NM State Aggies vs Texas Southern Tigers Baseball 2-14-20

  

Happy Valentine’s Day!  What a better way to spend a romantic day than with my lover . . . baseball!  Bah humbug to women!  Oh wait, Emerson, our favorite sports marketing intern, is back at the ballpark, along with a bunch of other pretty girls (mostly girlfriends or sisters of the players).  Well, its okay that women are here as long as they don’t distract me from keeping my scorecard.  Ron was with me for the game.  I almost disowned him on the way over as he nearly ran over beautiful volleyball star, Megan Hart, at a crosswalk.  Well, that would have been one way to have met her.  (Poor thing, she looked kind of unhappy, even apart from homicidal drivers.)    

Yes, baseball is still my favorite even with the whole Astros’ cheating scandal.  Since more has happened since the last time I wrote about it, I’ll have more to say later in my Preseason Special.  For now, it’s the Aggie Baseball’s Opening Day.  People at work didn’t even complain that I wanted a day off when I said it was Opening Day.  They knew it was a special day (for me at least). 

It’s also a new day for Aggie baseball with a new coach, Mike Kirby.  Here’s what I know about him: nothing.  He’s been kind of anonymous since his hiring.  He wasn’t on the Aggie Coach’s Show this week to promote opening weekend.  Broadcaster Adam Young’s first interview with him (perhaps) was before today’s game.  I didn’t even get to hear it on the radio as the PA announcing the lineups at the same time.  The face of the franchise has (properly) been All-American and presumed first round draft candidate, Nick Gonzales.  He was the national batting champion last season with a .432 average.  I’ve seen him interviewed on local TV sports news a couple of times.  He has switched from second to short for this season.             

Today’s game was at 3:00pm Friday afternoon.  It was a great day here in Las Cruces.  It was in the high 60’s, clear, and no breeze.  A great crowd of 765 came out.  The parking lot was full with RV’s and tailgaters.  As the sun went down late in the game, it would get colder.  Aggie Softball was playing a double header starting at the same time.  That actually worked out, as we would be able to watch some of that later as well. 

As you can see above, they were handing out programs printed in color this season.  They were also handing out buttons and running a baseball bingo contest.  I passed on those.  In addition to the cute girls, there were also some cute dogs in attendance.  The PA was offering a “sweet prize” for returning foul balls.  Unlike most Aggie Baseball games, there weren’t many fouls in this game.  Current Mets minor leaguer and former Aggie, Marcel Renteria, was doing color commentary for the game and did a good job.  The bunting was out for opening day around the stadium.  Pistol Pete, the man himself, threw out the first pitch.  Lastly, and oops, they forgot to put the flag out in the centerfield.  Did anyone else feel a little silly saluting an empty flagpole during the Anthem?  Good thing there wasn’t any wind today that hitters and fielders needed to keep track of.        

I think I did okay on this scorecard, but only because the game wasn’t too complex (excluding a four-base error in the sixth, thank goodness there was a radio call).  Chance Hroch, whom we saw at Softball last week, was the Aggie starter today.  The last time I saw Chance pitching was in the final home game of last season (5-18-19).  He was prematurely pulled from a game he was dominating and the Aggies ended up losing.  If they’d won, the Aggies would have been the sole conference champions, instead it was a three-way share. 

But I’m not bitter or anything.  I’m sure Chance doesn’t remember Cal Baptist celebrating on field (twice).  This is only reason I haven’t gotten too upset over Coach Brian Green leaving.  He did such a great job with the program, but that questionable pitching move left a bad taste in my mouth.  Theoretically, it was done to save Hroch’s arm for the tournament, which didn’t work out anyway.  While there was a new conference championship sign on the wall, it didn’t entirely feel legit.

Let’s get to the game recap with Texas Southern coming all the way from Houston.  Last year, the Aggies swept out the Tigers in the opening weekend by a combined 98 to 19 in scoring.  Chance looked good in the top of the first.  He only gave up a bunt single.  Nobody’s expecting the three-hole hitter to bunt with nobody on.  Zerek Saenz from Las Cruces (via Mayfield and transferring from Eastern Arizona College, go Gila Monsters!) was leading off for the Aggies.  He got overeager in his first at bat and thought he’d worked a walk before he’d actually gotten four balls and ended up flying out.     

Chance cruised through the second.  Victor Bueno from the Dominican Republic came up as the DH.  Ron had liked his cannon arm from watching him take infield.  A roar came up from the Softball field to remind us that that was going on as well.  A double play killed an Aggie rally in the bottom.  In the third, the Tiger nine-hole hitter, Roderick Coffee, cranked a home run to left center.  1-0 TS.  The Texas Southern dugout got fired up.  In the bottom, Zerek drove in Noah Haupt to tie the score.  TS catcher, Victor Cruz bobbled two balls while Nick was at bat.  Zerek couldn’t resist the second time and made an ill-advised steal attempt that failed.  Adam and Marcel disapproved of the effort with the batting champ at the plate.

Kevin Jimenez, who’s taken over playing second, made a good play on the first out of the fourth.  On the final out, Nick made the defensive play of the game.  On what looked like a deflection by Hroch on a ball up the middle, Nick made a sliding catch and a tremendous throw to nip the runner.  In the bottom, this was the inning that I couldn’t help but notice that TS pitcher, Noe Guerrero, was losing his hat on seemingly every other pitch.  Get this kid a new hat. 

Suddenly play was briefly stopped.  A ball had gotten into the outfield . . . from the softball field.  It was a home run ball!  That must have been a monster shot.  The Aggie baseball team and the radio broadcast identified it as an Aggie home run, but that was all the information we got at the time.  Marcel was impressed.  I was awed that a Braden Williams’ home run made it onto the softball field last year (2-17-19).  I’ll cover more on this in my softball recap, since we went there after this game.   

Back to play, Nick walked, but was thrown out trying to steal on another bobbled ball.  Cruz even hesitated, but still got him.  Austin Duffy painted the line with the double.  Cruz mishandled another pitch.  The batter tried to wave Duffy over, but he stayed put and was left stranded.  To the fifth, Duffy bobbled a ball at third, but still threw out the runner at first for the final out.  Opening Day jitters maybe.  Down the aisle, Chance’s girlfriend (I’m assuming from her shirt with his name on it), came by with a cute little dog.

In the bottom of the fifth, Haupt singled.  There was another walk, which prompted a mound visit.  Right after that was a wild pitch that advanced Haupt to third.   Zerek drove him in with a sac fly.  2-1 Aggies.  I can’t believe I’m reporting station-to-station baseball with the Aggies.  Even worse, there was that Coffee guy again to start the sixth with another home run.  We’re tied again at 2.  Chance hit the next two batters, which prompted a mound visit.  The TS bench was angry, but the coverage didn’t think the hits were intentional.  Another blast drove Zerek to the left field wall, but he hauled it in.

The Tigers made a pitching change for the bottom of the sixth.  Duffy worked a walk.  There was another bobbled ball and this time he was able to steal on it.  Zach Smits, the Aggie DH, did not have a good game with three strikeouts, but did have the pivotal play of the game.  A bad throw to first from third got him on base.  A bobble in the retrieval scored Duffy and had Zach rounding second.  A final bad throw that went into the Aggie dugout got him waved home by the ump.  4-2 Aggies.  I should mention that Smits is a large person and has to be one of the slowest players on the team.  It was going to take a four-base error to score him.

Tristan Peterson, a fellow All-American like Nick, had his only highlight today with a shoetop catch on a liner in the top of the seventh.  Also in the inning, a foul hit the canopy overhead, but nobody saw it come down.  We were all a little nervous about that.  The Aggie bats finally woke up in the bottom.  Jason Bush led off with a homer to right.  Zerek hit an oppo double and Nick drove him in with another one.  The scoreboard erroneously had the Aggies up 7-2, but that wouldn’t happen until Duffy drove in Nick a couple of batters later.  Jimenez also got a hit on a mental error by the second baseman, who missed the tag on a passing Duffy and threw late to first.

Mitchell Allen relieved Chance in the eighth.  A co-worker of mine came by.  He had said he might come to the game, though I hadn’t seen him in the stands.  I think he got one of the giveaway shirts too.  The Tigers brought in a pitcher in the bottom who throws offspeeds and curves in the 50’s and 60’s, which momentarily confused the Aggies, but not for long.  Haupt tripled and scored on a wild pitch.  Tristan Stacy walked and Zerek singled.  This set the table for Nick to come up and blast a three-run homer to left.  He seemed mad as he crossed the plate for some reason.  Easy man, nobody hits a home run every at bat.  11-2 Aggies.

Allen closed it out in the bottom of the ninth, but not without some trouble.  He loaded the bases and there was that Coffee guy again.  Everyone in the crowd held their breath, but he struck out.  Aggies won 11-2.  This final wouldn’t have surprised anyone going in, but it was way closer than the score would indicate.

Let’s hand out the gameballs.  For the Tigers, Roderick Coffee’s two homers were their offense.  Why was he batting ninth?  Noe Guerrero held down the Aggies for five innings, but didn’t figure into the decision.  For the Aggies, Nick Gonzales went 2 for 4 with 4 RBI’s.  He’s started the season off right.  Noah Haupt went 3 for 4 and scored 3 times.  Lastly, Chance Hroch dominated for seven innings against anyone on the Tigers not named Coffee.   

It was another successful Opening Day, but it wasn’t over yet.  Since this game finished in well under three hours, Ron and I went over to the softball field to see most of the end of their double header.  May as well make the most of my day off.