NM State Aggies vs SD St Jackrabbits Baseball 2-19-24

 

I didn’t mention yesterday that I was probably only at baseball because I couldn’t watch the Daytona 500.  El Paso’s Fox affiliate “upgraded” their signal and I haven’t been able to receive their station for a couple of months.  I’m not getting cable, nor buying a new TV.  I’m not even sure where I could get a converter box or something like it to pick up the signal.  There’s a couple of sports restaurants nearby that I could go to, but I wasn’t that interested. 

 

I didn’t even think about the race until later at night and, lacking Internet, I couldn’t even get news about it.  There was nothing about it on the radio the next morning.  I found out this was because the race was delayed until Monday.  I finally got news on the radio after tonight’s game.  All I heard was that there was a big wreck and William Byron came out the winner.  I like William.  Too bad I didn’t get to see it.  So much for NASCAR.

 

Aggie Softball was playing their final game of the Troy Cox Classic today at 3:00pm, about an hour before baseball.  I don’t understand this scheduling.  Given that it’s Presidents Day and some people have the day off, you could have put the game on earlier to give people a chance to see it and baseball at 4:00pm.  Anyway, the softball tournament has been a bust for me.  I saw one full game and that was between visiting teams.  I only got to see a few innings of a couple of Aggie games.  Well, it cut down on the amount of games I was reporting on.     

 

It was probably the nicest out of the four days with clear skies, no wind, and a high of 71-degrees.  I walked over to the mall for pizza for lunch and did a little shopping.  I took off to the ballpark later.  The Softball game was in progress as I drove by the stadium.  I couldn’t see the scoreboard.  For the third time, I parked near an attractive group of young women getting ready for the game.  I wonder if they’re a group of player girlfriends. 

 

There was a pretty good crowd for the game at 557.  I noticed a bunch of Football players inside.  Their new coach, Tony Sanchez, threw out the first pitch.  It was a strike.  The South Dakota State bus driver was seated up front.  A large group of young people came in right before the game.  They were all wearing Aggie stuff, but looked too young to be in college.  They stayed for about half the game.      

It all adds up again.  I’m so confident, I’m not even checking it against the official scoring.  Thanks again to Adam Young on the radio call for helping out.  Cade Swenson started for the Aggies.  He had an eventful first giving up two hits, a wild pitch, and a walk (an intentional one to yesterday’s hero, Dawson Parry).  A run scored on a fielder’s choice to make it, 1-0 Jackrabbits.  The Aggies punched right back.  Damone Hale doubled and was driven in by Steve Solorzano.  1-1.  Those two hits already doubled yesterday’s hit total.  The Aggies were definitely more aggressive out of the gate.

 

Adam chatted a bit about SDS’s baseball program, which is always snowed in at the start of the season.  When Aggie coach Jake Angier played there, the team had to take infield practice in rodeo arena.  Swenson started off with a hit batter and went downhill from there.  After a single, Davis Carr, the nine-hole hitter, blasted a three-run homer.  That was the Jack’s eighth home run of the 4-game series.

 

Swenson then gave up a walk.  Thatcher Kozal was caught stealing, but Romeo Ballesteros dropped the ball.  That was unfortunate.  After finally getting the first out on a line drive, there was another intentional walk to Parry.  Cael Frost came up and hit a two-run double.  It actually should have been a triple, but he hesitated after rounding second and was thrown out.  It was 6-1 SDS after the smoke cleared.

 

The now Swinging Aggies were not giving up.  After a single by Gianni Horvat, catcher Nick Gore blasted a two-run homer.  Keith Jones later singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and was driven in by Hale.  6-4 SDS. 

 

Softball was already over by this point.  It was an under two-hour game.  A couple of innings later, Adam reported that the Aggies beat North Dakota, 2-1.  Some members of the team came over after the game to watch.  Coach Angier had seen enough last inning and brought in Conor Wylde in relief in the third.  After a leadoff single, he settled in and even picked off a runner. 

 

In the bottom of the third, Preston Godfrey hit his first base coach on the foot with a foul ball.  He then struckout going 0-12 so far this season.  Horvat doubled, but got picked off.  There were two attempts made.  I think the first one actually got him.  When they tried it again right after, they gave the ump a chance to make the right call.

 

Wylde had two strikeouts and two walks in the top of the fourth, but no damage.  In the bottom, the Aggies had a two-out rally.  The bases were loaded on two singles and a walk.  Godfrey picked the right time for his first hit of the year, as he doubled in two runs.  Mitch Namie crossed the plate and yelled at the crowd and waved his arms.  6-6.  

 

The Jacks came back in the top of the fifth with a pair of singles that scored a run.  7-6 SDS.  Between innings, the Hot Pan-Am Girl came by tossing hats.  I was sitting by Michael and he flagged her down and got a hat for his sister that was with him.  Gore walked to start the bottom of the fifth.  Jadon Arakaki failed in a sac bunt and took his place at first.  Keith then slapped a triple to drive him in and retie the score.  He posed at third and played to the dugout.  7-7.  Dylan Dressen came in to get the final out for the Jacks.

 

The PA recognized Soccer Coach Baarts in the crowd.  It was his birthday.  He was sitting next to Coach Sanchez in the stands.  Kade Benevidez came on in sixth in relief.  Kade was the starting catcher on Saturday, so he’s a two-way player.  Over six batters, he got six different results.  A walk and a double down the line by Parry (possibly the only strike he saw for the game) scored a run to give the Jackrabbits the lead again, 8-7. 

 

In the bottom of the sixth, Namie led off and worked a full count.  The Aggie dugout went wild.  Namie finally got a walk.  He turned to the dugout and shrugged.  Mitch was erased on a double play.  Godfrey got another double, but was left stranded.  Aaron Treloar was the next Aggie pitcher to begin the seventh.  He hit the first batter without damage, as he was removed on a fielder’s choice.  A caught stealing and a strikeout ended the frame.

 

Dressen got the first two batters out in the seventh.  Romeo then walked and took an interesting trip around the bases.  He got to second on a wild pickoff throw.  He took third on a wild pitch.  Finally, Carr at catcher made a bad throw back to the pitcher.  The ball got away from him and Romeo scampered home and tied the score yet again, 8-8.  And just to rub it in, Keith, who’d been at second, stole third because no one was paying attention to him.  Dressen regained control with a strikeout to end the inning.  I was watching Carr during the inning.  He was really urging his pitcher on.

 

Treloar got a punchout looking to start the top the eighth.  He was then relieved by Zach Zwaschka.  I hate to say it, but this decision to play match up, might have been the turning point of the game.  Zach walked the next two batters, including Parry again, and was taken out for Fernando Barreda.  The SDS coach put in Jordan Sagedahl as a pinch runner.  The next pitch was a single by Frost, which scored Sagedahl easily.  (Interesting contrast in managerial decisions this inning.)  A groundout would also bring in Parry to put the Jacks up 10-8. 

 

Still no quit in the Aggies today.  Namie walked again to start the bottom of the eighth.  Dressen again made an error on a pickoff throw to move Namie up.  He moved over to third on a grounder and was driven in on a sac fly by Gore, 10-9.  Three walks after Namie’s walk did load the bases, but the Aggies couldn’t bring any more in.  They had gone back to being overly patient and stopped hitting.            

 

Barreda began the top of the ninth with a strikeout, but then gave up a double and a single, which added an insurance run for the Jackrabbits, 11-9.  Cho Tofte was brought in.  He walked Parry (for his fifth walk of the game).  With two on and one out, Tofte struck out the next two batters to give the Aggies a chance in the bottom.

 

I could hear the fat lady warming up, but this opera wasn’t over.  Keith beat out an infield hit to start the bottom of the ninth, as the shortstop had trouble handling the ball.  He stole second.  Carr’s throw went into centerfield and KJ took third on the play.  Keith then scored on a wild pitch.  The young man did everything he could for the win here.  Solorzano singled with two outs bringing up Godfrey.  Preston would blast one to right field.  It had a chance and sent the right fielder to wall, but Frost hauled it in.  Jackrabbits win 11-10.

 

That was sort of thrilling and crushingly depressing.  I was glad to see the Aggie bats pick up in this game.  They just didn’t keep it up at the end.  Adam picked on the Aggies left on base stats after the game, but both teams left double digit runners on base.  The pitching was hurtful tonight, as neither team could stop the other from scoring for long.  It was amazing that there was only one big inning. 

 

Let’s toss those Gameballs.  For the Jackrabbits, Cael Frost went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI’s.  Dylan Dressen somehow got the win.  His coach had an awful lot of faith in him to keep him in so long (or had no one left to pitch).  He had 7 walks, 5 strikeouts, and gave up 3 runs over 4+ innings.  His runs were all unearned, though ironically because of two of his fielding errors (and one by the catcher). 

 

For the Aggies, Keith Jones went 3 for 5 with an RBI and gets a hustle award.  Damone Hale went 3 for 6 with an RBI.  Nick Gore had 3 RBI’s with a 2-run homer and a sac fly.   Conor Wylde and Aaron Treloar did well in relief.  Cho Tofte had a high-leverage close out in the ninth.      

 

I enjoyed these four days of games overall.  Even if I didn’t get the result I wanted, at least I got lots of drama.  There’s no such thing as too much baseball.  I’m glad I didn’t try to go to more games, as I’m a bit spent.  Thankfully, I didn’t have trouble keeping up with the recaps.  I will have a lot to look up in the official scoring, especially for that Saturday game.  And I’ll have a lot of back log at work.  At least I’ve got a weekend off before the next two months where there’s a baseball or softball game every weekend.