NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Baseball Game 1 05-15-21

 

In spite of my grim, vague warnings last time, there was no problem with going to the ball park today.  We’ll see what happens this fall.  For now, everyone is welcome to go to Aggie Sports.  Ron’s health and the weather were actually bigger issues with the game today.  He’d called me Saturday morning in obvious pain.  Ron had hurt his back.  I asked if he really wanted to go.  “I really want to go; I’m just barely physically able to.”  There’s a gamer for you.  He’d gone to Friday’s game, which had two weather delays.  That had resulted in a 10-4 loss to CBU taking a really long time to finish.  Today’s forecast also had a chance of rain.

 

Ron asked if I had an umbrella with me when he picked me up.  No, this wasn’t for the possibility of rain.  Part of the canopy over the grandstand was gone.  I’d thought maybe yesterday’s storm had done it, but it had happened before Friday.  We were going to have no sun protection where we usually sit.  We went by Subway and PQ Treats for a mid-game meal.  I wasn’t enthusiastic about having Subway again.  I did find out that the next door Santa Fe Grill serves hamburgers.  I’m intrigued.

 

Ron had expressed irritation that New Mexico was one of the few states still mandating masking.  At the stadium Friday, the staff had become a bit belligerent in enforcing it.  I found this a bit amusing.  Last month, Ron had been angry that people weren’t fully masking at the stadium.  Is he finally seeing the light, or has his mainstream media brainwashing changed its programming instructions?  The masks in the crowd today were mostly off.

  

My first thought at Presley Askew Field was, “Boy does the music suck today.”  It was generally the worst of Top 40 from a couple of years ago.  Ugh.  I’m turning into a music snob.  We picked a couple of seats at the top of the grandstand under what was left of the canopy near the pressbox.  We walked by broadcaster Adam Young and chatted for a moment.  After sitting down, I finally got into my Banana Cheesecake Frozen Tornado.  Amazingly, it was not melted.  I noticed construction was continuing on the new batting facility next to the field.  Ron said it had continued during the game Friday, and they got a couple of foul balls their way.  They stopped before the game today.

 

Our favorite marketing intern, Emerson, was there in a miniskirt instead of her usual yoga pants.  She looks good in anything regardless.  Former volleyball star Megan Hart was on the other side of the grandstand with a couple of friends, beautiful as ever and supporting Aggie Sports.  (I think her best friend is dating a player, which might also have something to do with her being there.)  The best fan in attendance though was a blonde.  In this case, the fan was a big furry lab that a player’s parents brought in.  The dog was nearby and kept wandering over for petting.  I was so happy.            

 

The game started partly cloudy with a light wind.  Meanwhile in Seattle, Aggie Softball would be starting their game.  Though the number one seed, they’d lost their first game in the WAC Tournament.  The girls had fought their way back into the championship game versus Seattle U.  We’d be looking for updates.

The dog came over and helped me fill out the rosters and with the scoring.  That’s why this one added up correctly.  We were listening to the radio call, but being so close to the pressbox, we could hear Adam from there.  There was a slight delay between the live call and the radio call.  A dad and son came in to sit below us.  It was so wholesome, I just had to mention it.   

 

Game 1 was scheduled for 7 innings.  Chris Jefferson, starting for the Aggies, started off a strikeout.  Kevin Jimenez at second made a great glove flip to first on a grounder for the second out.  Jefferson then gave up a hit, but no further damage.  Near Megan, some fans were setting up a giant umbrella to keep out the sun.  They’d best hope there were no big wind gusts.  In the bottom of the first, the Aggies got a walk and a hit, but no runs.

 

The view from the top wasn’t bad, but there was a netting pole in the way of the scoreboard, a slight irritation.  Another dad came in and sat down below us with his daughters.  Oops.  One of them was his somewhat diminutive wife with a couple of sleeves of tattoos.  She took a family selfie after they get settled.  Their daughter had Henna tattoos on her hands.  I think the dog, naturally loving children, wanted to meet her, but couldn’t get over to her.  It took me a while to see the logo, but the guy was wearing a Buffalo Bisons minor league baseball hat. 

 

I’m maybe not finding the game all that interesting, since those are my top of the second notes.  Jefferson gave up a leadoff single, but struckout the side afterward.  Emerson hustled around the stands handing out souvenirs mid-inning.  Jason Bush was back catching coming off his injury (4-18-21).  He looked good running to first for an infield hit.  The Aggies loaded the bases in the bottom of the second with a couple of hits and a walk, but the inning ended on a high bouncer groundout. 

 

I’m seeing rain in the distance from our high perch.  The wind picked up.  Unfortunately, I’m only getting warm and uncomfortable from wearing long sleeves.  I was trying to protect my arms from the sun, which turned out to be unnecessary.  Jefferson played for The Booya in a summer league last year.  This is why you listen to the radio call while you’re at the game.  A quickly turned double play got the first two batters out in the third, but a walk and two hits gave CBU a 1-0 lead.

       

We have our first softball update in the bottom of the third via Adam, 2-1 SU in the third.  (I’d just asked Ron to check a couple of minutes before.)  There’s a guy down in front of us eating a hamburger.  I’m getting hungry already.  I wonder if he got it at the Santa Fe Grill?  Maybe I should ask him how it tastes.  The Aggies loaded the bases again this inning, but failed to score.  Interesting play with Lancer Harrison Spohn at second, he had to do a little dance to get a force out at the base as he caught the ball in an awkward position.

 

The PA made the most optimistic statement I’ve heard at Aggie Sports this year in the fourth.  They’ve started selling football season tickets.  Good luck.  It could happen.  Emerson came out and threw football souvenirs to the crowd.  It was now cloudy at the park.  I was kind of glad for it, since it cooled things off a bit.  Jefferson gave up a walk in between a groundout and two strikeouts. 

I’m sure I’ve noticed her before, but in this game, I was fascinated by the beautiful blonde trainer in the Aggie dugout.  She looked like our dear departed basketball star, Brooke Salas.  She’s a very healthy-looking specimen.  If she’s got any eye-hand coordination, she should be playing for the basketball team.  She’s full of spirit, as I observed her and the other trainer high-fiving and then doing it with team.  (I have something of story about the origin of the “high five” later.)    

 

Crack!  Tommy Tabak cranked one to left center to start the bottom of the fourth.  The crowd and the dugout erupted.  I thought I heard a roll of thunder right after.  That’s not hyperbole.  There was a big black cloud right overhead.  Chad Castillo had leapt for the ball and lost his glove over the wall.  I’ll bet the ball was in it when the glove was recovered.  Adam said the wind probably took the ball out.  1-1.

 

By the fifth, I’m protecting my hat and notebook from little random sprinkles.  The wind kicked up hard and rattled the cables holding what was left of the canopy in place.  Jefferson still had it working with a couple of strikeouts in the inning.  Emerson came out for the pocket contest.  (I keep putting her appearances in my notes for some reason.  There wasn’t much else to write about.)  Another stadium attendant was going around attempting to harass people into putting on their masks.  The big guy got push back from a middle aged lady.  A hit batter was the Aggies’ only offense in the bottom.

 

Adam on the radio can’t see the sprinkles, but knows that it’s happening.  He mentions that the Aggies and the Lancers players had a dance off during the rain delay yesterday.  Ron didn’t see it, since the fans were forced out of the stadium during the delay, but I had seen it on the team Twitter.  Zerek had some great moves.  Jefferson gave up a leadoff double to start the sixth.  Bush made a running, diving catch on a bunt attempt that went foul. 

 

And then my notes said, “Drizzling.”  What happened next was a lightning delay.  I was sure we were going to get delay earlier after the home run and the thunder.  I didn’t hear it this time.  The fans would have stayed in the stands, but were forced out.  They were then evicted from underneath the stands.  There wasn’t enough of a threat to get people to really want to leave. 

 

By the bathroom, KJ was there talking to his parents.  Back at Ron’s car, I couldn’t wait any longer and I had my six-inch Cold Cut.  It was bad enough to get me to say something and mentally mark off Subway for a lunch option until I forget about this.  Ron decided to wait to eat his.  We watched a dad and his two daughters play catch with a softball at the park next door.  They needed the practice from what I saw. 

 

Ron had a baseball-themed podcast that he’d wanted me to hear for some time.  We had plenty of time during the 39-minute delay.  It was Mike Rowe telling a story about the origin of the high-five.  It had spontaneously happened after a Dusty Baker home run when he was playing for the A’s maybe in the 70’s.  His openly g*y teammate went nuts celebrating and was waving his right hand and Dusty slapped it as he went by.  This was the first recorded high-five. 

 

I know what you’re thinking.  Who was the g*y guy?  I hadn’t heard of him, but he was supposedly first openly g*y baseball player and he was black.  (I’d never heard this story before, so I didn’t get all the details.  It didn’t occur to me to take notes.)  He died of AIDS in the 80’s.  Somehow, it was implied that this was of fault of homophobes.  There’s a part two to this story.  I’ll cover that later.

 

Out in the parking lot, we heard the PA call the fans back into the stadium.  Jefferson came back out and finished off the sixth inning.  The Lancers sent out a new pitcher and only gave up a single for his inning.  We got a bad update from softball.  The Aggies were down 7-2 in the sixth. 

 

We were still tied at 1 going into the seventh, which was the last scheduled inning.  Chris Jefferson had worked 7 complete games this season.  The rest of the staff had 0.  I’m sure he wanted to finish this, but was pulled for Frank Dickson.  After getting a strikeout, Ethan Mann had a ball go under his glove for an error at third.  KJ then dropped a grounder at second, but managed to get the lead runner.  Dickson then threw the ball away on a throw to first to advance the runner to second.  There was a deep drive to left right after.  Zerek Saenz jumped, caught the ball, and then went into the wall for the final out.

 

The Lancers brought out CJ Culpepper to pitch.  He had long blonde hair with a sunburned red face.  On the first batter, the Lancer shortstop airmailed first on a grounder for a two-base error.  Mann was then sacrificed over to third.  Unfortunately what happened next was a suicide squeeze.  The Lancers saw it coming and called a pitch out.  Mann was cut down at the plate.  The batter, Brandon Dieter, was initially called out on a tag as well.  The umps conferred and decided he hadn’t actually hit the ball.  (I think.)  Ethan did hit ball in his continued at bat and the third baseman dropped it to let him on.  But it was for naught, as a strikeout ended the inning. 

 

Wow!  I have never seen two teams so desperately try to choke away a win.  CBU is really good team, but they lose focus badly at times (as we will see on Sunday too.)  Going to extras here in the eighth, the automatic runner on second rule came into play.  I hadn’t seen this before in a college game.  I didn’t even know they’d adopted this rule.  Two hits to start brought in the Lancer automatic runner.  The second hit was a high, slow chopper for an infield hit.  A hit batter loaded the bases and a wild pitch brought in another run.  An intentional walk reloaded the bases and another hit brought in another run.  The runner dodged a tag at the plate for the score.  4-2 CBU.

 

Bad news from Seattle.  SU won the WAC championship 7-5.  The Aggies went down swinging.  That game took a while to play out.  I took no notes on the bottom of the eighth.  The Aggies scored their automatic runner with a pair of hits, but did not score any more.  CBU wins 4-2.

 

For gameballs, the Lancers’ Harrison Spohn went 3 for 4 with 2 RBI’s, and their starter, Bryan Pope, went 5 innings and only gave up 1 run with 6 strikeouts, even though he didn’t figure into the decision.  Chris Jefferson didn’t get a decision either, but went 6 innings and only gave up 1 run with 8 strikeouts.  Tommy Tabak drove in both Aggie runs, including a home run.  This brings up the question as to why a .370 hitter is batting ninth.  Ask the coach, who also called for that unnecessary squeeze play.  The Aggie players didn’t help themselves though, as they left 12 batters on base.

 

On the Game 2.