After watching an Aggie
Softball win and listening to Aggie
Baseball take Game 1 of their double header with UTRGV, Ron and I drove over to next door Presley Askew Field. We ate
the Subway sandwiches we’d had the
foresight to purchase before going to softball in Ron’s car. Unfortunately, I did not have the foresight
to bring some chips and a soda. I only
ate half of mine because of that. Ron
had no trouble devouring all of his.
Across the street in the park, someone was trying to get a big parasail
up in the air. There wasn’t enough wind
though. There must have been a pretty long
break between games, since we had time to watch the softball senior ceremony
and eat before Game 2 started.
We had to buy another set of tickets, so they weren’t
honoring softball tickets for the baseball double header. (They have done it the other way around.) My favorite Sport Marketing intern, Emerson,
was there. Of course, she was fuming
about me and Basia Query, my
favorite opposing softball player. Her
coming back into town with Utah Valley
reopened all the old wounds over my previous betrayal (4-7-19). Emerson wouldn’t speak to me at all.
I’m just kidding.
It’s just a joke. Let’s get to
the game.
There was a light crowd for Game 2. We had our unknown announcer on the radio for
the game. I wish I could credit his
name, since he did a good job. The
Vaqueros led off with a double by Coleman
Grubbs. From there, they small
balled into generating a run. Kevin Jimenez, playing at third,
juggled a grounder, but managed to catch it in midair and still throw out the
runner at first. Britt Graham was catching the back end of the double header. Pitching, Sammy Natera grunted as he threw a 95 mph fastball to end the
inning with a strikeout. 1-0
Vaqueros.
Some pretty girls in shorts came in down in front. One of them put her legs up in the air to
show them off for some reason. I’m not
complaining. I recognized a couple of
new Volleyball players who sat behind us, but wasn’t exactly sure who they
were, since I hadn’t seen them play.
They were giggling and chatting for most of the game. More on this in the Sunday game recap. The opposing pitcher, J.C. Ariza, was serenaded with My Heart Will Go On before he pitched
the bottom of the first. Zerek Saenz, with his .400 average, led
off with a walk. KJ came up next and
hammered a shot to center just to side of the batter’s eye. Emerson came out to toss out a couple of
t-shirts, while furiously snubbing me.
2-1 Aggies.
The top of the second started off with three Vaqueros named Jacob. The radio announcer was sure this was going to cause him problems. “I could call them all ‘Jacob’ and cover my bases.” Groan. Some hot girls wearing UTRGV gear came in together. The team brought their girlfriends. Sammy worked into some trouble with a walk and a hit batter. A high bouncer went over KJ’s head at third that drove in a run. The Vaqueros then tried a squeeze play. It surprisingly worked. Britt almost got the final out at third on the play, but no one was covering the base. The bases were loaded with a walk, but a flyout ended the inning. 3-2 Vaqueros.
Left field for the Vaqueros misjudged a Tommy Tabak hit in the bottom of the
second. Tabak hustled it into a
triple. It was scored an error all the way
though. A wild pitch scored Tabak to tie
the game. Zerek and KJ walked. Cal
Villareal cashed them in with a single and then advanced to second on
another error. The announcer did say
that UTRGV was one of the poorest fielding teams in the country. Ronnie
Allen Jr. tripled Cal in. A new
pitcher entered the game, Zach
Tjelmeland, which is not pronounced any way that it looks. He gave up a single to Brandon Dieter that scored Cal before closing out the inning. 7-3 Aggies.
Fired up by the offense, Sammy fired peas and struck out
the side in the third. Tristan Stacy led off the bottom with a
triple, which Tabak cashed in with a single.
“This reliever is more of an arsonist than a fireman,” quipped the
announcer. I feel like somehow that statement
somehow got right back to Zach on the mound.
He struck out Zerek, gave up a walk, but then got a double play on a
soft liner. 8-3 Aggies.
Emerson came out for the top of the fourth for the trivia
contest. The questions were about star
alumni, Nick Gonzales. A bunch of people enthusiastically knew the
answers. Sammy had another 1-2-3 inning,
but with a highlight reel play in the middle.
Stacy made the play of the year at second. He ran and dove after a line drive to his
right and caught it. From the crack of
the bat, there was no way anybody should have gotten that ball. Thankfully, there was official video
coverage, if only a single camera from a distance, and it was posted on the
team Twitter. The applause afterward was
massive, probably even from the UTRGV fans there. In spite of the two good innings, Sammy
seemed to have words for the umpire while coming off the field. Nobody was happy with the strikezone today.
Ron had left to walk around before the inning. He’d missed seeing the play, but had
collected two foul balls. That wasn’t a
good trade. He got a hat and two masks
for returning them. The Aggies went down
in order in the bottom of the fourth.
Cal’s walkup was Return of the Mac,
which I approve of. I noticed the
players are all using multiple songs during the game.
Sammy gave up a leadoff single to start the fifth. He may have gotten a bit rattled or
tired. Natera advanced the runner with a
wild pitch, gave up a walk, and then Graham had a passed ball that put both runners
in scoring position. The next batter hit
a grounder on the infield. The runner at
third tried to come home, but had to run back.
There should have been an out there, but KJ dropped the ball at third. Everyone was safe with the bases loaded and
no one out. Sammy knuckled down. He struck out the next batter, gave up a sac
fly for a run, and finished off the inning with another strikeout. Nice comeback. 8-4 Aggies.
In the bottom, the Aggies threatened with a couple of runners, but
didn’t get anyone across.
Natera was done with 100+ pitches. Ian
Mejia came in to pitch to start the sixth.
Tabak was driven to the centerfield wall on the first batter by a
flyball caught in the wind. He stayed
with it and pulled it down. After two
outs, Ian hit the next batter. Another
high bouncer went over KJ’s head at third for a double. He’s not short; the artificial infield is
just pretty bouncy. Ian got an infield
grounder to end the inning and strand the runners. Cal got a single and a stolen base in the
bottom, but was left there. The
momentary highlight of the inning was some of the Utah Valley Softball girls coming in. No Basia though. Drats!
I am wondering why they came and how they got there, since I’d seen the
team leave on a bus. I assume they
didn’t pay admission. I wasn’t able to
talk to any of them to ask. I hope they
enjoyed the game.
Ian cruised through the seventh. In the bottom, Landon Staats came in for the Vaqueros in his season debut. It did not go well for him. Staats issued three walks, one of which
forced in a run. The big blow was from
Cal hitting the right field wall for a three-run double. 12-4 Aggies.
Ian had a shaky eighth, as he hit a batter and issued two walks. No runs scored, mostly because a hard take
out slide at second was ruled interference, which became a double play. That is a rules change from the way it was
back in the day. In the bottom, Andy Atwood moved from second to
pitch. The announcer was a bit confused,
since this maybe meant the Vaqueros lost their DH spot, which didn’t happen. I’m not sure who subbed for Atwood in the
infield. In any case, he got three quick
outs.
Then things almost came apart in the ninth. Joey
Arellano came into pitch. He got the
first out. Stacy juggled a grounder and
took an error as the runner reached. He
still has the defensive play of the year that doesn’t change. The second out came on a liner. However, Jesse
Fonteboa came up and got his first hit of the year: a two-run homer. Two singles and a double scored two more runs
before Joey got a strikeout and a flyout to end the game. 12-8
Aggies final. Whew!
Let’s hand out a couple of gameballs. Cal
Villareal went 4 for 5 with 5 RBI’s.
Kevin Jimenez drove in three
runs, including a two-run homer. Shockingly,
Zerek Saenz went hitless for the
game. For the Vaqueros, Coleman Grubbs went 4 for 4 with an
RBI, and let’s hear it for Jesse
Fonteboa with his maiden hit of the year for a home run and three RBI’s. Zach
Tjelmeland also did well in relief going over 4 innings and only giving up
1 run of his own.
After the game, I saw injured catcher, Jason Bush, on field on crutches. I hope he can make it back in to save Britt
Graham’s knees. A fan walked by carrying
a gigantic pizza box. Where did that
come from? Boy, does it suddenly suck
that we already ate. We can’t even have
ice cream with the win, since we’d had that before softball. While waiting for Ron by the bathrooms, Sammy
Natera came out to see his family and girlfriend. He was all smiles after getting his first win
of the season. I felt good for him, but
wasn’t feeling friendly with the mask on.
That’s a wrap for today. Ron and
I were both a bit tired, lightly burned, and slimy with sunblock. More tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment