Tuesday, March 5, 2019

NM State Aggies vs Delaware Blue Hens Baseball 3-2-19

During the Senior Day ceremonies at the Aggie Women’s Basketball game, I tuned into the Men’s Basketball game against the Chicago State Cougars on the road, which was going on at the same time on the radio.  I nudged Ron, who was with me, that it was on.  We started listening at halftime and the score was 43-15 Aggies.  Ron and I both looked at each other.  Did you hear what I just heard?  The guys had a good first half.  They’d win 92-58.  Ivan Aurrecoechea led the team with 17 points.  Four Aggies sat out the game with minor injuries.  Jack Nixon sounded a bit bored during the game call.  Alternately, he may have been in a hurry to get the game over with.  There was a truncated postgame.  Him and the team had to rush to catch the flight home.   

After the basketball game, we went to Zeffiro’s Pizza.  We learned there not to order triple pepperoni.  They’ll give it to you, but won’t tell you it’s not an optimal arrangement.  While listening to the end of the Men’s game, Ron checked out Game 1 of Aggie Baseball’s double header against Delaware.  The game was functionally over, but still had a while to go.  The Aggies won that one 17-3.  Via online stats, Eric Mingus had a modest performance going 3 for 4 with 5 RBI’s and a home run.  As you might suspect, the rest of the team hit well too.  Starter Justin Dehn went six innings only giving up three runs.  Aldo Fernandez and Chris Barraza pitched three scoreless innings of relief.   

I admit I nearly gave Ron a fake excuse to get out of going to Aggie sports today.  On the TV at the pizza place was the reason.  US Women’s Soccer was on this afternoon.  You know what that means right?  Yes, it was a chance to indulge in worshipping my favorite female athlete, Alex Morgan!  (Sorry to all of you female Aggie athletes.)  Oh, Alex.  I did get to see a bit of my soccer goddess in the pregame, but we left a bit after the match actually started.  Unfortunately, I didn’t think I could talk Ron into staying without embarrassing myself. 

Also, I wanted ice cream.  Did you know that the frozen yogurt place next to the pizza place was closed?  We found that out the hard way.  How disappointing.  (Crap really, I’ve run into the Volleyball team there twice.)  Caliches was open down the road.  I instantly picked the key lime with cheese cake.  Thank goodness it was back in season.  Heaven.  Okay, it was great but probably not as great as watching Alex Morgan, but let’s forget about it and go see Aggie Baseball.  Whatever.  (The match was a 2-2 tie versus England.  Typical soccer.)   

We arrived at Presley Askew Field between games.  Inside, that older gent who works for the sports department walked by me.  He saw me with my scorecard out, as usual, and told me to “Keep up the good work.”  I’ve finally made it into the big time.  As happened Friday night, the Blue Hens won the fashion show.  They looked exceptionally sharp with their yellow tops with blue letters and numbers.  Nice. 

Alexia was back as the PA.  Welcome back.  There were some fairly entertaining Greek boys and girls in the center section.  Good to see them out supporting the team.  They sang out the fight song when it was played before the game.  Gasp! Kelsey Horton and the Softball team came in (though not all at the same time).  They walked passed me in an intimating enough manner that I kept my enthusiasm to myself.  Oh, well.  The team and the frats were part of a really good crowd tonight.    
  
The Aggies got the scoring started in the first on a passed ball.  I’d noticed the Delaware catcher, #44 Jack Goan, was huge.  He was a foot taller than the ump.  1-0 Aggies.  I had a pencil for the “What’s in your pocket?” contest, but I wasn’t sure about the prize, so I avoided participating again.  The Aggie defense was good in the top of the second.  Joey Ortiz got the first out with a 360-degree spin on the catch and throw.  Starter Christopher Jefferson helped himself out by fielding a comebacker and getting the lead runner at second to start a double play.  In the bottom, Eric Mingus got a hustle triple off a deep flyball to center that nearly went out.  He was cashed in with an error to make it 2-0 Aggies.

In the third, a little girl won the window toss contest.  She got a cheer and high-fives from the Aggie dugout.  Nick Gonzales, with his modest .600+ batting average, only had one hit in this game, but it was a leadoff home run in the bottom of the inning.  Caleb Henderson followed that up with a solo homer.  The “There’s no crying in baseball!” clip played during a mound visit. 

Goan missed catching a foul ball.  It wasn’t an error, since it wouldn’t have been “ordinary effort” to catch it.  However, that didn’t stop the frat boys from going after him.  “Nice hair, bozo!”  The girl with them said she liked his “flow.”  “That’s why we’re making fun of him.”  Mingus drove in a run to make it 5-0 Aggies.  Joey struck out on a check swing with the bases loaded to end the inning.  Politely, the Aggies only sent nine men to the plate, and not more, so as not to destroy my scorecard. 

Jefferson cruised through another inning.  Nick started the fourth with getting hit hard enough that I could hear it clearly in the stands.  Ouch.  Three more runs came in for the Aggies, including one off an error.  8-0 Aggies.  Joey got a free pass the hard way too to start the fifth.  He was brought in on a sacrifice by Tristen Carranza to make it 9-0.  Jefferson continued to pitch from a rocking chair.  Two more Aggie runs came in in the sixth, including one off a wild pitch, 11-0.  My highlight of inning was the PA playing I’m Too Sexy.  Apparently, I was in the mood for bad nostalgic pop. 

During the next musical interlude, the Old Gent was dancing for the crowd to a techno tune.  Jefferson’s final inning was another gem, as he made two good plays on comebackers.  As part of a four-run bottom of the inning, two runs scored as Logan Bottrell got a hit on an infield single.  Jason Bush caught the defense sleeping and scored from first on the play.  Second baseman Erick Bowren for the Hens made a great play to end the inning.  The ball hit the base and popped up.  He smothered it and managed to throw out Nick at first. 

The eighth was uneventful.  The Blue Hens finally broke through in the ninth during Andrew Edwards’ second inning of relief.  Bowren drove in a run on a single, but was thrown out trying to stretch it to a double.  For the final batter, I don’t think I’d seen this before.  There was a delay for the pinch hitter.  The original batter and pinch hitter went behind the dugout to exchange something.  Batting helmet?  Gloves?

And we’re done.  15-2 Aggies in a spirited batting practice session.  That wasn’t too competitive.  How did this game last three hours and 40 minutes?  Half the game was the Blue Hens having eight innings of three and four batters.  The Aggies never even batted around in any of the innings.  Delaware issuing 10 walks probably didn’t help.  It was a long day at the university for sports today. 


Let’s hand out some game balls.  Chris Jefferson looked very good going seven innings while only giving up two hits.  Caleb Henderson was seeing the ball well, as he went 4 for 4 with a home run.  Eric Mingus went 3 for 5, driving in two.  Okay, let’s do this again tomorrow after I’ve gotten some sleep.  At least this recap didn’t run as long as the game did.

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