corner, but the runner was left stranded.  6-0 Pacific.  Between innings, I had two of the three items for the What’s in Your Pocket Contest . . . in my truck.  They were just giving away fanny packs anyway. 

 

Kevin reached base on an error in the bottom of the fourth.  By this point, I was paying attention to these kind of things.  Galina made a great play to the pitcher covering first on the leadoff batter in the fifth.  The next batter walked.  Romeo had a little trouble going to his right on a single, but might not have had a chance on the batter anyway.  Nemivant, there he is again, impressively beat out an infield hit to drive in another run.  7-0 Pacific.  A couple of kids went down front to a senior fan with a ball and had him sign it.  I wonder who he is.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Aggies worked a pair of walks.  Tiger pitcher, Jacob Smith, was taken out of the game.  He was stone faced going to the dugout and took no accolades from this teammates.  I gave him a small round of applause.  He’d been throwing a no-hitter to this point.  The reliever issued a walk and then induced a double play to end the inning.

 

Saul Soto started the sixth for the Aggies.  He gave up a double and a wild pitch advanced the runner to third.  Saul got a strikeout and a groundout, but was then relieved by Kade Benavidez.  The dugout called for an intentional walk.  Kade then made a great pickoff of the runner at third to end the inning without throwing a pitch.

 

In the bottom of the sixth after a walk, KJ finally broke up the no-hitter with a single to center.  A no-hitter at Presley Askew Field was ever unlikely at best, much less a combined one.  I’d already seen a no-hitter last week anyway.  The pitcher came out after throwing two balls to Logan.  He was likely hurt.  Bases loaded, EMP drove in the first Aggie run with a groundout.  Karl Koerper cashed in 2 RBI’s with a single to make it 7-3.  The crowd exploded.  They finally had something to cheer about.

 

That was as close as it got.  The Tigers put up 5 runs in the seventh to make it 12-3.  They added another run in the eighth, 13-3.  EMP did make a good play to get a runner at the plate.  At one point, a runner was held up at third by the coach.  Pacific wasn’t even trying to run up the score. 

 

In the bottom, Romeo hit an infield flare that the third baseman couldn’t handle.  However, the shortstop grabbed the ball and got the out at first.  Romeo was still standing by home plate.  I don’t know if he didn’t run or tripped or something, but it looked bad.  KJ came up next and hit a wind-aided home run to center.  God bless him.  Crap, there goes a quick run rule finish, I thinking right after.  13-4 Pacific was the final.

 

The last couple of innings, the crowd thinned out and became church-like quiet.  I could hear lots of cheering over at the Softball field.  I chose badly.  The team disappeared after the game.  No handshaking with the opponents.  No meeting on field.  They weren’t even in the dugout.  I don’t know what happened to them.  It unfortunately reminded me of the Football team’s embarrassing loss to FIU.   

 

I have three easy Gameballs to hand out.  For Pacific, Ben Nemivant went 6 for 6 with 6 RBI’s.  Jacob Smith gave up no hits and no runs for over four innings, but didn’t even qualify for the win.  For the Aggies, Kevin Jimenez went 2 for 4 with a home run RBI.  He’s the heart-and-soul of the team.  At least the Aggies’ defense improved for this game.  Now all they need to do is improve the hitting and pitching.     

 

As I walked out, the usher by the front gate told me again to tell Ron to get well soon.  (I told him.)  The game went for under three hours.  It felt longer.  At least the pace-of-play rules are working.  Since it was still early in the afternoon, I walked over to the Softball Complex to see how those games were going.