Let’s
hear it for the weather this weekend. These last two days have been
beautiful. Sunny, not too hot (75-degrees), and a nice cool breeze
blowing right to left. Yep, that weather. And Aggie
Baseball
was blown out again by WKU.
It’s hard to get too upset when it’s such a pleasant day at the
ballpark even when you lose on Senior Day.
Scary
moment driving to the ballpark today. I saw another driver get
confused on the lanes and drove the wrong way down a major street.
Thankfully, there wasn’t much traffic on a Sunday morning and it
was a short distance before this person was able to make a turnoff.
In the Presley
Askew Field
parking lot, there were a couple of trailers tailgating, including a
nice-looking silver Airstream.
Inside,
I finally picked up a corn-in-the-cup at the concessions. I’d been
mostly eating breakfast before going to these morning games. There
was nobody in line ahead of me, but ten people lined up behind me
after I ordered. Timing is everything. Instead of a cup, they
handed me a big dishful of corn and it was spectacular. Why
wasn’t I doing this all season?
I thought with each bite.
There
was a great crowd of 612 on this beautiful Senior Day. I don’t
think there were any scouts today. They’d probably decided the
Aggies weren’t giving the WKU prospects enough of a challenge. Fan
Michael was handing out autographed posters to the families of the
players, as he does every year. The Reese family was here. Nellie
Reese
was wearing a cool violet-colored Padres hat. She’d stolen it for
day from her brother, Cooper
Reese,
who has a large collection of hats.
Once
again, it was an easy add on the scorecards today. I’ll thank Adam
Young
on the radio broadcast for his help in scoring this weekend. (Though
I was mentally correcting him when he tried to hand out an error
after an out where a double play wasn’t turned.)
Ian
Hoslett
started for the Aggies. He gave up a single to the first batter, but
then got a strikeout and catcher Dane
Woodcook
threw out the runner on the same play. (This is apparently not a
double play in official scoring. I was wrong there.) Taylor
Penn
started for the Hilltoppers. (Both starters were TBA before today.)
Mitch
Namie
singled in the first. Steve
Solorzano
was hit really hard with a fastball. You could hear it in the
stands. It looked to me like it was on the shoulder, but others said
it was on the wrist. He stayed in. I think I’m right, because
that shot would have broken his wrist. Unfortunately, both runners
were left stranded.
Hoslett
had a 1-2-3 second. Ethan
Lizama
may have had the hardest hit ball of the day, but he hit it to right
field and the breeze knocked it down. Right fielder Joey
Craig
camped under it with his back to the wall for the out. In the
bottom, Boston
Vest
led off with a homer. He hit his shot to center. Austin
Haller
at second made a great play on a Craig grounder that hit the mound
first. He stayed with it for the out. 1-0 Aggies.
The
nice WKU couple was again behind us. Trey Reese had a conversation
with the dad about Nolan
Ryan.
Trey had seen him play as a kid. Trey also mentioned that a major
change to the ballpark configuration was under consideration. We
were all shocked and Trey was concerned that he shouldn’t have said
anything. Given that the scoreboard is still mostly unreadable in
sunlight, I don’t know that reconfiguration should be a priority.
In the latest newsletter from the new AD, she was bragging about
putting handrails in the Pan-Am
Center.
I agree. Those steps are a bit steep. That’s why there are
already handrails there. (It’s a great new era in Aggie Sports.)
The
Hilltoppers punched back in the top of the third. Haller led off
with a homer to tie it at 1. In the bottom, Brandon
Forrester
began with a big flyball to center. Star WKU centerfielder, Ryan
Wideman,
waved his arms and never saw it, as it dropped in. Forrester had a
gift double and Namie cashed him in with a single. Aggies back up,
2-1.
Hilltopper
Carlos
Vasquez tied
it right back up with a home run to start the fourth. Hoslett set
the next three batters down in order. Wideman hit a high flyball to
center and Aggie centerfielder Camden
Kaufman
almost lost it. It was a tough sky today.
Gavin
Perry
came in to pitch for WKU in the bottom. Adam mentioned that earlier
in the season against LA
Tech,
Perry had given up 7 runs in an inning. WKU came back with 10 runs
in the bottom and won the game in a run rule. The WKU couple said
that game was crazy with a football score.
Perry
hit Vest with a pitch, but he was erased on a double play. After,
Craig beat out an infield hit with some astonishing speed. Another
single and a walk loaded the bases. The WKU coach came out and
talked to Perry. He came back and struck out Namie on three pitches.
Good talk.
The
WKU mom asked why I was keeping a scorecard. I asked why everyone
isn’t keeping a scorecard like all good baseball fans should. The
top of the fifth began with a two-base error. We’ll take that over
another home run. Hoslett then gave up a walk and had a wild pitch,
but he finished strong by getting the next three batters without
giving up a run.
There
was a kid uniform dressing contest between innings. It was cute. I
noticed in the Aggie dugout that a player was juggling all of the
time. I think it was Cade
Shumard.
This reminds me of Taryn
Bennett with
Aggie Softball. If you could teach the whole team to juggle that might
be pretty intimidating to see in the dugout. The Aggies got a bit of
traffic on in the bottom of the fifth, but failed to score.
I
missed giveaway jersey night on Friday. I was seeing them everywhere
in the crowd and was getting jealous. They looked pretty good.
Former AD Mario Moccia came in. I almost didn’t recognize him
wearing a colorful Hawaiian shirt. He had his two girls in tow.
They stayed for a couple of innings, as Mario went around and greeted
some people. I’m sure he’d be really impressed with the new
handrails in the Pan-Am Center.
Jaden
Davis
relieved Hoslett after five innings started with a walk. Kyle
Hayes
came up with one out and blasted one out for a two-run homer. Trey
shook his head, “That was four straight sliders.” After a single
and a walk, Coach
Angier
brought in Matthew
Yarc.
This didn’t help. Two more singles scored another run. Dalton
Fiveash
then cleared the loaded bases with a double. Yarc finished the
inning with a pair of strikeouts, but the Hilltoppers were now in
command, 8-2.
Treyson
Peters
came in for the Hilltoppers for the bottom of the sixth. Judging by
the cheering behind me, I’m guessing this was the WKU couple’s
son. Unfortunately, he threw 8 straight balls and walked the first
two Aggie hitters.
The
WKU coach took Peters right out for his best reliever, Cal
Higgins.
Uncharacteristically, he walked his first batter, Woodcook, to load
the bases with nobody out. Dane yelled back at his dugout in
encouragement. Forrester was up next and given first after being
grazed by a pitch. (There was some skepticism about this.) This
brought in a run and Namie drove in another on a fielder’s choice.
Reid
Howard
at short got a grounder next and dropped it, but still managed to
turn a double play. 8-4 WKU.
Yarc
began the seventh by walking Wideman, who then stole second. Yarc
caught Wideman going to third, but made a bad throw and Wideman took
the base. This was ruled a steal, instead of an error. (Wideman’s
very fast and among the national leaders in steals. This ruling felt
like some padding for him. It was initially ruled an error.)
Wideman
came in on a groundout. Gianni
Horvat
at second made a great dive stop on that grounder for the second out.
After Yarc hit a batter, Hazen
Wright
was brought in. I questioned why he wasn’t brought in earlier,
since he was the only Aggie pitcher with a sub-5 ERA. I pointed out
to Trey the ERA discrepancy between the teams on the program (shown
above). He was stunned seeing it. Overall, it’s over a 4-run
difference. Forrester dropped a grounder on Wright’s first batter,
but no further damage was done. 9-4 WKU.
A
girl came into the stands carrying a tub yelling, “Last call for
hot dogs! Cash only!” She sold them all. The WKU couple bought a
couple. Higgins gave up a single in the bottom of the seven, but
that was all. For the top of the eighth, Wideman brought in run on a
sac fly after a couple of walks. In the bottom, Namie also brought
in a run with a sac line out. One bit of comedy happened when
Woodcook took a terrible swing in his at bat and the dugout laughed
at him. They did cheer him on right after that. 10-5 WKU.
Dylan
Weekly
came in for the Aggies to pitch the ninth. He gave up a homer to his
first batter, Lizama. Forrester then made a great charging play on a
weak infield grounder. The Hilltoppers did get two on with a walk
and hit batter, but they were left stranded.
Patrick
Morris
relieved Higgins for the ninth. Senior Kade
Benavidez
led off as a pinch hitter and hit a flyball to left, which the
fielder clanked on. It was a rough day to be an outfielder. Vest
worked a walk. Kaufman hit a slow roller down the third baseline.
Vasquez let it go hoping the ball would go foul, but it never did.
The bases were loaded, but a looking strikeout and a lineout ended
the game. WKU wins, 11-5,
and sweeps the series.
Just
a few Gameballs today. For the Hilltoppers, Austin
Haller
went 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s and a home run, and Dalton
Fiveash
had a big bases-clearing 3-run double. For the Aggies, Mitch
Namie
went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and Ian
Hoslett
had a great 5-inning effort only giving up 2 runs. The Aggies were
in this one, except for that bad sixth inning. They weren’t able
to counter with a big inning of their own. Given the stats shown
above, this series’ results were in line with expectations.
Today’s
seniors were Kade
Benavidez,
Austin
Corbett,
Gianni
Horvat,
Sheehan
O’Connor,
and Connor
Wylde,
who got the biggest cheer from the team. In spite of what happened
on the field, the team quickly set it aside and were in good spirits.
Over at the Visiting dugout, the WKU coach and a player were
interviewed. Like I mentioned in the last game, they brought
their own radio commentator. I said, “Goodbye” to Trey and
Robin. It was nice sitting with them this season. I told Nellie she
was doing a great job with the Volleyball team (and I meant it). I
waved to Adam in the booth on my way out.
I
called dad after the game. It ran really long at 3 hours and 22
minutes, not including the Senior ceremony, which was fairly quick.
I’d offered to bring him lunch yesterday after today’s game. He
didn’t want anything, except a small chocolate shake. I went to
Subway
and planned on getting a sub and the shake at PQ
Treats
next door, but they were closed. That was disappointing.
Instead,
I went down the street to Freddy’s.
I’d had hamburgers the last two days. Why not three-in-a-row?
Actually, one of their Grilled
Cheese Hamburgers
was what I’d really wanted the last three days anyway. It was
awesome and melted in mouth. Unfortunately, their small shakes were
more like kid-sized. I had to apologize.
I
totally missed the two baseball games on the radio in the afternoon
and missed seeing the sportscar race at Laguna
Seca,
one of my favorite tracks. Even with a bad loss, I still wouldn’t
trade a nice day at the ballpark. I’ll report on the rest of the
Aggie Baseball season in my usual ***Memorial
Day***
post. I still don’t know what I’m going to do about Aggie Sports
next season or what my work situation will be, but I plan on still
going to baseball at least.