It was definitely warmer and sunnier
today, as opposed to yesterday. However,
when I tested the weather outside, there was an occasional cold breeze
blowing. I settled on wearing my Aggie
hoodie again, though I was pretty sure it would warm up later. A lady at the ballpark had a blanket with her
and wasn’t sure if she needed it either.
Overall, it was a stunningly beautiful day for a ballgame.
I saw a bunch of girls were playing on
the soccer field as I drove into the parking lot. I think there were two games going on with
each playing on a half field with some mobile goals set up. None of them were wearing Aggie uniforms
though. A couple of people were watching
in the stands. I’m not sure who was
playing. I thought that if the baseball
finished early, I’d stop and watch if they were still playing. The game didn’t finish early (not much of a
surprise there), but there was still a soccer match going on afterward using
the whole field. I was driving past and
wanted to stop, but I couldn’t figure out who was playing. The Aggies don’t have blonde goalie that I
know of. (Also, some guy behind me was in
a hurry and trying to pull into in truck bed.
I was afraid to stop.)
Speaking of blondes, the ticket seller
girl from yesterday was in the office today.
When asked, she confirmed that she was there with her sister and
mother. “She’s dating one of the
players,” she said. “Your sister or your
mother?” I asked. It was a pleasant
exchange. I told her I was glad she got
to see a game for a change and a good one at that. Inside, every other person was wearing the
giveaway shirt from yesterday. Boy, they’re
cool. (Damn it.) Some other player girlfriends and some little
kids were hanging out in the “kiss and cry” area. The kids were by the dugout looking for
autographs.
I picked up a soda and popcorn at the
concessions. It was $1 hot dog day, but
I’d learned my lesson. Of course after
I’d sat down inside, everybody was coming in holding hot dogs in both
hands. I got so hungry watching them,
but I held out, not wanting to ruin lunch after the game. My usual seat was taken. I decided to sit up high in the stands under
the canopy. I tried looking into the
pressbox, but still never got a glimpse of the female PA voice.
A great crowd came in for the game
(announced at 652), likely thanks to the weather. (In Major League Baseball today, six games
got canceled for bad weather.) Another sorority
(I think) was sitting in the center grandstand.
A member threw out one of the first pitches. A little league team was out on field. A couple of them were dancing and a couple of
the Aggie players started mirroring them.
It was cute. One of the kids
threw out the other first pitch. The
catcher handed him back the ball and talked to him after. It was another nice moment.
I should mention who was sitting in my
usual spot. A lady was there in Chicago State colors. By the number on her hat, I could guess she
was the mother of their starting pitcher and leadoff batter, Zach Thomas. I’d assume that was his dad was next to
her. She was taking copious notes on all
his pitching and hitting during the game, as well as snapping pictures with a
good camera. I noticed an Asian family
complete with grandparents sitting nearby.
I’d guess they were Edward Kang’s
relatives. So, the Cougars had some fans
present.
For the Aggies, Bruno Teramoto started at second.
Balls would be finding him constantly during the game. Nick
Gonzales moved over to short. Joey Ortiz was out with a bruised glove
hand. In the bottom of the first, Logan Bottrell led off. With his walkup music playing, the rest of
the team gave him a high wave as he came up to bat. He worked a walk, was sacrificed over by Marcus Still, and was driven in by Logan Ehnes. 1-0 Aggies.
It was another “Bark in the Park”
day. A pair of beautiful golden labs
came in. A girl came in with a chocolate
lab that Kyle Bradish’s chocolate
lab took offense to and some barking ensued.
An older fellow came in with a fluffy white poodle, whom he put in the
seat next to him. Elsewhere, a kid came
in wearing an “Aggie Empire” shirt. I
almost wore mine today. Thank goodness I
didn’t. It would have been a fashion
catastrophe.
I noticed Victoria Castro and Amy
Bergeson from the Softball team come in for the second inning. I would have asked them how things went
Saturday in Phoenix, if I’d had the chance.
There were a bunch more kids present today. When mini foam footballs were tossed into the
crowd in this inning, they went crazy for them.
Likewise, every foul ball out of the stadium was followed by a stampede
of kids going for it.
During the third inning, Adam Young on radio (it’s so great to
have radio during a game) negatively confirmed that the home Texas Tech game was canceled, as he
went over the Aggies’ remaining schedule.
He didn’t mention it, so I’m assuming it’s off. They lost 2-1 to the Red Raiders earlier
this month in Midland. This was after
losing their series to Sacramento State (3-29-18). I completely missed the game since there was
no broadcast (and I didn’t think to find a Texas Tech broadcast). That close loss may have been more discouraging
to me than if they’d gotten blown out, since it meant that they could have
won. I would have liked to have seen a
re-match here.
On field, on his fourth chance, Bruno
made an error to let on a runner. Next,
he wasn’t able to able to get to an infield bunt to let on another runner. Aggie pitcher Alex Pinedo then yielded two more hits and a pair of runs
scored. 2-1 Cougars. Bruno would then make a good diving stop for
the second out. With two on and two out,
the Cougars tried to bunt. Adam was
terribly confused by the strategy, but Pinedo wasn’t and got the third out.
The Aggies came back with a single and
a walk. Trey Stine came up and hit a low arcing blast to left center for a
three-run homer. I took a look at the
pitcher’s mom. She showed no
emotion. Zach Thomas is the Cougars’ ace
and that was only his second homer given up for the year. After a coaching visit, Thomas got a
strikeout, but then gave up a pair of doubles for another run. Thomas got another strikeout, but after an
error (which was later ruled a hit), the coach came back out. Zach was already walking back to the dugout
before he got there, his head hanging.
Again, no emotion from the parents.
Now I felt bad. 5-2 Aggies.
In the fourth, a little kid and his dad
came in. Both were Dodger fans by the
hats they were wearing. The kid had two foul
balls and the old man had one himself.
Pinedo gave up a pair of walks with a couple of strikeouts in between
them. Then there was a high popup on the
infield. Nick lost it in the sun at
short and dropped it. A run scored from
second. Nick’s sunglasses were on his
hat. He’d be wearing them for the rest
of the game. 5-3 Aggies.
A trio of older men were nearby
discussing some baseball. A little girl
in a sundress, somebody’s granddaughter, was listening to them with rapt
attention. She got a foul ball too and
one of the souvenir shirts tossed into the crowd. The Aggies loaded the bases in the bottom of
the fourth. Ehnes got to first to fill
them via getting hit. Unfortunately, Tristen Carranza struckout to end the
inning.
Tyler
Lowe led off the fifth with a triple for
the Cougars. His ball just kept carrying
out to center field as it hit the wall.
He nearly went for an inside-the-park homer. He was driven in on a fielder’s choice
next. Pinedo gave up another single, but
a good double play ended the inning. 5-4
Aggies. Mason Fishback led off the bottom by getting hit by Dylan Cumming. Fishback has been a magnet for balls
lately. Nick walked afterward, but
neither scored.
“You’re missing a good game, Blue!”
shouted a fan after a disputed call in the sixth. I’d noticed earlier that the Chicago State
manager also shouting at the ump from the dugout. Pinedo was out and the Aggies would begin a
parade of one-inning relievers. Stine
led off the bottom by getting hit. Man,
I’m hurting just watching. The bases
were loaded on two singles. Fishback was
plunked again to bring in a run. That’s
the fifth time he’s been hit in two games (only four officially counted
though).
Nick brought in another run with a sac
fly to center. After walking Bruno,
Cumming was finally taken out. After
four hit batters, the Aggies weren’t sorry to see him go. Grant
Trower came in. His first pitch was
a wild pitch that let in a run. Carranza
did have his hand stepped on while taking home, but stayed in the game. Trower’s second pitch was a passed ball and
let in another run. Bottrell then
doubled to clear off the remaining runner from Cumming. Five runs for the inning and 10-4 Aggies.
The play of the game happened in the
seventh. From shallow center field, Marcus
gunned down a runner at home coming in from second. Chance
Hroch let the throw go through for the play at the plate. The runner laid there at home after in
complete disbelief. I was approaching
the end of the page where I was taking notes and I can’t help to notice that
that was my last note on the game. There
might be a correlation there.
The Aggies tacked on two more runs in
the eighth with RBI hits by Bruno and Marcus.
With two runners in scoring position, the Aggies had a chance to
run-rule game, but Stine flied out to end the inning. The Cougars went down in order in the
ninth. Our final: Aggies 12, Cougars 4. The
game took a little over three hours. The
first half of the game went long, but the second half went pretty quick. Let’s hand out a game ball to Tyler Lowe on the Cougars for going 3
for 5 with 2 RBI’s. For the Aggies,
their pitching relief corps went four scoreless innings, Trey Stine had three RBI’s off a home run, and Logan Ehnes went 3 for 4 with an RBI. Mason
Fishback gets another purple heart for taking two more hits for the team.
I got the lunch I’d been waiting for
over at Schlotzsky’s in the form of
their BLT on a pretzel roll with a creamy tomato basil soup for dipping. It was excellent. I kissed the chef on both cheeks and said
something in French as I kissed my fingertips in praise. Hopefully, they’ll allow me back in the
restaurant. Another great day at the
ballpark.
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