What a glorious day for a ball game! It was warm and sunny with a light breeze
blowing. Out in the parking lot, several
groups were tailgating. I was with Ron,
and he was concerned as we passed one group.
There was a guy there in a Luchador mask and wearing a Mexican flag as a
cape for Cinco de Mayo. Perhaps he was
worried about a rough crowd. I said, “It
could be worse. It could be a guy in one
of those full body skin suits.”
On the way over, Ron was trying to talk me into getting
an Aggie Country Pass. For a flat price,
you get into everything except Men’s Basketball and Football. He quoted me a price, and doing some quick
math, it would appear to be a great savings, if you’re planning on going to
everything. I remember thinking about a
season pass for baseball once, but since I’d miss more than a third of the
games due to working at night, it didn’t add up for me. How does this Pass deal work out better than
that? I’ll have to check into it before
next fall.
Adam
Young was at the ticket office in a pair of shorts. I guess it was “Casual Day,” for the
broadcasters. Nolan Fox joined him on the radio call. Breakfast didn’t sit well for me, so I picked
up a soda and corn-in-the-cup. It was
excellent and made me feel much better.
Surprisingly, Little Caesar’s pizza was being offered at the
trailer. Later in the game, they
announced a deal on slices. If we
weren’t planning on getting pizza after the game, I probably would have tried
some. This is exactly the kind of better
food they need to offer at the ballpark.
Inside, a good crowd developed. It was announced at over 600. Adam thought the good weather might have
attracted some people from Friday night’s record crowd of over 2,100. There was still a sign hanging at one end of
the stands directing overflow to the bleachers by the visitor’s dugout. Today, there seemed to be quite a few
students present. The Utah Valley Wolverines also brought a
few vocal fans.
The first inning featured a wide strike zone with five
of the six outs on strikeouts (and the other on a sacrifice). There were quite a few strikeouts in the game
and several looking. The players were
questioning the ump’s strikezone, but at least he did it fairly equally to both
teams. Later in the game, David Modler of the Wolverines, may
have been pulled from the game by the coach for getting too testy about it
after a strikeout looking.
Trey
Stine made two assists of the second inning outs. On the second out, he made a sliding, backhanded
stop and threw out the runner at first (maybe, that’s what the ump called
anyway). In the bottom, the Old Man,
sitting nearby, yelled to Nick Gonzales
when he came up to “Hit a home run!” He
heard him and immediately pounded one to the left center. The ball carried a bit in the breeze. 1-0 Aggies.
Braden
Williams was in at catcher today, giving Mason Fishback a rest.
Braden is probably the better defensive catcher. Nobody tried stealing on him. In the third, he nearly picked off a runner at
first. The Aggies also turned a double
play in the inning. In the bottom, after
two outs, a pair of Aggies got on with a hit and a walk. At some point, the Wolverine coach had a
meeting on the mound with the infield.
It took so long, it was like a scene out of Bull Durham. The PA played
three heckling clips during the visit.
Caleb
Henderson brought in both runners with a double to make it 3-0
Aggies. Logan Ehnes got on next via an error and moved Caleb over to
third. The pitcher made a, currently
illegal in the MLB, fake to third, throw to first move, that actually
worked. Ehnes got totally hung up. However, the pitcher couldn’t complete the
out, as Logan danced around and Caleb started towards home. Logan even made it back to first. The inning ended on a strikeout.
A little bitty kid, who seemed to be a Wolverines fan by
his hat, did the window toss contest and was given an Aggie hat. His parents must have been thrilled. Some members of the Aggie Softball team entered and took seats up under the
canopy. In the bottom of the fourth, a
popup went into the canopy and dropped on them.
There was a scream and the girls dove for cover. I can’t believe their catcher, Nikki Butler, wasn’t trying to catch it
and save her teammates. I know she’s
tougher than that. Almost beside the
point, Nick hit another solo home run to the scoreboard in the inning. 5-0 Aggies.
The highlight of the fifth was the entrance of softball
hero, Kelsey Horton. Oh, she was casually devastating, and knowing
how powerful she is with a bat in her hands, just made her even sexier. She wouldn’t have screamed over a foul ball. The Aggies did turn their second double play
of the game to end the top of the inning.
Aggie starter Jonathan
Groff had scattered four hits before going into the sixth. This inning though, four of the first five
batters singled, which led to two runs.
Groff stayed in and finished the inning.
In the bottom, Nick fouled one home run distance, just missing a third
homer. He grounded out. Braden came up and hit one that bounced over
the wall to right center. The ball hit a
tree and came back in play. The fielder
threw up his hands to indicate what had happened. It was a ground-rule double.
Logan
Bottrell drove Braden in to make it 4-2 Aggies. Also in the inning was the most hurtful play
of the game. Wolverine catcher Ethan Payne took a foul and went
down. Adam then reported, “Payne is in
some pain.” Groan. And the worst of it is that was likely a
prepared quip. I think Payne recovered
quicker than I did.
A hit-by-pitch and a hit started off the bottom of the
seventh. In a shocker, slugger Tristen Carranza bunted them over. Paul
Estrada at third base for the Wolverines had to make a great barehanded
play to get him at first. Marcus Still drove in a run by beating
out an infield hit. Unfortunately, he
got picked off first. Ehnes, who was at
third, tried to take home while Marcus danced around, but ended up being the
third out at home plate.
After looking for a while, I finally noticed that a few
members of Aggie Soccer were in
attendance. Nice of them to return the
favor, since the baseball guys watched their games on several occasions. Chance
Hroch relieved Groff in the eighth.
He started off with a strikeout, but then loaded the bases with one
out. Wyatt Kelley came in to this high-pressure situation. He got the groundball, which turned into the
Aggies’ third double play of the game. Brock Whittlesey, after making a lot of
pitches the day before, worked the ninth to close it out. Aggies
win 6-2.
The score isn’t really indicative of how close the game
was. You got the impression that Utah
Valley was always on the verge of busting it open. Let’s hand out some game balls. Jonathan
Groff went seven strong innings, only giving up two runs. Nick
Gonzales came up big with a pair of home runs, going 2 for 4. Let’s hear it for the Aggies’ defense. Three double plays may have been the
difference-maker here today. And, it all
finished up in under three hours, nice.
On the way to getting pizza, I talked Ron into going by
the comic book store for Free Comic Book
Day. Little did I know that, while
the shop was open, the giveaway ended at 5:00, which we just missed. It wasn’t just us. Some other parents had brought kids in after
we entered. I bought a back issue of an
older comic to not make the trip a complete waste. The shop is moving to the other side of
town. They’ve already moved the
sign. Okay, now I’m done with local
comic book stores and this was probably my last FCBD.
I was able to put a Dion’s
gift card that I was given at work to good use for a barbeque chicken
pizza. That and the cheese bread were
delicious. When I went up for a drink
refill, I told them that the pizza was great.
The girl getting my drink, piped up and said with a big smile that she’d
made it. It was nice to make somebody’s
day. This was a great way to start off
the last Aggie baseball weekend of the year.
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