NM State vs GCU Lopes Baseball 4-6-19

Hot Greek girls on scooters!  Hot Greeks girls on scooters!  What a sight to behold as Ron and I walked through the Presley Askew Stadium parking lot.  It was Parents Day for the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority today at the ballpark.  Presumably, this is where parents, spending huge amounts of money to send their daughters to college, can see what they’re getting for their money and be appropriately horrified.  “Hey, mom and dad, look at my new tats and piercings and watch how quick I can chug this beer . . . and I’m pregnant and a lesbian!”  (I can only imagine some of these young women taking exception to what I’ve written because I left out some vices and they want to brag about them.)     

Okay, that’s a little too salty.  Sorry.  At the gate, there was a happy black Rottweiler-mix dog that was getting lots of petting by people entering.  Inside the stadium, they were offering free fanny packs, which I politely declined, but thanks.  Emerson was looking adorable in a little white skirt.  And here I was about to fantasy-cheat on her later at the Softball Complex with another young woman, an opposing player, no less.  I’d feel bad about it, except it was Basia Query.  I mean, come on, it’s Basia.  I’ve been crushing on the Utah Valley catcher for three years.  Frankly, I should have skipped this game to go to the softball double header.       

A large crowd showed up for the game, 700+.  The large and pretty Greek presence was having a party outside around the RV’s, but they did come in to support the team.  Ron was doing more ogling than myself.  I’ve been a bad influence.  GCU brought a good number of fans, too.  The sorority girls went wild when one of their own threw out the first pitch.  Beyond the outfield, I could see the softball girls warming up for their game.  (Curses on this poor scheduling.)

Let’s do a quick season update.  After beating the Lobos last Tuesday, the Aggies went on the road and took of two-of-three from Chicago State.  Chance Hroch nearly had a seven-inning run-rule perfect game (broken up by a single leadoff hit in the seventh) on Sunday.  The race in the WAC is all bunched up.  GCU, a good team, had beaten the Aggies in a poorly played game on Friday.  The Lopes were tied for the conference lead, ahead of the Aggies.  

     

Right after the game started, Ron took off to go chase balls beyond the outfield fence.  “You do know that you paid for a seat, right?”  He also missed one of the hottest days of the season for girl-watching.  Oh well.  He has to pursue his larger passions.  Speaking of girls, some of the sisters were seated behind me.  They were really into the game cheering.  There were also reportedly (via the radio call) scouts there to watch Quin Cotton on GCU.  I wonder if the scouting presence caused the guys on both teams to play too tight on Friday.

 

This game started off with some better defense.  In the first, Eric Mingus at third made a high throw to first, but Tristan Peterson managed to come down with the ball and tap Cotton as he went by.  In the bottom of the first, some visiting Utah Valley fans came in to take in this game before seeing their daughters play softball.  They had to leave before the end because of the overlapping play times, but thanks for coming over and watching our baseball team.  The Aggies threatened, but did not score in the inning.

A co-worker of mine came in in the second.  I went over and said “Hi,” to him.  With the crowd noise (mostly the girls) and the blaring PA loudspeaker, it was too hard to have a conversation.  Cuba Bess homered off Justin Dehn to start the second for the Lopes.  Another run came in after a double, a wild pitch, and a fielder’s choice.  After the double, there was a little comedy as Dehn threatened to make a pickoff throw to second.  The runner scrambled and fell down to get back, but there was no one covering.  Joey Ortiz made two great plays on grounders at short.  On one, he threw out the lead runner at third.  Then, he made a dive stop to get a runner at second to end the inning.  2-0 GCU.

To start the third, camo Aggie shirts were tossed to the crowd.  They’re supposed to be a giveaway at a later game.  I’ll keep an eye out for that.  One of the pretty blonde marketing girls hit one of the sorority girls behind me with a bundle and winced in embarrassment.  The Lopes scored two more via a double and a sacrifice fly, 4-0 Lopes.  It was fairly nice today, but the occasional overcast and breeze were causing problems with flyballs.  In the bottom, the GCU outfielder couldn’t track an Ortiz ball that went for a ground rule double as it bounced over the wall.  Nick Gonzales walked.  Peterson then came up and hit a massive blast to left field.  4-3 GCU.  The large crowd was revved up by the hit.  It was great to hear.

On to the fourth.  Fanny packs were tossed to the crowd.  A little boy chased Emerson around for one, before she finally gave in and gave it to him.  It looks great on me.  I’m just kidding.  Dehn locked it down in the top with three strikeouts, though all of them required catcher Jason Bush to put in some extra effort to get the outs.  Dehn also worked a 1-2-3 fifth.  Logan Bottrell made a great diving catch in the inning.  He was injured on the play, but didn’t come out.  (Botts ended up not playing the next day.)

There was a new contest in the fifth.  Three girls were dressed up with horse costumes and had to run to a finish line.  Cute, but not as good as Dino Dash.  Adam Young, on the radio call, gave an update on former Aggie star, Daniel Johnson.  He’s playing for the Akron Rubber Ducks in Double A in the Indians’ organization.  He had three extra base hits for them yesterday.  In the crowd, a good-looking young woman brought in a baby in a bright yellow bonnet and onesie.  So adorable. 

Adam was shocked in the bottom of the fifth that GCU took their starting pitcher out after four innings.  The Aggies took advantage of the change.  Peterson hit a grounder off the reliever, which scored Botts from third.  With that, Tristan took the national lead in RBI’s.  Tristen Carranza then singled in another run.  He was in turn brought in by an error by the GCU shortstop, who hadn’t committed an error all season.  6-4 Aggies.  I could hear the Anthem going on next door at the softball game.  I’m going to be late for you, Basia.  In the bottom of the sixth, Joey tripled in another run.  The right fielder dove for his hit and missed.  The crowd loved it.  7-4 Aggies. 

Justin Dehn, after throwing over 100+ pitches, gave way to Keaton Graf out of the bullpen, who worked a quick seventh.  A little boy next to me started doing what he called “The Winner Dance.”  Easy kid, there’s still two more innings and we’re only up by three.  Make that five.  Pinch hitter, Kevin Jimenez drove in a run with a bases loaded walk.  Bottrell, after a protracted battle, then sacrificed a run in from third.  9-4 Aggies.  On the other side of the fence, there was an Aggie Softball homer.  I could tell by the cheering, but I had no other information.

Cuba Bess crabbed at the umpire after a looking strikeout in the eighth.  It was an inconsistent and wide strikezone for most of the game.  The crowd wasn’t happy with the umpiring.  Andrew Edwards came in to finish off the inning after a pair of walks.  In the ninth, a guy next to me with a fluffy white little dog had the pooch dancing to Mambo #5 over the PA.  I’m always surprised when I see pets let their owners do stuff like that to them.  Edwards closed out the game with two strikeouts.  Aggies win 9-4!  Immediately after the last call, Jason Bush turned around and shook hands with the ump.  He was at least pleased with the strikezone.  (Actually, he apparently does this after every game he catches.)

Let’s hand out those game balls.  Joey Ortiz did well defensively and went 4 for 5 batting.  Tristan Peterson only had one hit, but drove in four.  I thought Keaton Graf and Andrew Edwards did a good job out of the bullpen, giving up no runs and no hits.

I hooked up with Ron outside the stadium.  He’d gotten a couple of balls and missed all the eyecandy.  He’d also met Chance Hroch’s dad out there, who was also tracking down balls.  (It’s just weird.)  He said he was a really nice guy and invited Ron to come out to his RV tailgate in the parking lot sometime.  Cool.  Ron went to the “Kiss and Cry” and gave Joey Ortiz his double ball that went over the fence.  No time for further reflection though.  I needed to see Basia . . . err . . . Aggie Softball, joined in progress (and see Basia).