Opening Day. How
great is this? No other sport has can
generate this level of giddy pleasure for the beginning of its season. It’s a feeling that anything is possible and
something wonderful is about to happen. And,
I was planning on missing it. I did have
the day off, but Ron and I were planning on going to the Aggie Softball. Since the
team is going to be gone for four weeks and the baseball team will be here in
that time, it seemed like a better idea.
I was a bit concerned about the weather, but it was warm out with only a
slight cold breeze.
When we arrived at the Softball Complex, there were plenty of fans there. However, the game between two of the visiting
teams was still going on and only half done.
We called an audible and went over to see the start of the baseball
game. Over in that parking lot, there
were several RV’s parked there. A bunch
of happy fans were gathering at the stadium.
It was looking like a good crowd.
Inside, I was finally able to get my hands on my
favorite Aggie concession food item (which isn’t saying much):
corn-in-a-cup. “I’m sorry we left the
cheese at Corbett Center. Do you still
want it?” said the vendor. Not really. “Sure,” I said instead. Why are
you advertising this for sale, when you can’t prepare this properly? Yet another great concession experience. It did not taste worthwhile. The lady said she’d give me double cheese
next time.
The lovely Aggie
Women’s Golf team was handing out hats and other souvenir items. There was another table where they had some
other items to give away, perhaps for the students. Hey, there’s Pistol Pete and a couple of shivering Cheerleaders. This was
actually just the man I wanted to see.
I’d had an idea the other day about adding a female mascot based on the Aggie the Riveter shirt, so I ran it by
him. Pete and the girl Cheerleaders
thought it was a decent notion. One of
the guy Cheerleaders said they’d already tried something like that a couple of
years ago, but couldn’t get it off the ground.
Oh, well.
Regardless, I finally made it to an Aggie Baseball Friday game and on Opening Day no less. I’d meant to go to one this season at some
point. I could hear Alexia was still dong the PA duties at the stadium. Adam
Young was on the radio. He sounded
happy to be calling baseball again. A
New Mexico Zia flag was flying in the stands.
I found out later it was the flag that they had with them when the team
won the WAC Championship last
year. That championship and two others
were now displayed on the left field wall, along with NCAA appearances on the right field wall.
The crowd was great.
A few dogs came in with them.
There was one cute little service dog that I squealed over. Former players, current minor leaguers, Jonathan Groff and Kyle Bradish were in attendance.
Along with the pretty golf team, there was at least one other women’s
team present. I couldn’t identify
them. The Soccer team was said to be there, but this wasn’t them. This unidentified group had one very tall,
well-built, and glamorous blonde with them.
She should be on the volleyball or basketball team. Also of note, was a gentleman wearing a new Chihuahuas hat with the new logo. (I don’t like it.) There were also quite a few Texas Southern fans present, but they
blended with the crowd, since they were wearing crimson too.
I feel like I should have this Aggie scorecard
laminated. It actually added up for
me. Today’s Aggie starter was Brock
Whittlesey. He was the reliever who engaged in the
heartbreaking heroics of the memorable Saturday game at the WAC Tournament (5-26-18).
Whitt got a couple of quick outs in the first, but ran
into trouble with a walk and a hit batter before getting a strikeout. The highlight of the top of the first was
hearing Adam say “Olajide Oloruntimlehin,”
the Tigers’ right fielder’s name. I’m
not even sure I’m spelling that right.
The new university president, who threw out the first pitch, came on for
an interview in the bottom. I think he
recognizes that NMSU has a Sports department.
It’s a start. Joey Ortiz had a quiet start to his
night with a solo home run. Nick Gonzales followed with a
single. 1-0 Aggies after one.
“Follow the Aggie Baseball team on Tinder. Swipe right on your
favorite player and who knows?” Oh,
wait. I probably heard that wrong over
the PA. I think she was talking about
other social media outlets for following the team. There was a giveaway of Mountain Dew hats and backpacks to students during the second. For the second inning, the Aggies turned a
double play, and both teams went down in order.
Nick made a great barehanded shuffle toss to start an
inning-ending double play in the third. Aron Solis for the Tigers got in
trouble in the bottom. He gave up four
hits in a row, which scored two runs. A
couple of passed balls didn’t help. Ryan Diaz in center field did make a
tremendous diving effort to stop Logan
Bottrell’s double. 3-1 Aggies.
Next door, the visiting softball game ended. To this point, the baseball game was clipping
along and I was basically enjoying being there with a big crowd. I was kind of dreading telling Ron that I
didn’t want to go to the first Aggie Softball game. Also, I’d started doing scorecards for this
game. Whitt cruised through the
fourth. Alexia had more trouble
pronouncing Olajide Oloruntimlehin’s name.
She had to take a deep breath before saying it.
AD
Mario Moccia came on the radio to chat. Caleb
Henderson tripled off the centerfield wall to start the bottom. Diaz turned around twice trying to get a bead
on it. Mario and Adam chatted about the
next batter, Tristen Carranza. He’s willing to play any position, but says,
“I play hitter.” Marcel Renteria, a pitcher from last year, chimed in via Twitter. He was listening to the broadcast. No runs scored, but the Tigers’ coach made a
visit to the mound. I noticed the ump
was marking it down. I think they’re
counting mound visits now.
Aggie
Softball started their game against Texas State. Almost
immediately, I was regretting talking Ron into staying. A couple of large cheers went up from the
crowd there as a couple of Aggie home runs went out. Even Adam noted the uproar. Back to baseball, the Texas Southern coach,
who was working third base, got hit by a liner that knocked his helmet
off. The batter couldn’t even look
afterward. The coach was okay. Whitt got in two-out trouble, giving up
four-straight hits. Two runs scored, the
second one came in on a bunt single.
Whitt got a strikeout to end the inning.
He came off the mound pumping his fist.
3-2 Aggies.
Aggie Baseball finally officially started asking for the
foul balls back. I was surprised it took
them this long. It was kind of an apologetic
announcement and Alexia muttered it a bit.
She only said it once. They are
offering candy for the balls. In the
bottom of the fifth, Joey singled and Nick drove him in with a home run to deep
center. 5-2 Aggies. To this point, the two were 6 for 6 in hitting.
Whitt’s final inning went 1-2-3. Joey made a great backhanded catch at deep
short and Caleb dug it out for the second out.
Then the Aggies came up with a 14-batter inning. About here is where the game really started
going long. I don’t want to slight
anyone’s accomplishments, but I’m not recapping this half inning. There was one two-run homer by Braden Williams. The rest of the eight runs came off of three
singles, two doubles, and a bunch of walks and hit batters. 13-2 Aggies and the game had officially become
a rout.
On to the bottom of the seventh, Joey and Nick were now
10 for 10 batting. Nick drove in Joey
with another homer, and Henderson had a two-run homer off the scoreboard in
left center. 17-2 Aggies. Bruno
Teramoto came in to pinch hit. A bunch
of girls erupted in the crowd. I guess
he has some fans.
By the bottom of the eighth, the Tigers were using a
position player to pitch. Joey and
Nick’s hitting streaks ended with both of them getting walked and replaced with
pinch runners. The Aggies tacked on
three more runs to make it a 20-2 win. I’m sorry if I’m not doing a really complete
recap here. I’m writing most of this
four days later. I’ve been distracted
from finally acquiring a home Internet connection (at least temporarily). It’s as I’ve always feared, I might never
leave home. I might never leave my seat. I’ll try to do better next time (if the score
is closer).
Let’s look at some player highlights. Brock
Whittlesey went six innings and gave up five hits and two runs, along with five
strikeouts and one walk. Whitt is
looking good as a starter. Offensively,
there were some good performances, then there was Joey Ortiz and Nick Gonzales. Joey was 5 for 5 with 3 RBI’s and a
homer. Nick was 5 for 5 with 6 RBI’s and
two home runs. Let’s hope these guys are competing against each other for
hitter-of-game honors for the rest of the season.
It was a great game for Opening Day, except for the part
where it ran way too long to be really enjoyable. At least it ran long for the best reason; the
Aggies kicking butt. Thank goodness the
weather was so nice. By coincidence,
Aggie Softball’s first game of the night ended at the same time, so we were
going to be able to get a full softball game today too.
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