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.
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