NM State Aggies vs SD St Jackrabbits Baseball 2-18-24

There was no screwing around today.  It was just going to be baseball.  The only other game was Nebraska was playing softball at 9:00am.  Forget that.  Also, no screwing around with lunch.  I’d been wanting Whataburger all week.  I left early to go there and have a Honey Barbeque Chicken Strip Sandwich.  It was better than I’d been imagining.  It was also pretty much my only meal of the day, but it was plenty.

 

It might have been a little colder today than yesterday, but there was no wind, so it pleasant.  I brought a jacket and scarf in this time to make sure I stayed warm.  I parked next to an RV holding a tailgate.  There was another great crowd at 754 official attendance. 

 

I went over to sit with Michael and his friend Kent.  I thanked Michael for mentioning wanting Whataburger yesterday for getting me motivated to go.  Michael had spoken to Adam Young, who was back on radio duty today.  Adam confirmed that they were installing two hot tubs for the fans at the park.  I’ll get my Speedo ready for the first warm day game.  I can only hope that the Hot Pan-Am Girl will also be partaking.

 

The Aggies were in black tops with easy to read numbers (thankfully).  The Jackrabbits were in sharp powder blues with bright yellow numbers.  There was a live Anthem singer for the game.  Hayden Walker’s dad came over and Michael wished him luck, since his son was today’s Aggie starter.  Hayden also seemed to have a large personal cheering section for his introduction.

 

Unlike yesterday, these scorecards added up thanks to Adam’s radio call.  Hayden struck out the side in the first, but also gave up two hits, including a homer.  The Aggie crowd and sizable SDS crowd had reasons to cheer, which they all did.  1-0 Jacks.

 

It was Bark at the Park day for Sunday.  An adorable little dog came in by me.  This was followed by an unbearably cute little Australian Shepherd Dog puppy!  I fell completely in love. 

 

Keith Jones worked a walk to start the bottom of the first.  On a loose ball at the plate, he went for second, thought the better of it, got caught halfway, and somehow made it back to first under the tag.  Looking at the line score, he used up all his luck for the day on that.  He ended up at second anyway after a wild pitch.  After a walk to Damone Hale, a grounder to the short by Steve Solorzano was mishandled and thrown away.  KJ scored and Hale would come in on a sac fly by Preston Godfrey.  2-1 Aggies.

 

Walker settled in with a 1-2-3 second.  Gianni Horvat at second made a great running play for the second out and lost his hat.  (This kept happening to players all weekend.)  The Aggies also went down in order.  Jacks’ shortstop Carter Sintek made a great dive stop and throw for the final out.  Even Aggie fans applauded.

 

Walker was really in a grove for the third and struckout the side.  Cade Stuff got irritated at his K and started barking at the ump.  His coach came out and quickly pulled Stuff back into the dugout.  The first two Aggies struckout looking in the bottom of the third.  Jess Bellows in center for the Jacks made a great diving catch to end the inning.

 

Cael Frost solo homered in the fourth for SDS.  That was Adam’s fault.  He was overly praising Walker’s pitching at the time.  Romeo Ballesteros made two putouts from short to end the frame.  2-2. 

 

“Solo” (Solorzano) was hit to start the bottom of the fourth.  He advanced to third on a passed ball and a wild pitch during Godfrey’s at bat, which ended in a walk.  After a strikeout, another walk loaded the bases.  Nick Gore came up and hit a weak grounder to short.  Sintek only managed to knock it down and everyone was safe.  I was initially thinking error, but it was ruled a hit and would have consequences later.   

 

Will Kent, the Jacks’ starter, came back with a strikeout before being taken out.  I should have applauded, as he was coming out with only having given up one hit.  Sam Schlecht came with the bases still loaded and got a big strikeout of Keith to end the inning.  The Aggies went up 3-2, but unknown at the time, Sintek’s play had saved the game for SDS.

 

The fifth inning had light traffic on the pads (the Aggies got another walk), but was scoreless.  We had our first on-field fan competition of the season between innings between a kid and a toddler in a dressing contest.  The toddler had a lot of trouble getting that shirt on.  That wasn’t a fair competition.

 

Into the sixth, Romeo had two hard charging outs from short.  He was part of eight putouts today without an error.  In the bottom, the Aggies got a runner on via a hit batter, but he was erased on a double play.  Unfortunately, that was the result of bad base running by both runners on an infield grounder.  They were trying to force things.

 

I noticed Kendal Lunar and Desirae Spearman from the Aggie Softball team here on their day off.  Hayden Walker made it to the seventh, but walked the first batter and came out.  It was a heck of an effort.  Matt Romero came in in relief.  He struckout the first two batters and looked good, but then gave up a run-scoring double.  A walk then followed.  In a gutsy move, the Jacks pulled off a double steal before another walk and loaded the bases.  Cho Tofte was brought in.  On a grounder, Horvat made a remarkable stop and toss to Romeo to get the final out.  3-3. 

 

The Aggies had no answer in the bottom of the seventh and went down in order.  Tofte walked the first batter of the top of the eighth, but a double play and strikeout sent us to the bottom of the eighth tied.  The Jacks put in their closer, Alex Clemons.    

 

Mitch Namie worked a walk to start the frame.  He tossed his bat and screamed at the Aggie dugout.  Jadon Arakaki came in to pinch run for him.  The SDS coach came out for a talk, while the crowd started chanting, “Let’s go Aggies!”  Clemons got a strikeout next, but also threw three wild pitches which scored Arakaki to give the Aggies the lead. 

 

Clemons got another strikeout, but walked four batters around it.  Romeo’s walk forced in Godfrey, who played up to the crowd as he crossed the plate.  With the bases still loaded, Keith hit a fly ball for the final out.  The Aggies were up 5-3 and brought in their closer, Hayden Lewis. 

 

The Aggies had brought in three subs in the innings, which shuffled their defense.  Solorzano was moved from third to first.  The first batter hit it to him.  Solo juggled the ball, but managed to hold it and beat him to the bag for the first out.  The Jacks got two singles next.  (For some reason, Romeo wasn’t playing at double play depth on the second hit.  Otherwise, he would have gotten the ball.)  Davis Carr grounded a DP ball to Horvat, but he didn’t make a good toss to Romeo and drew him off the bag.  Everyone was safe with the bases now loaded.

 

Cohen Henry was our fourth Jack leadoff batter of the game.  (I ran out of space in the slot.)  He worked a walk, which forced in a run.  The Aggies only led by a run now.  Parry, who’d already homered today came up.  He only saw one pitch and he liked it.  Off the ball went and over the centerfield wall.  The SDS dugout and their fans erupted.  Parry executed a giant bat flip and rounded the bases to complete the grand slam.  8-5 Jacks.

 

Clemons came back out for the ninth.  As per the pattern of the game, the Aggies worked two walks in the inning around two outs.  Horvat flied out to end the game.  The Jackrabbits won 8-5.   

 

The first half of the game was so quick, but the last three innings dragged the game time out a bit to 2:50.  Where to start with the stats?  We’ll start with the obvious one: the Aggies had 1 hit today.  They didn’t deserve to win.  On the other hand, with 12 walks and 2 hit batters by SDS pitching, they didn’t really deserve it either.  How did you let a team nearly beat you with 1 hit?  The Aggies left 10 runners on base!  They could have won this at two different points in the game (the bases loaded situations).

 

The Aggies had 10 K’s.  4 of them were looking.  Between that and all those walks, the Aggies were entirely too passive.  Until the Aggies play another opponent, we won’t know how much of this was SDS pitching and how much was Aggie patience.  The Jacks had 14 K’s.  Players weren’t happy with the ump, but he was consistently calling that high outside pitch a strike. 

 

Nick Gore, with your weak infield hit, you are the Aggies’ offensive player of the game.  Congratulations on cheating me out of seeing a no-hitter at Presley Askew Field.  Like this’ll ever have a chance of happening again.  Dawson Parry of the Jackrabbits, thanks to you as well for your grand slam (2 homers, 5 RBI’s).  I didn’t get to see a team win a game with 5 runs off of 1 hit.  It would have been borderline miraculous and made baseball news somewhere. 

 

Pitching-wise, Will Kent and the SDS middle relief was pretty good.  Their closer was a bit of a disaster.  For the Aggies, Hayden Walker had a great performance along with the middle relief.  The closer was a total disaster.  In a close game like this, somebody was going to be disappointed at the end under those circumstances. 

 

I waited around after the game to talk to Adam.  The official scorer was talking to him about the pitching line after the broadcast.  I was about to offer my scorecard to help, but they didn’t need it.  (Darn it!)  I told Adam how glad I was to have him back after Lou Romano’s turn at the mic yesterday.  I related Lou’s issues in seeing the action on the field, though I did say I enjoyed the broadcast anyway.  Adam asked if I was coming back tomorrow.  It’s gonna be cold in the evening, but if it’s not too bad, I’ll be there to see what happens next.