NM State Aggies vs Yale Bulldogs Baseball 2-24-19

 This picture came up on the MLB website last year after President Bush’s death.  It’s a young George H. W. Bush on the Yale Baseball team receiving an award from Babe Ruth.  That’s a pretty good pedigree for a baseball program.  I was feeling much better today after nearly contracting a cold at yesterday’s game.  Ron picked me up early to go to today’s game.    

It was bright and sunny and warmer than yesterday, but there was still an occasional cold breeze.  I thought I was overdressed out in sun without the wind, but I was otherwise appropriately dressed sitting in the shade with occasional wind gusts.  Broadcaster Adam Young was out mingling in the parking lot at one of the RV’s.  I felt like I’d let Adam down a bit, since I didn’t stay for the second game, though I said I’d try to when I met him before Game 1. 

The William Tell Overture (or the Lone Ranger theme) was going as we entered the stadium.  The Aggie team was out on the field hustling to bring in the batting cage and other equipment off the field.  The PA had the music volume up to an ear-splitting level during the teams’ warm-ups.  There also seemed to be some fighting over the music as tunes were changed out in the middle of the song a couple of times. 

It was double dog day at the park.  It was $1 hot dogs at the concessions.  I’ll eventually break down and get one, though it will be disappointing.  Fans were also encouraged to bring in their dogs.  The first I saw were two fluffy chows.  There was a cute service dog that I’d seen before with a pretty young woman.  The scene-stealers were a couple that came in later, an adorable spotted Welsh Corgi and a beautiful mixed Australian Sheppard dog, who both sat down behind us.  The pretty blonde owner was okay, but I kept looking back to see that Sheppard dog.  Woof!

The sudden playing of the Anthem caught Yale by surprise and some of them had to scramble to get in line.  A darling little two-year-old girl threw out the first pitch to the cheers and “Awww’s” of the crowd.  It was an announced 55-degrees with no wind in Las Cruces.  It was 32-degrees and foggy in Yale’s home in Connecticut.  The crowd got a laugh over the weathercast.  It was a great crowd, by the way, with plenty of Yale fans and even more Aggie fans.  There were also lots of pretty girls today mostly dressed in yoga pants.  (I think I’ve finally identified what yoga pants look like.  I’d heard about them without ever knowing what they were.)  

Yale came out swinging against Aggie starter, Chance Hroch.  Three hits and an error in right gave them a 0-2 lead.  In the bottom, Joey Ortiz had an interesting foul ball that went straight back and bounced straight back on to the field.  He got on via a hit-by-pitch.  Adam had a rules-change discussion.  If a batter leans into a pitch, it’s a strike.  Caleb Henderson struck out in Game 2 last night because of that new rule. 

To start the second, a cute Asian Yale fangirl fan came by with a $1 hot dog and, my favorite, corn-in-the-cup.  Unlike my cup last weekend (2-15-19), there was plenty of cheese on hers.  Now I was unhappy with my bowl of Cap’n Crunch this morning. 

On field, Braden Williams was again hit behind the plate.  It was just like yesterday, but worse.  This time he was hit on the top of the helmet on Dai Dai Otaka’s backswing.  Braden went down immediately.  He went though the concussion protocols with the trainer, but stayed in.  Otaka fist-bumped him as play resumed and would single afterward.  On the next batter, the Yale third base coach missed catching a foul grounder and got booed from his own dugout.  Braden did throw out Otaka on an attempted steal, so he got a bit of revenge.

Strangely also like Game 1 yesterday, Tristen Carranza got the scoring started for the Aggies with a solo home run in the bottom of the second.  Before that hit, he’d taken a massive swing-and-miss on an offspeed that got an “Oooh,” out of the Yale fans.  1-2 Yale. 

To start the third inning, Eric Mingus at third got a high, slow bouncer that resulted in him making a hurried throw to first.  It went over Henderson’s head and became a two-base error, which scored on the next batter.  1-3 Yale.  Between innings, a little boy won at the glass-toss strike-throwing game on field.  Even more lucky, he got to hang out with the attractive marketing intern, Emerson. 

Mingus singled to start the bottom of the third.  Joey hit a deep fly to center that the centerfielder couldn’t track down and became a run-scoring triple.  Nick Gonzales cashed him in with a single.  Logan Ehnes advanced Joey to third, where he scored on a wild pitch.  The Aggies were now in the lead 4-3. 

To start the fourth, two adorable little girls won the Best Dressed Aggie competition.  They were quite natty in their matching crimson and white scarves.  The wind had picked up and it was getting colder.  Adam said the new conference flags on the grandstand had been requested by Coach Green to help fielders gauge the wind’s speed and direction. 

Hroch got in a groove pitching for the next three innings.  Adam speculated that he’d been told he needed to stretch out this outing till at least the seventh to save the bullpen with four games this weekend and a game Tuesday.  A double play ended the fourth.  The throw to first pulled Henderson off the bag, but he managed to just tag the dodging runner on the line.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Aggies scored three more runs.  Logan Bottrell drove in one, and Nick doubled in two more.  One double in the inning dropped between the centerfielder and right fielder.  Centerfield apparently didn’t see it and right field couldn’t get to it.  7-3 Aggies. 

In the fifth, Ehnes singled through a wide-open gap on the left side of the infield.  Adam was irate with Yale.  They’d been massively over-shifting for no apparent reason this series.  This finally offended Adam’s baseball sensibilities to the point of outrage.  Yale reliever, Bobby Cecere, made a great play on a comebacker to the breadbasket by Braden.  He stuck with it and got the out at first.

In the sixth, I had the item with me for the “What’s in Your Pocket” contest (earbuds), but again wasn’t interested in the prize.  I want my meeting with Emerson, who was handing out the prizes, to be special.  Certainly, it wasn’t going to be special when I was un-showered and wearing yesterday’s clothes.  (When you wake up a half-hour before you’re picked up for a game, your grooming and wardrobe options are limited.)  I don’t think I smelled or looked any worse than usual, but I’ll wait until I’m wearing a suit or something for that magical first meeting where I sweep her off her feet.

(When I make comments like this, I do need to say I’m just making a joke?  I do think she’s definitely pretty.  In this case, this will probably be a running gag for the rest of the season, because I’m amused by it.  That’s all it really is.) 

Bottrell made a great hustle double to start the sixth and was cashed in by a Henderson single.  8-3 Aggies.  Reliever Rohan Handa came in and worked quick, a bit too quick.  He fired one off before the ump was ready and the pitch was waved off.  Mingus had another error to start the seventh, which came around and scored.  It was originally, and inexplicably, scored a hit, but was changed later.  8-4 Aggies. 

Jake Gehri was again slighted by Adam, as yesterday, when he came in as a Bulldog pinch hitter in the seventh.  He missed him again in the eighth.  I almost think Adam had something against him.  Mingus came up with another hit and an RBI in the bottom of the seventh.  Bottrell drove in a run on a single.  Nick doubled to drive in two more.  Right fielder Brian Ronai nearly came up with ball on a dive, but it popped out.  (A similar play again happened yesterday.  This game wasn’t a repeat, but it sure rhymed.)  Ronai did get an assist in throwing Nick out at third when he tried to stretch it.  12-4 Aggies.

Hroch was stretched to the limit.  He came out for the eighth and hit the first batter and gave up a single.  Chance got a strikeout looking, but Mingus made his third error trying to collect a sac bunt, which let in two runs.  12-6 Aggies.  Wyatt Kelly had to come in to finish the inning. 

Henderson began the bottom of the eighth with a triple and was knocked in by Ehnes.  A Yale double play and a great play on a foul by the left field Diamond Club by Alex Stiegler (yesterday’s Game 1 starter) ended the inning.  Mitchell Allen closed it out for the Aggies in the ninth on a double play.  Aggies win 13-6.

Chance Hroch scattered 10 hits over seven and 1/3 innings for 1 earned run.  Nice job.  The other five Yale runs came via four Aggie errors, three by Eric Mingus, who also went 3 for 4 with an RBI out of the nine spot.  The coach said that Eric is in the lineup for his defense.  So . . . I don’t know what to make of that today.  Nick Gonzales was still stellar going 3 for 5 with five RBI’s.  I’ll also single out Benny Wanger on Yale for his 4 for 5 batting today.      

What have we learned after this weekend?  The Aggies will rake on anything less than excellent pitching.  For their own pitching, Coach Green probably mandated cutting down on walks today, which did happen.  I don’t know what happened with the fielding today though.  If the coach told Mingus to do better hitting, he got it, but not in the way he wanted.  Normally, teams don’t win when they give up four errors that result in five runs.  See Point #1 as to why the Aggies won today anyway.        

It was another tidy three-hour game.  We hope this becomes normal, along with the Aggies continuing to win.  Ron had to leave about halfway through the game for an emergency with his caretaking job.  Later in the game, I got a bit nervous, as he was my ride, but he came back.  As we drove out of the parking lot, we went by where the Yale fans were tailgating.  There was a box there full of large empty hard liquor bottles.  The Yale fans were probably enjoying the game a lot more than the Aggie fans this weekend regardless of the results.  Our dinner was courtesy of Jason’s Deli.  It was okay, but unfortunately, it was only a poor substitute for the dearly departed Schlotzsky’s Deli.