NM State Aggies vs Sacramento State Hornets 3-31-18

First, let me apologize for my last two posts.  Both were made after midnight.  I’m not sure why I felt compelled to post them at that time and without proofreading them.  These things are buggy enough with me going over them.  I was certainly excited about Opening Day, but I probably should have waited on that one.  The Friday Aggie post was going to be the front end of this post, but I’d written enough to make a full post out of it.  I should have gone over the box score better to recap that night’s game, but I was really busy for quarter end at work.  I wrote that one paragraph recap after 1:00 am.    

In addition to canceling the Texas Tech game earlier this week for Easter (apparently this calendar holiday caught schedulers by surprise), they also moved up the start time of this game to accommodate Sac St’s travel plans.  (As part of my job, I have to go over holidays and statement drop days on the calendar for the whole year before the new year starts.  It’s a miserable, nitpicky task.)  Always check the latest schedule before making plans to come to the ballpark. 

It was a stunningly perfect day out.  No matter how the game turned out, it was a great day to spend some time outdoors.   I came about a half hour before first pitch and felt a little lonely at the ballpark.  The game time change may have caught most of the fans off guard.   The security guard and ticket taker were talking about it when I came in.  The stands were empty enough to start that when the female PA (maybe someday I’ll get a look at her and her name) muffed a pregame announcement, she chuckled over the mic about it.  The crowd would fill in as the game went on.   

My breakfast consisted of a terrible hot dog and the corn in a cup wasn’t doing it for me.  The people running the concessions are nice, but I’m going to have rethink future ballpark/stadium food purchases.  I did ask about them serving wine, as I’d seen at the last two games.  Yes, they do, and they also serve margaritas.

Oh, the pennant above was handed out at last night’s game.  I found mine lying in the parking lot as I drove in . . . and ran over it.  It cleaned up reasonably well at home.  While I was eating, I watched the Easter Bunny warming up with the Aggie players.  Yes, really.  EB was working on his pitching.  I also listened to the pregame on the radio.  Coach Brian Green gave full credit to yesterday’s lack to hitting to Hornets’ starter, Parker Brahms.  He did say that the players needed to make better adjustments during the game.  Isn’t getting the guys ready for an opposing pitcher, the coaching staff’s job?   

Here’s where I’d like to recap a thrilling, exciting ball game.  But, that’s not going to happen today.  They can’t all be gems.  Honestly, the best event on the field for the day was EB throwing out the first pitch.  He did this complicated Bugs Bunny-esqe wind up.  The PA warned him not to hop it, as he threw from the mound.  The pitch was high and outside, but didn’t hop.  I’m just sorry most of the eventual crowd wasn’t there to watch.

Aggie starter, Jonathan Groff, let on a couple of runners in the first, but Tristen Carranza in right field made a running, crashing-into-the-wall catch to end the inning.  There were slight shifts on all the batters in the game, but none more exaggerated than for Noah Haupt in the bottom.  Three Hornet fielders were on the right side of the field for him, with no one at third.  He struck out. 

 

In the second, the ump wagged his finger at the Sac St bench.  He was motioning to get the in-the-hole batter back in the dugout and off the on-deck circle.  Only batter at a time is allowed there.  After two strikeouts, Groff got in trouble.  First, he gave up a home run to Dylan McPhillips to left.  The Hornet bench went nuts.  Next, he gave up a single, a walk, and another single, which scored another run, 2-0 Hornets.  In the bottom, two happy little girls ran by clutching Aggie player posters.  That was the Aggie highlight.

More trouble in the third.  After a single and a walk, AJ Floyd hit a no doubt three-run homer to right field to make it 4-0 Hornets.  Their bench chanted, “State!  State!  State!” upon his return.  A single afterward dropped in between three Aggie fielders.  It fell in the “no man’s land” behind first.  For the fourth, Carranza again made a great catch as he came running in for a scoop.  Errors cost the team last night.  They were determined to not beat themselves today.  Still no Aggie offense to talk about. 

Boy some nice looking women showed up, and they were all in short shorts.  On the other side of the stadium, one girl had her long legs out on the seat in front of her, getting some sun.  A couple spectacular blondes walked by to join the crowd.  Yeah, not much going on on the field.  The Aggies got their leadoff batter on in the fifth, but he was erased in a double play.  At least Groff had settled into a good groove. 

The Old Man was seated behind me.  He’d cheered for a couple of innings, but then stopped.  The rest of the crowd was actually still into it.  Desperate to get somebody into scoring position, Joey Ortiz tagged up from first on a deep fly ball to center in the sixth.  He just made it to second, becoming the first Aggie to get there, but was left stranded.  A kid and his dad sat down in front of me.  The kid was spitting his sunflower seeds into his used hot dog wrapper, as opposed to on the floor as I’ve seen everyone (including girls) do.  This kid was being raised right.      

The Hornets scored in the seventh off of Aggie reliever, Brock Whittlesey, to make it 6-0.  A couple of kids ran by with Easter Baskets.  There would be an Easter Egg hunt after the game.  Both teams were playing quickly enough that I think they were looking forward to it too.  For the Stretch, EB came out and worked the crowd.  The kids loved it.  A little league team took pictures with him.  Ian Dawkins in center for the Hornets may have made the defensive play of the year in the bottom.  He jumped at the wall and brought back a homer by Carranza.  He ended up retiring all three batters that inning. 

The kid in front of me wanted to go chase foul balls and asked for permission.  Denied!  Ah, come on dad.  Let the kid have some fun.  The kid even brought a mitt.  Whitt took a shot directly off leg in the eighth.  He grabbed the ball to throw, but his knees buckled and he went to the ground.  The coach and trainer ran out to him, but he stayed in.  Haupt did a good job of running down a foul to end the inning.  His guy has mostly been a DH this season. 

Finally, the Aggies scored in the bottom.  It took two singles, a sacrifice, and a fielder’s choice, but the score was now 6-1 Hornets.  This was their starter, Austin Root’s, last inning.  Almost needless to say, this guy pitched well today.  For the top of the ninth, Nick Gonzales made a basket catch in “no man’s land,” again with two other players there. 

In the bottom, Mason Fishback was hit to start the inning by Sac St closer, Tanner Dalton.  Two more singles loaded the bases.  Trey Stine’s single was missed on a dive in the outfield.  Fishback was held at third.  Carranza and Stine were both rounding their bases at the time.  Carranza just barely made it back under the throw into second.  The crowd got into it.  A dog in the crowd was barking.  I was briefly wondering where I would be writing extra innings down on my scorecard, but an infield fly out and a foul out ended that speculation.  Braden Williams did single in a run before a strikeout ended the game.  6-2 Hornets was the final.

Austin Root was the easy standout of the game, going 8 innings and only giving up 1 run.  AJ Floyd was the offensive star with a back-breaking three-run homer.  Matt Smith had a good game going 3 for 5.  Oh, wait.  Those are all Hornet players.  For the Aggies . . . umm . . . it was a good effort defensively in the field.  Playing Texas Tech on the road next may not be a good opportunity to bounce back offensively. 

I think everyone was invited to take part in the Easter Egg hunt, but I declined (because it seems weird for adults to hunt for Easter Eggs).  The game only went two and half hours, which is just right for a baseball game, but highly unexpected for an Aggie home game and certainly not a 9-inning one.  Rats, I really thought they’d win today.  Though I’d eaten not long ago, I had a mid-afternoon meal at Schlotzsky’s afterward.  I was still hungry, or wanted a better meal than what I’d had earlier, or was drowning my sorrows in food.  Take your pick.  In any case, today was the last day for their coupon on the back of Aggie tickets, so I couldn’t resist taking advantage of it one more time. 

I listened to the Rangers and Astros game went I got home.  The Rangers didn’t do much better as they lost 9-3.  There seemed to be plenty of Astros fans in Arlington.  I like both teams.  There was a Mexican League game on TV in the evening.  Those guys had some hustle.  I counted 8 different sponsor patches on their uniforms.  They were one sponsor patch on their hat away from being NASCAR drivers.  (No, we don’t want sponsorship on MLB uniforms.)  Fox Sports decided to spend MLB’s opening weekend showing MLS and German soccer on their over-the-air network.  F you guys.  Okay, softball next week.  Looking forward to it.  No live Aggie Baseball, not even on the radio.