NM State Aggies vs Sacramento State Hornets 3-29 & 30-18

After the Padres/Chihuahuas exhibition game  (3-26-18), I wrote Tim Hagerty, the voice of the Chihuahuas, to tell him I was glad to have him and the team back on.  I asked him about local and baseball icon, Cody Decker, tweeting the Aggie program before the season.  He said it was because Coach Brian Green had been one of his coaches when he was at UCLA.  I’m sure I heard that somewhere before, but forgot all about it.

On Tuesday (3-27-18), Aggie Softball beat UTEP 8-6 in Game 1, and 8-0 in a run rule in Game 2.  Kelsey Horton and Victoria Castro homered in that game.  I felt so bad about not going.  People had been encouraging me to take a day off, since they all were taking vacation at about the same time.  Initially, Aggie Baseball had scheduled their game versus Texas Tech at about the same time as the softball in the evening, and I’d asked for the day off.  Then they changed it to the afternoon, but still overlapping with the softball, so I just said I’d come in late that day.  Then they canceled the game altogether, but the softball was still on.  Then I had problems with my stove and had to be there for a repairman and that canceled everything for me.  He showed up early and I still could have called in for the day, but I’d been too wishy-washy and didn’t want to be a last minute problem.  NM State stop scheduling important games at the same time!

3-29-18

The Aggies started their conference series versus Sacramento State on Thursday.  There was a good crowd reported there for an odd day of the week for a game.  I could hear the Old Man there cheering.  There were also a bunch of scouts there to watch Aggie starter, Kyle Bradish.  Trey Stine got the scoring started in the first, bringing in two runs on a triple.  Bradish wasn’t giving up much in the way of hits, but was handing out walks.  In the third, Sac St tied the score at 2 on a sacrifice and a double. 

In the fourth, the Aggies loaded the bases, but only managed 1 run to take a 3-2 lead.  An Aggie coach brought up a horrifying stat related to last Saturday’s game (3-24-18) with all those stranded runners.  A team that loads the bases with no outs and fails to score has a single-digit chance of winning the game.  There weren’t any other factors attached to that stat; it was simply that black and white.  That did happen in the game, which the Aggies did lose.  Just to follow up a little on something else, Caliche's handed out free frozen custard during that game.  While going somewhere else, I passed by there and got lunch.  They have a new key lime with cheesecake bits flavor that is to die for.  I also picked up one of their croissant sandwiches, which have to be the best in town.

Bradish struck out the side in the fourth.  He’d go 6 innings and finish with 7 strikeouts, 5 walks, and 2 runs.  In the fifth, Stine, Caleb Henderson, and Nick Gonzales all drove in runs.  Mason Fishback finished it off in the eighth, doubling in two runs.  The Aggie relievers gave up nothing in the game.  8-2 Aggies was the happy total on MLB Opening Day.

3-30-18
Too busy at work to really watch the game on TV.  The Aggies went down 6-0 halfway through the game and my interest waned.  They made it respectable, but in the seventh, after scoring two runs, Mason Fishback struck out with two runners in scoring position.  That was the pivotal play of the game.  7-3 Hornets was the final.  The Aggies ran into some tough pitching today.  Hopefully, I’ll be there tomorrow to watch the rubber match.