NM State Aggies vs CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners Baseball 3-23-19

Holy crap!  What a way to start my baseball day!  I was nearly run off the road by Aggie Softball player, Kayla Green.  Okay, it wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t my fault you were late for practice, babe.  So, after driving into the parking lot with this jeep trying to get into my pickup bed, I pulled in for a long day at the Aggie Baseball/Softball complex.  I was missing an Overwatch Tournament (televised on ABC no less) for this, but I think I made the right choice. 

Inside Presley Askew Field, the team had put up some new large screen prints at the front of the stadium showcasing some great recent players and winning the WAC.  They look good, much like their intern Emerson.  She had her hair up today and was wearing shorts.  It was a nice day.

Inside, my usual seat was taken.  That was fine with me.  I went ahead and sat on the third base side.  I ran into a co-worker who was taking his grandma to the game.  She’s big baseball fan, and this was her first Aggie game.  The CSU-Bakersfield Roadrunners looked pretty sharp in their yellow tops.  I think their starter from last night, Darius Vines, was in the stands tracking pitches in the center section.  I saw an Aggie fan and an Aggie coach talking to him.  He pitched a great game.  I felt like congratulating him.  

Unlike last night, the scoreboard was working, so this game was already off to a better start.  Justin Dehn was the Aggie starter.  His first pitch went straight to the backstop, but he got three straight outs afterward.  Meanwhile in the stands, a pair of cute little service dogs met in the stands.  I wonder about the dogs’ two young attractive female owners.  Is being “hot” a disability? 

In the bottom, Logan Bottrell was thrown out on a close play at first to start the inning.  The crowd immediately got on the ump.  Nick Gonzales started a two-out rally with a walk.  Tristen Carranza drove him in with a triple.  Tristan Peterson then homered to give the Aggies a 3-0 lead after one.

I noticed a car driving around beyond the outfield fence.  Good thing Ron wasn’t there; he might have been run over while trying to collect balls.  I also saw Associate AD Herb Taylor out there and Kayla Green.  She was there collecting softballs from their practice session (perhaps because she was late).  A couple of fans behind me were discussing the infield turf.  They said the old turf got delivered to Mayfield High School for their field. 

According to PA Alexia, it was 59 degrees with heavy showers in Bakersfield.  It was a lot nicer here.  Emerson was all smiles for the Pocket contest.  She looks so pretty when she’s smiling (and so hot when she’s serious).  The handsome young man she works with later handed out a backpack to a little girl in the aisle.  Everybody watching went, “Awww.”    

The Aggies added to their lead in the second.  After three straight hits, a run (driven in by Joey Ortiz), and a walk, the Roadrunner starter was chased from the game.  Carranza singled in two more to make it 6-0.  Joey drove in another run in the third, 7-0.  Ron came in and I changed seats to the first base side to sit with him.  I was surprised to see him, since he said he’d be busy today.  I told him he could have met Kayla if he’d shown up earlier (and fought over recovering balls). 

In the fourth, Dehn finally got in trouble.  He gave up a leadoff walk.  The runner was advanced by a passed ball and driven in by a single.  There was also an error that advanced that batter.  Dehn shook it off and got three straight ground outs.  In the bottom, Peterson homered again and it was 8-1.  There was a walk and a hit batter after, but the inning ended with a double play.

Today’s baseball game wasn’t on the radio.  However, the Women’s Basketball game at the NCAA Tournament would be broadcast, so I had my radio with me.  I kept checking up, waiting for it to come on.  It started maybe 45-minutes late.  From here, I was listening to that game, while watching this game (and the softball game next).  It was a test of my concentration.  I’ll recap the basketball elsewhere, though I wasn’t able to write much about it.

Dehn hit the leadoff batter in the fifth, but otherwise cruised through the inning.  The Aggies though opened up a can of whoop ass in the bottom.  They batted around and destroyed my scorecard, while scoring eight runs with eight hits.  Logan Ehnes had a two-run double and Joey batted in another run.

Wow, I wish I’d written my basketball notes separate from my baseball notes.  I mixed them altogether and now have to untangle them.  Nick made a good jumping catch on a liner to start the sixth.  I couldn’t identify one of their pinch hitters.  He was wearing Vines’ number, but it wasn’t him.  (Note: it was Damian Henderson.)  Dehn let on a couple more runners, but kept the Roadrunners from scoring.  I saw a little girl in the crowd with a Mickey Mouse doll in a Braves uniform.  It was totally cool.  Where do those come from?

The Aggies did it again in the sixth.  Carranza and Peterson started off the frame with back-to-back homers.  The Aggies scored seven more runs total.  This time there were four walks, a hit batter, and a two-base error, along with four hits.  Peterson also had a two-run single.  Freshman Tristan Stacy pinch hit in the inning.  Another “Tristan” on the team?  Is this a recruiting strategy?  Evan Berkey, second base for the Roadrunners, did make a great back-turned basket catch in the inning.

Surprisingly, Dehn came out to start the seventh.  It was his game.  He hit the first batter in the inning again, but threw him out on a fielder’s choice and finished out the game.  At 23-1 Aggies, thank goodness this was a conference game and subject to the run rule.  It’s like last night’s 9-4 loss never happened.  My co-worker earlier asked how good the team was.  I’d told him about Friday’s game, but that I thought that the Aggies would have a good bounce back today. 

With a 7-inning complete game and only giving up 3 hits and 1 run, Justin Dehn is an easy gameball winner.  What a performance!  Joey Ortiz went 4 for 6 with 4 RBI’s, but was only the third best hitter of the day.  Tristen Carranza went 4 for 5 with 6 RBI’s and a home run, and that’s still not the best hitter today.  Tristan Peterson went 5 for 6 with 7 RBI’s and, get this, 3 home runs!  F-word!  This was all with the Aggies’ .500+ hitter, Nick Gonzales, not having a good day at bat.  I think I said before, this team will absolutely feast on anything less than good pitching.

Okay from here, me and Ron were off to the Aggie Softball double header next door.  I, at least, was still listening to the Women’s Basketball game as well.  It was a busy afternoon. 

NM State Aggies at the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament and Season Recap 2019

3-21-19 vs. Auburn Tigers

Thank goodness we’re not playing a football game against Auburn today.  In Men’s Basketball, at least we have a shot at keeping them from scoring a hundred.  I learned that their team is also known as the “War Eagles” during the game.  That’s a wide discrepancy in nicknames.  Jack Nixon hosted Aggie Coaches Show in Salt Lake City and interviewed Coach Jans and others there with the program the previous day.  He did a good job.

At the game, Jack asked AD Mario Moccia about Chris Jans’ contract.  They’ve secured some additional funding for his salary without even adding to the athletic budget.  This is thanks to some private funding and playing another “money” game.  Mario apparently lives in fear of repeating what he worked through at Southern Illinois.  They were an up-and-coming program that lost their coach and disappeared off the face of the earth.  Borrowing from Braveheart, Mario finished up with, “We didn’t get dressed up for nothing,” for a team battle cry. 

First Half

Welcome to the Vivant Smart Homes Arena.  I know they want to sell the naming rights to the Pan-Am Center, but do you really want do you really want to hear Jack Nixon say, “Welcome to the Petco/Dreamstyle/O.Co Arena,” before every game?  I could hear over the radio that the Aggie Cheerleaders were in strong voice this morning.  This was their big show too.    

As per the scouting report, Auburn was taking lots of threes to start, but Aggies were out-rebounding as expected.  14-8 Aggies, Johnny McCants hit a three and a layup off a turnover that got the crowd going.  I couldn’t entirely gauge the size of the crowd from the radio, but from pictures I saw afterward, it was a full house.  14-13, Auburn got back in it with some good defense.  16-13, McCants’ put down a jam with 11 minutes left in the half.

Terrell Brown had his dreadlocks tied up today.  He’d been sick and had an IV yesterday, which I assume kept him from practicing.  He had three turnovers before coming out.  Jojo Zamora came in and hit a three.  19-19, the Aggies started having a problem with turnovers.  Jojo came out after a couple of mishandles.

21-19 Auburn, the Tigers took the lead as the Aggies went into a scoring drought.  They were having trouble getting off a good shot and running the shot clock down, since they couldn’t penetrate their zone.  28-19 Auburn, the draught went six-and-a-half minutes after missed 10-straight shots.  Timeout.  Pistol Pete and the Auburn Tiger had a mascot dance-off to Should Have put a Ring on It.  I’m sorry I wasn’t watching, though they might not have put that TV.

McCants finally broke the drought after three attempts on a shot under the basket, and he drew the foul 28-22.  McCants also forced a great turnover by bouncing the ball off of a Tigers player.  Jack noted that Tommy Amico, NM State’s Underarmor rep, was there in Aggie gear, though both schools are with the company.   

Terrell got a layup on a bank.  The Aggies were still having trouble getting shots, but having some success taking it inside and drawing fouls.  Eli Chuha got a layup after a good defensive stand and the Aggies were down by one.  In the final 30 seconds, McCants blocked a shot, but a foul on Terrell gave Auburn a couple free throw points. AJ Harris missed a last-second shot and it was 32-29 Auburn at halftime.  McCants had 10 points and five rebounds to lead the team.  Auburn went cold for the last five minutes.

Second Half

Auburn came out hot shooting threes and went up 45-33 thanks to a 13-3 run.  Trevelin Queen got his first points of the game off of a pair of free throws.  His mom was there with a big sign.  Queen got poked in the eye right after for a foul.  Timeout and it was 45-37 Auburn with 15 minutes left.

The Aggies started a comeback.  Ivan Aurrecoechea had a layup and drew a foul for three points, 48-40.  Queen hit a three, 51-43.  Shunn Buchanan got a layup, 51-45 with 11 minutes left.  Eli got a technical foul for arguing a foul, but both foul shots were missed.  Aggie fans were cheering like they were getting free Chik-fil-a.  Auburn continued to splash in threes to stay up.  Queen answered with a three and the Aggies were down 8 with 10 minutes left.  The Tigers started fouling the Aggies every time they attacked the basket.  Queen put in another three, 67-61 with five minutes left.  The crowd was getting back into it. 

Ivan passed up on a shot and turned it over.  “He who hesitates is lost,” Jack remarked. Both teams were playing tight with three minutes left and had trouble scoring.  The Aggies were still down seven.  Ivan was fouled and that put the Aggies in the double bonus.  Ivan made both shots.  McCants was fouled and made one.  Terrell missed a three off of a contested turnover and was fouled right after. 

One minute remaining and some intentional fouling started.  The Aggie three-point shooters came in to play.  An Auburn player fouled out, and McCants made one of two free throws again.  40 seconds to play, Aggies were down four and Queen hit another three.  McCants fouled and Auburn made both free throws, so the Aggies were down three.  AJ was intentionally fouled and Auburn lost another player.  14 seconds left, AJ made one free throw and missed the second, maybe on purpose. 

The Aggies intentionally fouled and Auburn made both and went up four with 12 seconds to go.  Jojo made immediate three.  Timeout with six seconds left.  The Aggies intentionally fouled again.  Shunn, on the bench, encouraged the Aggie fans to cheer.  Auburn made one free throw and were up by two.  Terrell missed a quick three, but was fouled.  He missed two of three (grimace), but the Aggies got the ball back with one second left.  Queen airballed a three for the final shot.

78-77 Auburn squeaked out a win.  Jack had given up with five minutes left, but had been exhilarated before the end.  He sounded terribly disappointed at the buzzer.  Those constant Auburn threes and having extended dry spells did the Aggies in.  God bless Terrell.  He was playing sick and missed the chance to tie or win it at the free throw line.  The coach needs to buck him up, since he’ll be back next year.  The Aggies should have much of the same good team back next season.  Unfortunately in the postgame, it sounded like Coach Jans was the one that needed a hug.  He sounded down, but certainly had nothing to be ashamed of going 30-5 for the most Aggie wins in a season.

Auburn’s Jared Harper was the high-scorer with 17.  Johnny McCants had 16 to lead the Aggies and had 7 rebounds.  Trevelin Queen had 14, all in second half.  Ivan Aurrecoechea had 13 with 9 rebounds.  Terrell Brown had 12.  If he hadn’t been sick the day before, I wonder what he would have scored.  The team shot 49% and had a 39-24 edge in rebounds, so they played well.  A few missed free throws and stopping some of those threes were the difference.

I felt much better about the loss after listening to El Paso Sportstalk later in the afternoon.  The Miners, who are of course sitting at home watching the NCAA Tournament as usual, fired one of their assistant coaches yesterday.  Today, another one resigned due to a recruiting scandal at his previous school.  Their star player tweeted, “When it rains, it pours.”  And the hosts were ragging on NMSU for losing in the first round for three years in a row.  Yeah, I’ll take that over being a UTEP fan.  Thanks for giving me a good laugh KROD.

Season Recap

Regardless of the outcome, this was always going to be the season of the Johnny McCants’ Miracle Shot.  That highlight will live forever.  What sucked about this season was that I didn’t get to go to any games in person.  I certainly had the intention and even free tickets once, but I couldn’t make it happen.  (In other words, I couldn’t get Ron to go with me). 

11-6-18 Season opener warm up game.  The game was broadcast on Twitch.  I’m shocked.

11-9-18 Aggies destroy the Miners.

11-14-18 Bad loss to St. Mary’s here in Las Cruces.  It was a good opportunity to increase their ranking, but only if the Aggies won.  This game was also on Twitch.  The Chat comments were interesting.

11-17-18 Rivalry game in Albuquerque against the Lobos.  The Aggies had a huge lead in the second half and nearly let it totally get away from them.  The Aggies were missing free throws at the end when they were being intentionally fouled.

11-21-18 Crushing of a DII school.  There were a few highlight reel plays.  There was also an “administrative technical” issued on the opponent before the game actually started.  Now I’ve seen everything.

11-28-18 A close game versus UTEP at home.

12-1-18 Thanks to a Football money game next year, the Washington State Basketball team would have to come here for a game.  Nice arm-twisting there, Mario.  Unlike the football game next year, the Aggies won this one.  Good win.

12-4-18 The Aggies destroy the Lobos and drop 100 on them at home.  The game was again on Twitch.  The Lobo fan comments were priceless.

12-8-18 The Aggies made $90,000 to show up in Kansas and play the #2 in the nation Kansas Jayhawks.  Unfortunately, the Aggies broke everyone’s hearts by competing with the Jayhawks magnificently and then losing to them by three points.  It was a great effort though and showed that the Aggies could play with anybody.

12-17-18 In spite of having a long time off to think about that loss, the Aggies bounced back with a win over Northern Colorado.

12-19-18 The “Teddy Bear toss” game.  It was a game against a team I’d never heard of, but we’ll take the win.

12-22-18 Welcome to the WAC Championship at the Orleans Arena in exciting Las Vegas.  Oops, my bad.  Got ahead of myself.  This was a different tournament at the Orleans Arena.  The Aggies played a bad game against Drake, but somehow came back from 15 points down in the second half and made a game of it.  It was a good effort, but a tough loss.

12-23-18 The invitational championship game went to double OT to decide it.  Jack Nixon did an impromptu play-by-play of the end of that game.  Needless to say, the consolation game started late between the Aggies and Washington State . . . wait, what?  These guys again?  It was a close game, but the same result, an Aggie victory.

12-30-18 The Aggies destroyed the Colorado State Rams, while I was simultaneously listening to an Aggie Women’s game and a Dallas Cowboys game.  My coverage was a bit brief. 

1-3-19 Cal-Baptist, in their first WAC game, got off to a great start by punching the Aggies square in the nose.  The team would take some more shocks during the season, but the Lancers were the only team in conference that actually beat them.

1-10-19 The Shot.  GCU was winning this game until late in the second half.  The Aggies went up by five with two minutes left.  With 30 seconds left, after two inexplicable back-to-back turnovers within mere seconds of each other, the Aggies were down by one.  Terrell Brown, the team’s best free throw shooter, would then miss two free throws.  (This feels like déjà vu in retrospect.)  A GCU player then missed the first shot of a one-and-one.  Johnny McCants grabbed the rebound and with tenths of second left, fired a shot beyond halfcourt and went straight into legend. 

1-12-19 A good comeback win over Bakersfield.

1-17-19 The Aggies crushed Seattle U.  Coach Jans bullied the opposing teams’ cheerleaders as well.

1-19-19 The Aggies defeated Utah Valley and ended their second-longest in the nation home-winning streak.

1-31-19 The Aggies mash the Roos.  I have a disappointing diner.  (That’s important news too.)

2-2-19 The Aggies trash the Cougars.  The pregame with former coach Reggie Theus was pretty interesting.

2-7-19 One of the oddest games of the year.  The Aggies jumped out to huge lead against the Roadrunners, lost it, went down big late, and then came back and won on a last second shot. 

2-14-19 The Aggies cruised over the Wolverines at home.

2-16-19 Here I had tickets to this “Pack the Pan-Am” game, but had to give them back when I wasn’t able to go.  As it turned out, the Aggies needed all the fans they could get this afternoon.  The Aggies came out flat and Seattle U took it to them.  Late in the game, the Aggies came back.  It was probably fortunate that several Redhawks fouled out at the end.

2-19-19 A game against a DII opponent because of a week layoff in the schedule. 

2-23-19 A really chippie game against UTRGV.  The Aggies toughed it out and won the conference outright.

2-28-19 Having clinched the #1 seed, the Aggies still dominated the Roos to end the regular season.

3-14-19 A virtual warmup game to start the WAC Tournament against the Cougars.

3-15-19 The Aggies went up big against UTRGV in the second half and coasted, nearly to their detriment, but finished it out.

3-16-19 GCU gave the Aggies a good ten minutes to start the WAC Championship game.  For the next 30 minutes though, the Aggies absolutely crushed the Lopes to win their bid to the Big Dance.

3-21-19 Heartbreak versus Auburn in the NCAA Tournament.  The Tigers were probably the better team and should have won, but the Aggies really had a chance here.

Looking over the season, the Aggies lost a couple of big games that they maybe should have won.  On the other hand, they won a couple of games that they should have lost.  They let some games get away from them and had to come back.  If they had trouble holding leads, at least they never really seemed out of any game.  This Aggie team might have been too “grind-y” at times and couldn’t handle success. 

There wasn’t a star for the season for the team, but on any given night, a player would inevitably step up and become one.  This led to some unevenness, but they were seldom bad for an entire game.  Opposing teams must have had a hard time scouting the Aggies.  The fans might have had the same issue not having a particular player to latch on to.  In any case, Coach Jans did a great job of rebuilding this team after last season.  We hope to keep him around for a while.   

MLB Season Preview 2019

I apologize.  I’ve gotten really backed up on writing lately.  It’s been a combination of being really tired and having a bunch of Aggie events to cover (Men and Women’s Basketball NCAA and season recaps, three Baseball games, and three Softball games).  It’s not the Aggies, or their performances, or the outcomes, or “Writer’s Block.”  I may just be a bit burned out, and I have actual non-writing obligations.  Regardless, I wanted to put this Preview out in a timely manner (like one day before Opening Day).

I had a gift card for Barnes & Noble from Christmas reserved for a baseball preview magazine this year.  Unfortunately, all the big ones came out well before the two biggest free agents moved along with a bunch of other good players.  This Sunday there was a surprise insert in the newspaper previewing the baseball season.  Then, I made another trip to the bookstore on Tuesday and found Sports Illustrated’s MLB Preview on the rack.  Between these two resources, I fairly functionally have a dedicated preview magazine (sans the prospects report). 

The downside is that I’ve only had about 15 minutes skimming each before writing this.  But, I’m already an expert, bordering on precognition, so the quality of my preview is unlikely to drop.  While I was reading SI, I suddenly remembered the Topps Opening Day baseball cards should be coming out this week.  I’d probably forgotten since Wal-Mart isn’t carrying cards anymore.  They only sell these things during Opening Week, so I had to move on this now.  I took a trip to Target, the only place I know of in town that still sells baseball cards, and picked up six small packs, 42 cards. 

I was disappointed.  I was hoping for an Alex Bregman card.  Thankfully, there is at least an article about him in SI (which is what reminded me about the cards).  There were a few fun cards and I got some players I like, such as Shohei Ohtani, Hunter Renfroe, and Joey Gallo.  However, there weren’t a lot of stars or rookie cards.  This probably wasn’t a good purchase and might dissuade me from future purchases.  At least they were only $.99 a piece. 

MLB sent out a couple of surveys from their website before the season started.  The first was on various rule change possibilities and polled on them.  Some are being tried out in an independent league, others are just being discussed.  I should have written them down at the time, but here’s what I remembered and what I was able to look up from the MLB website later.

Robot strikezone: Yes, I’m tired of watching batters argue with the umps and I’m tired of an inconsistent strikezone. 

Add one more player to roster and limit roster size for September call-ups: I’m not sure about having more regular players, but definitely standardize and limit those call-ups.   

Less time between innings: This would seem like a great idea, but it will mean more in-game commercials.

DH in both leagues: Only, if you guys significantly reduce the running time of the average game.  I’m strangely okay with this otherwise.

Minimum number of batters for relievers: No, but here’s a thought, what if you could only warm up one pitcher at a time and can’t do it until the current pitcher starts pitching.  This would functionally work the same way, but put more strategy in it.  In any case, I’m not really for this, but any Major League pitcher really should be able to face at least three batters.

No mound visits: Hmm, I’m not sure on this one.  Visits seem necessary to the game, but not essential.  Might they start allowing audio or text messaging to the players from the dugout?

Bigger bases: Why?

No shifting: I can assure you, managers and players will find a way around whatever version of this rule you try to implement.  At some point, hitters will discover this long-forgotten strategy of “hitting to the opposite field,” and that will correct this issue.  Besides, less shifting may create more offense, which will make the games longer.  This is just like the DH thing.  Do you want more scoring or quicker games MLB?  Right now you’re doing neither.

2 feet added to distance from rubber to home plate: Probably a very bad idea.  The theory here is likely that pitchers are now throwing so hard that batters need some help. 

Pitch clocks: Duh.  Please.  Why isn’t this already being done?

In the end, they only implemented some fairly mild stuff in the MLB.  They reduced the time between innings (sort of), did some stuff to the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby, reduced mound visits to five, and made the July trade deadline firm, no more waiver trades after.  Next year more substantial changes are on tap.  They’re adding an extra player to the everyday roster.  The 40-man roster will be eliminated in September, and will be limited to just 28 players for every team.  There will be a limit on the number of pitchers on the roster (maybe 13).  And the big one, there will be a three-batter minimum for relievers (or until end of the inning).  The DH is probably coming to the NL soon as well.

All of this is academic, since the Players Union is about to strike over how underpaid their members are, especially their very deserving free agents.  Were it not for Manny Machado’s and Bryce Harper’s contracts, the Union might have done it this year.  It feels like a perfect storm is brewing to ruin the sport in the near future.  Hopefully, everyone will pull their heads out of their asses and just work on making baseball better for fans.

An article on a Rockies’ fansite finally explained the phenomena of “slow” free agency.  Apparently, the “luxury tax” for going over the salary cap is no longer an inconvenience to the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers.  The tax rate has been raised to a point where it’s an actual deterrent.  It wasn’t that the Cubs didn’t want to add Bryce Harper.  They could afford him, but not the MLB tax on his salary.  Harper may help the team and attendance, but that tax only helps other teams and is “dead” money.  This was the actual intent of the luxury tax; to make sure three or four teams couldn’t stockpile all of the major free agent talent. 

The top two MLB teams in roster salary played in last years’ World Series.  The year before, the Astros had to beat the top three salaries to win.  I’m not crying for the “rich” teams in the league if they can’t afford more superstars.  (And how many more ironic quote marks am I going to use writing about this subject?)  Unfortunately, the Players Union does care.  They want the maximum salaries for their star players.  Does this help raise the salaries of their other non-star members?  That’s debatable, but they’d strike anyway if they’re told to. 

I noticed the Angels were making some big moves in the offseason.  I meant to write about that, but instead pushed my Hot Stove report out as quickly as I could and forgot about it.  It doesn’t matter.  They’re not going to compete.  Then they awarded a 12-year, $430M contract extension to retain Mike Trout for basically the rest of his career (and blowing away Harper’s big deal).  At some point Albert Pujols will retire and then his curse will be over!  Trout is obviously thinking. 

This kind of deal is exactly what the Players Union doesn’t want.  This even includes Harper’s deal.  These long-term “rocking chair” (I wasn’t done with the quotes) contracts aren’t desired by the Union for players who may not have peaked and are still young enough to go out and get another big contract later in their careers.  Sorry, Union leadership, we want to get paid big now.             

The next MLB survey asked to pick the winners this year.  Lacking a season preview magazine this year to that point and without any rumination, I could only make uninformed choices.  They also asked about various individual player awards.  I was lost on those, but it’s not like anybody gets those right anyway.  So, here were my panicked team picks.

AL East: Yankees, AL Central: Twins, AL West: Astros, WC: Indians, Red Sox

NL East: Mets, NL Central: Cardinals, NL West: Dodgers, WC: Braves, Rockies

AL Champ: Astros, NL Champ: Cardinals

WS Champ: Astros

Erm . . . Revaluating this a couple weeks later, this is mostly questionable.  SI likes the Rays, Reds, and the A’s to come out of nowhere.  They think the Brewers, Phillies, and Cubs are better than I do.  I’d almost like to revisit the Nationals’ chances, but I’m not picking them again after the way the way they’ve burned me and everyone else who’s picked them over the last five years. 

Still, we agreed on four of the six divisions and the Astros winning it all.  I love what SI said about the Indians, “Bryron Buxton has all [the] talent in the world, but he essentially got the previous regime ousted with how he crapped the bed.  Miguel Sano is always hurt and always fat . . .”  That’s great writing.  I can only aspire to that.  (Although, they apparently don’t have editors proofreading for them either and occasionally drop words too.)  By the way, by getting rid of Chief Wahoo, the Indians just added another 50 years until their next World Series championship.

So now you’re prepared for a successful MLB Opening Day.  You’re welcome.

NM State Aggies at the WAC Men’s Basketball Tournament 2019

3-14-19 vs Chicago St Cougars

It was another afternoon game for the Aggie Men’s first tournament game.  Coach Jans won back-to-back WAC Coach of the Year honors before the tournament.  Jack Nixon had Coach Atkinson of the Women’s team on before the game.  He accidently congratulated her on Coach of the Year honors, which she didn’t win.  He’d just assumed, because she’d done such a great job.  She wished Jack a happy birthday, “We’re both the same age, 39.”

AD Mario Moccia came on.  Airline travel was grounded out of El Paso for high winds on the team’s scheduled departure day.  They got to Las Vegas via a charter plane from the Las Cruces airport at a cost of $19,000.  Their equipment had to be driven there overnight.  Mario mentioned that the WAC has higher RPI than the Mountain West Conference, which NM State would probably rather be playing in.  This stat was interesting, since the Mountain West got two teams into the NCAA tournament, while the WAC only got their tournament winner in.

It sounded like a great Aggie crowd there for the team.  The WAC loves NMSU for showing up like this.  Okay, the Aggies were playing a Chicago State team that was winless in conference this year, so we’re going to make this recap short.  CJ Bobbitt made three threes to start for the Aggies as part of an 11-point run to start the game.  The Cougars closed to 15-12 after five turnovers in a row for the Aggies. 

The lead was back to 22-14 with eight minutes left.  Johnny McCants made crowd-pleasing two-handed jam.  A CS player hit a three and then trash talked Coach Jans on the way back.  I think Jans was probably more amused than threatened.  It was 35-23 Aggies at the half.  To this point, the Chicago State zone was slowing down the Aggie offense.  After the half, the Aggies poured it on.  CJ hit another three as part of a 16-0 run that made the score 54-29. 

Trevelin Queen threw down a monster jam.  Jack was aghast.  The crowd went nuts.  During the timeout afterward, Coach Jans lit into Ivan Aurrecoechea for some reason.  The Aggies won 86-49.  It was a runaway.  Eli Chuha finished with 14 points and Terrell Brown had 13.  Jack tried to impart some words of wisdom during the game.  He muffed it the first time, chuckled, and then got it right, “Life gives the experience first, then teaches the lesson.”  This is apropos of nothing, but I liked it.  

3-15-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros

I totally muffed taking notes this evening while I was at work.  I took some notes on the computer and scribbled out other notes on a piece of paper.  And I was busy.  To start the pregame, Tommy Amico from Underarmor was on with Jack Nixon.  The company was planning on giving away some new black and gold shoes and compression undergarments if any of their teams (like the Aggies) make it to the NCAA Tournament.  That’s something to play for. 

The Roadrunner Review Band was back for another game today, after playing for the girls earlier.  Them and the Cheerleaders and the Sundancers were working hard.  A former Miss New Mexico sang the Anthem.  Jack took that as a good sign.  AD Mario Moccia came on.  He thought this was the biggest Aggie crowd he’d seen for the tournament.

Okay, here I have virtually nothing for the first half.  The game was pretty physical.  Even one of the refs got injured on a late play.  Jojo Zamora got two blocks.  The Aggies were leading 40-32 at the half, but seemed in control.  A former Aggie Football player, Rick Shields, came on with Jack.  After his playing days, Rick had gone on into law enforcement, which led to him into the Secret Service and guarding Presidents.  Currently, he was working security for a Las Vegas hotel.  He’s a distinguished alumni.  Rick was amazed that Jack remembered his player number from the 70’s.  Was that really all I got down for the first half?

For the second half, I think I was busier.  I took more notes, but they were incoherent.  The Aggies went up by ten and got the crowd roaring.  They goosed it up to a 19-point lead, as the crowd started an Aggie chant.  I might have zoned out a bit with that kind of lead.  As I kept checking back on the game, that lead kept getting smaller.  It was 59-53 when AJ Harris hit back-to-back threes.  However, he had to come out after picking up his fourth foul.  “AJ might have done that differently,” remarked Jack.  It was 65-56 with under ten minutes to play. 

The next time I listened, the lead was down to five with under two minutes left.  Then, it was four points with under a minute.  A UTRGV player fouled out and Terrell Brown made two free throws to ice the game.  The crowd started chanting for the Aggies again, as they won 79-72.

That was more exciting at the end than I expected given a 19-point lead in the second half.  I almost think some of the Aggie starters weren’t playing for much of the second half, but I wasn’t concentrating on listening to the game at the time.  Foul trouble on CJ Bobbitt and AJ also limited their usage.  Tyson Smith for the Vaqueros led all scorers with 23.  Terrell Brown had 19, Clayton Henry had 12, and AJ Harris had 15.  The team stats for the game were actually very close.  Okay, it’s a win.  On to the Championship. 

    

3-16-19 vs Grand Canyon University Lopes

“Up next, we’ll hear from Brooke Shields . . .” I wonder where Jack Nixon’s head was as he attempted to preview his interview with WAC Championship-winning Aggie Women’s Coach, Brooke Atkinson.  These things happen.  He also interviewed Jay Rude, casino odds-maker and Aggie alumni.  The Aggies were up in the odds for today’s game.  There was a huge crowd for the game as GCU brought a bunch of students, but the Aggies brought plenty of fans too.  Jack was enjoying the cheering contest between the fans during player introductions.

First Half

I was exhausted from the Women’s double overtime win earlier, but I was still fully engaged for this Saturday night game.  So were the Lopes.  They got off to an 8-0 lead and the GCU crowd was going nuts.  The first Aggie points came off a Johnny McCants’ steal.  McCants then hit a three to get it to 10-5 GCU.  Trevelin Queen hit a three, but GCU answered.  Ivan Aurrecoechea was on fire getting points under the net.  GCU kept popping three’s like crazy, but Queen was answering them.  As the game went up tempo, CJ Bobbitt tied it at 21 with under 10 minutes in the half.

Queen dropped in another three for the first Aggie lead.  Well, GCU thanks for playing.  Your game was now functionally over.  The Aggie crowd was fully engaged and loving it.  Over the last 90 seconds of the half, the Aggies went on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a steal and a jam by Queen, 28-23.  The Aggies were outrebounding the Lopes and wearing them down.  Queen hit another three to put the Aggies up by 12.  It was 41-30 Aggies at the half.  Ivan had 12 points.  Queen had hit four threes.

Second Half

AJ Harris had an icepack on his head during halftime, but he was back in to start.  He has a hard head.  The rout was on.  Clayton Henry dropped in a pair of threes.  Ivan was taking out the trash, as the Aggies were dominating the rebounding.  Off an Aggie turnover, a GCU’s fast break layup was spoiled, which led directly to a Terrell Brown three.  It was that kind of night for GCU.  “Kicking them sideways,” was Jack’s pronouncement. 

It didn’t stop either.  Queen hit a three at the shot clock buzzer for 19-th point.  He then hit his sixth three.  He followed that up with a layup and a free throw.   “Trevelin Queen is unstoppable!” exclaimed Jack.  The Aggies went on a 13-1 run with under 10 minutes left to make it 74-48.

Clayton Henry hit his fourth three.  AJ missed a dunk with under five minutes left.  Jack laughed.  With the Aggies up 86-55, why be upset?  The crowd was continuously cheering.  With under three minutes left, the rest of the bench was cycled in.  Keyon Jones popped in a three.  Trevelin Queen left with 27 points, Clayton Henry with 14, and Ivan Aurrecoechea with 16.  89-57 Aggies win!  Jack was exuberant, along with the crowd and myself.

In the postgame press conference, Trevelin Queen, tournament MVP, called the team’s performance, “All gas, no brakes.”  Their strategy had been to run GCU into the ground with waves of subs.  When your team has lots of good players, you can do that.  Here’s some absurd Aggie stats: second chance points 17 to 5, bench points 50 to 9, fast break points 16 to 9, 47 to 28 in rebounds.  Thanks to that performance, the Aggies were given a 12 seed on the NCAA Tournament selection show on Sunday.  No complaints about a bad seeding this time.  They’d be facing five seed Auburn.  At least one expert I heard was picking the Aggies in an upset.  

NM State Aggies at the WAC Women’s Basketball Tournament 2019

3-13-19 vs Chicago State Cougars

This was nice: an afternoon game to listen to.  Adam Young sounded very upbeat to start the radio broadcast this afternoon as well.  The team received some awards before the tournament.  Brooke Salas was the WAC Player of the Year, for the second year in a row, and was the Defensive Player of the Year.  Gia Pack made the conference First Team.  Stabresa McDainiel made the conference Newcomers Team.

A lot of Aggie fans were already there in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena to see the ladies play before the Men arrive for their game tomorrow.  The Roadrunner Review band, the Cheerleaders, and Sundancers were there with the team.  The Aggie girls were wearing their turquoise throwback jerseys.  They must like them, because they’re wearing them at every opportunity.

Both teams were shooting well in the first quarter.  The Aggies were firing in threes and Brooke scored early, but Chicago State was hanging with them.  Their bench was fired up.  The Aggies went up to a 12-point lead, but it was 27-20 after ten minutes.  The Cougars cut the lead close at the start of the second quarter.  They were actually shooting better than the Aggies, but they were turning it over more.  Eventually, the Aggies would capitalize and build up a 17-point lead.  Gia was on fire with 20 points.  Brooke splashed in a pair of threes to get to 11 points.  Pam Wilmore, from Vegas, came in and got a cheer from friends and family in the crowd.  55-34 Aggies at the half.

AD Mario Moccia came on during halftime.  He updated the listeners on the Men’s team.  Today in the area, we were under some high winds, which grounded flights out of El Paso.  (100mph winds were predicted at the St. Augustine pass at the Organ Mountains).  The guys were stuck.  They were looking at a late charter flight or bussing to Albuquerque to catch a flight for their afternoon game tomorrow.  As confetti from last night’s event was falling from the rafters, Mario said that a big alumni event was planned for tonight.

It was more of the same in the third quarter.  Gia hit a couple more threes.  Her and Brooke came out late with the team up by over 30.  Aaliyah Prince, who’d been in as a sub, scored 14.  Kalei Atkinson came up with a big block in the quarter.  81-46 after three quarters.

The fourth quarter just featured the Aggie bench players.  Adam called out the CS Men’s team for leaving the game early.  Aissatou Fall scored a basket.  A big cheer went up from the bench for her.  Pam got a mid-air putback for a cheer.  Chicago State eventually put in their bench.  On the last Aggie possession, Coach Atkinson told Tayelin Grays to dribble it out, but she went ahead and made a shot anyway. 

Aggies win 90-54.  Gia Pack scored 28 and was 10 of 13.  Aaliyah Prince had 14, and Brooke Salas had 11.  The team was 9 of 14 on three’s.  Your stat of the game was 33: the number of Cougar turnovers.  This was a good start for the ladies.

3-15-19 vs UMKC Roos

Even more Aggie fans were in Vegas for today’s afternoon game.  They would need the support.  In the first quarter, there was pressure defense and turnovers for both teams to start.  It was a furious dogfight.  Brooke Salas picked up an early foul.  Adam Young was giving breathless play-by-play on the radio call.  He felt the Aggies’ zone coverage isn’t working well to get rebounds.  After a last second three, the Roos were up 23-19 after ten minutes.

Kalei Atkinson came off the bench to score six in the second quarter.  (I like Kalei.  She has a nice smile.  Sorry that I think I’ve your name spelled wrong in several posts.)  I could hear the bench cheering for her.  The lead kept changing back-and-forth.  Monique Mills picked up a second foul, she complained, and ref’s told her to put a sock in it.  The coach had to take her out.  The Roos were in the bonus with three minutes left, as Brooke took a second foul on a charge.  There was a big Kalei three to keep the Roos from getting too far ahead.  The Aggies got the momentum back and tied it at 37 at the half.  Whew, that played out quick in under 45 minutes.

During the half, Tommy Amico the Underarmor rep, came on.  He said that the women were wearing their throwback uniforms by their choice.  They like them, as I thought.  The third quarter picked up right where they left off as the teams matched baskets.  In this quarter, Aaliyah Prince missed a pair of free throws.  Up to that point, the teams were 11 for 11 in free throws.  That’s pretty clutch.  Ericka Mattingly of the Roos had put up 22 to that point and gotten the Roos up by five.   

Stabresa McDaniel answered with a three, however Brooke was sitting out with three fouls.  Pressure Aggie defense started getting turnovers to tie it yet again at 54.  (There were 14 turnovers to that point).  The Aggies were in the bonus with two minutes left, after a foul by Mattingly.  A 7-0 run allowed the Aggies to take the lead with a pair of Dominique Mills’ free throws, 56-54.  Kalei took a charge that caused a turnover and a score that had the crowd going nuts, 58-54 Aggies.  Mattingly fouled Gia Pack.  It was her fourth and we were tied at 60.

Mattingly was out to start the fourth quarter.  Bre picked up her fourth foul.  Kalei blocked a three into Roo’s bench.  Both teams started missing a lot under intense defense and pressure.  Brooke got a layup for a five-point lead with six minutes left.  Mattingly came back in.  Kalei got another block that had the crowd going nuts. 

Brooke picked up her fourth foul with four minutes left, but stayed in.  Mattingly got to 30 points for the game with another three.  From here it got crazy.  Brooke hit a basket at the shot clock buzzer.  The Roos hit a three.  Gia got a layup.  The Aggies were up three with three minutes left.  Adenike Aderinto hit a jumper, but Mattingly got a layup and another Roo basket cut the Aggie lead to one.  With 90 seconds, Gia hit a jumper with the crowd screaming the whole time.  Mattingly hit a three to tie it.  With under a minute left, both teams missed or couldn’t take shots that would have put them the lead.  Regulation ended at 75-75.  There had been 14 lead changes to this point.

Thankfully, the overtime period was less dramatic.  Gia basically took over and scored 10.  Monique chipped in a three and Nike put in a basket.  The Aggies were up by ten and the Roos were intentionally fouling when my dad called to see how the game went, so I was kind of distracted at the end.  He hadn’t been listening and had missed a good one. 

91-80 Aggies win!  I was exhausted.  I’d been on pins and needles since the fourth quarter.  This game was great, but not relaxing afternoon entertainment.  Wow, even with the OT period, the game still finished inside of two hours.  The game was played at a breathtaking pace.  There were 18 ties and 14 lead changes. 

Roo Ericka Mattingly scored 37 to lead all players.  Gia Pack scored 36, a career-high.  She played the whole game.  Brooke Salas had 12.  Kalei Atkinson had a big game off the bench with 11 points and a couple of blocks.  Afterward, Coach Atkinson (no relation) said that Kalei guards Brooke in practice, so she’s used to a defensive challenge.  The Aggies were -15 rebounds, but came up big in bench scoring and in turnovers.

3-16-19 vs UTRGV Vaqueros

The Aggies were right where that wanted to be: in the WAC Championship game.  They’d been on a mission since last years’ early exit.  This Saturday afternoon radio coverage started with the Anthem.  For all the WAC tournament games, Men and Women, they did the Anthem ten or 15 minutes before the tip. 

The Vaqueros brought some fans with them and their band.  I could tell the difference between them and the Aggie Roadrunner Review band from hearing their playlist and skill level.  (Of course the Aggie Band was better.)  The Vaqueros band did play an electric guitar rift on made free throws.  It was hard to tell the size of the crowd over the radio, but upon viewing the highlights and pictures later, it was tremendous.  Good to see Aggie fans, who there mostly for Men’s Championship, come out to support the ladies.

Starting in the first quarter, the Ref’s were calling a very loose game.  It was physical at times with a bunch of no-calls.  Monique Mills got the scoring started with a three.  Brooke Salas scored next on a finger-roll.  Then she got a steal and another layup.  Next, Brooke hit a jumper.  Then, she got another steal and a layup and a free throw.  She had nine points in the first three minutes of the game.  Brooke was on a mission.        

The Vaqueros were keeping it close by making threes.  There was a humorous moment as they directly passed the ball to Aggie Assistant Coach McAdams on the sidelines. “He’s not playing today,” remarked Adam Young on the radio call.  Mo added another three and Brooke got four more points off of free throws for 13 for the quarter.  Kalei Atkinson ended the quarter with a block.  21-15 Aggies after ten minutes.

Unfortunately, Aggie shooting went cold in the second quarter and the Vaqueros closed in.  Gia Pack did answer a UTRGV three with one of her own.  Brooke picked up her first foul late and that put the Vaqueros in the bonus.  Quynne Huggins (pronounced “Quinn”), their leading scorer, went down on a collision right before the half.  To add insult to the bruise, the refs called a foul on her too.  It was 36-35 UTRGV at the half.  Brooke had 17 points.

During halftime, the acrobatic “Trick Dogs” performed.  Even Adam was impressed with the show.  The players were going to upstage them though.  Brooke came out firing with a jumper and a steal that led to a fast break layup.  However, she picked up her second foul.  Brooke stayed in a got a layup and now had 21 points.  Gia was getting into it with a bunny and a free throw that put the Aggies back in the lead.

It was a brief stay.  Huggins hit her fifth three-pointer.  The Aggies then had three bad offensive possessions.  Adam could hear Coach Atkinson calling out plays “Pistol” and “Fresno.”  Those apparently were not good plays.  The Vaqueros went up by seven.  Adenike Aderinto finally broke up a 9-0 run with a layup.  It was 51-46 UTRGV after three quarters.

Brooke and the reserves were in to start the fourth quarter.  It was a bold strategy.  Brooke scored as the Aggies turn up the defensive pressure.  Even the Aggie fans got into the act.  They started standing and roaring and caused a 10-second violation on the Vaqueros trying to bring the ball across midcourt.  Brooke’s mom was there leading the cheering.  Credit 5’6” Pam Wilmore during two sequences where she was guarding a 6’ Vaqueros player.

UTRGV was still outrebounding the Aggies and hitting threes.  Brooke and Gia clawed the Aggies back into it.  The deficit was four at the media timeout with six minutes left.  Stabresa McDaniel started taking most of the shots and was making them.  She tied the game twice.  Brooke got a block on the last Vaquero possession and the Aggies got the ball back with 18 seconds left.  Brooke couldn’t get a near last-second shot to go.  There was an official review of an out-of-bounds call that felt like it took five minutes, but the last two seconds played out without a score.  58-58.

On to overtime.  Adam kept praising the refs for this game, but they were frankly a bit indecisive.  Here at the start of overtime, two refs gave different calls on the same play.  They had to consult with each other before giving Bre a charging foul, her fourth for the game.  Brooke picked up another foul and the Vaqueros went up by one point.  Huggins hit a basket for a three-point lead, but Dominique Mills made a free throw to cut it to two.

With under two minutes left, both teams seemed exhausted and couldn’t shoot. Huggins committed a foul and put the Aggies in the bonus.  Dominique made two free throws to tie it.  With under a minute left, it was 61-61.  UTRGV went up by two.  The Aggies missed on two shots, but kept possession.  With the shot clock off, Brooke scored to tie it again.  UTGRV had 24 seconds, but missed their last shot.  63-63.

Are there any scary words in a championship game than, “In the first overtime period . . .”  You know that means there was more than one.  Both teams were now in the bonus after an Aggie foul.  Gia got her second wind and made a layup, hit a three, and got a steal.  The Aggies went up by two, but the Vaqueros tied it on free throws and went up by two with under two minutes left.  

Bre hit two free throws to tie it.  One minute left, Gia made two free throws to set a new WAC tournament scoring record.  The PA announced it on the next stoppage.  The Vaqueros tied it again.  With 30 seconds left, Brooke got stickback on a Gia miss up to put the Aggies back up by two.  

13 seconds, Bre fouled out.  Ooh, some chicanery followed.  The UTRGV coach said the fouled player, one of the worst free throw shooters on the team was injured.  She was taken out and switched with one of their best free throw shooters.  Adam was in an uproar, but the Aggie coaches apparently didn’t complain much.  UTRGV’s best free throw shooter made the first shot and missed the second.  As Justin Hawkins says on the Aggie Men’s broadcasts, “Ball don’t lie.”  With three seconds remaining, Brooke was intentionally fouled and calmly drained both foul shots for a three-point lead.  The Vaqueros weren’t able to get a final shot off before time expired.

76-73 Aggies win?  Is it over?  Is it?  I’m on the verge of tears.  That was one of the most nerve-wracking basketball games I’ve ever heard.  I couldn’t have taken a third overtime.  Quynne Huggins had 19 points to lead the Vaqueros.  Gia Pack was the tournament MVP.  She had 22 today and 86 for the tournament.  Brooke Salas was on the All-Tournament team and had 29.  These two played nearly every minute of the last two games.  You guys are excused from practice tomorrow. 

I’d wondered why the Volleyball team was wearing sunglasses when they won the WAC Championship last year.  Apparently, they’re handed out to the winners, probably from a sponsor.  In the press conference afterward, Coach Atkinson and Brooke were wearing their victory hats on backward.  Brooke had a piece of the net tied to her hat.  When asked about Gia’s performance, Brooke thanked her for helping her go out with a bang.  

As per Monday’s announcement, the girls will be playing Iowa State in Iowa on Saturday.  No radio coverage was mentioned, though it will be on ESPN2.  We’ll see if I’ll be able to watch or listen to the game.