This Sunday gameday started with a high-wind warning for
the afternoon. I’d made going to today’s
game conditional on not having to sit out in bad wind. As it was, Ron wasn’t able to go at all. He had to take his dad to the emergency
room. He’d sort of been expecting this,
so he wasn’t too alarmed. After I
finished watching The Jetsons,
my last check of the weather was that it was beautiful out and there was no
reason for me not to go. Adam Young was back on the radio for
the game. I decided to sit up higher in
the stands than usual to get under the canopy and avoid the sun. There was a subdued, small crowd at the game,
but not unattractive. There was a
gorgeous blonde to my left. On the right
were the two pretty Volleyball girls from yesterday. Of course, Emerson the intern was the
highlight of my unspoken desire.
The Aggie scorecard was fine today. The Vaqueros scorecard was a disaster for
me. (It’s been corrected here in the
post.) I have many excuses for
this. There was true weirdness in the
first inning. There was an unannounced
sub early in the game that wasn’t mentioned on the radio at the time. There was a player whose number didn't match the number on the program. All the pretty girls were a
constant distraction. Seriously though,
I got totally off track in the scoring halfway through the game. Then I got back on track and couldn’t figure
out where I’d gone wrong. I was losing
sleep over this until I could look at the official scoring. I’d simply mislabeled the double play in the
third inning. I’d like to think I
wouldn’t have had any trouble but for what happened in the first, which got me
screwed up.
Britt
Graham was back to catch his fourth game in three days. From the broadcast, I learned that the team
really didn’t have much of an option with Jason
Bush injured. Britt’s offense was
not so great in this game or yesterday’s Game 2, probably from the
fatigue. The Aggie infield was also
switched around from yesterday. Ethan Mann and Kevin Jimenez were back at their more natural positions of third
and second respectively. Zach Smits was in at first.
The position change brought immediate results in the first
inning, as KJ made a great dive play on the second batter. Cam
Blazek, the Aggie starter, walked the third batter, Andy Atwood. Atwood stole
second while Angel De La Cruz was
up. Britt made a good throw, but Atwood
just beat it. Then there was
confusion. The home plate umpire called
an out and the inning ended. Even Adam
on the radio was confused. It was
eventually determined that De La Cruz had interfered with Britt and that was
the out. I’d gotten confused forgetting
that that meant the batter was out, not the runner. (Also, that wiped off the stolen base.)
The bottom was a bit of a repeat of the top. Elijah
Alexander made a good running basket catch in the left. Mann singled and tried to steal second, but
he was thrown out. There was only a
single in the second for the Vaqueros.
The Aggies singled in the bottom, but fell victim to a double play. In the third, the Aggies returned the favor
with a slick DP of their own and messed up my scorecard. It didn’t help that there was a guy with a
family sitting in the next section also filling out a scorecard . . . in
PEN!
My scorecard inferiority complex aside, Emerson came out
for the pocket contest before the bottom of the third. Annoyingly, every inning also included a guy
walking up and down the bottom of the grandstand with a “Please wear your face
diaper” sign. I’d noticed fans yesterday
at the baseball park and at the softball field were pretty much going
without once they were seated. Later in
the game, the intern was irritatingly doing it during the innings. Ron had been upset yesterday about the whole
non-constant mask wearing in public thing.
I don’t know why. He’s had the
killshot. Why
would he care? Shouldn’t he feel
invincible and invulnerable now? In any
case, people not wearing the mask were ignoring the intrusive signage.
The wind was picking up.
Adam was issuing ominous warnings.
The Vaqueros were in ominous trouble as the Aggies loaded the bases in
the third. Mann had an epic at bat and
drew a walk to force in a run. Cal Villareal squeaked a single that
deflected off the shortstop to drive in two to make it 3-0 Aggies. The Vaqueros struck back in the fourth. Atwood crushed a giant homer to left center
on the first pitch. Two batters later,
Alexander hit a line drive homer to center.
Needless to say, the wind was blowing out. It was comfortable in the stands, but not if
you were standing out on the mound. 3-2
Aggies.
Between innings, there was trivia. “What player is nicknamed is Mr. Aggie?” I had no idea. Some frat guys below me knew. A player I wasn’t familiar with was
named. The player in the dugout waved to
his friends in the stands. Anything you can do . . . Brandon
Dieter led off the bottom of the fourth with a home run to left
center. Emerson came out for the t-shirt
toss and the hot blonde nearby got one.
After a couple of singles, KJ hit a double that was a foot fair down the
right field line to score them. 6-2
Aggies.
I have several notes here bitching about my
scorecard. On field, Freddy Rojas Jr. homered to center for
the Vaqueros in the fifth. In the
bottom, the PA dispensed with any contests and just said to make noise for a
souvenir. Emerson threw something my
way. I wasn’t making any noise, so I
ducked. She was probably aiming for
someone behind me. Nice arm. In the bottom, the Vaqueros went through two new
pitchers to get through the inning as the Aggies strung together four singles
for three runs. Tommy Tabak at the bottom of the order drove in two of them. 9-3 Aggies.
The Aggies had to use two new pitchers for the sixth. Josh
Laukkanen loaded the bases with two outs and then had to come out for a
blister. Jesse Fonteboa, the unannounced Vaquero sub, greeted Brendon Rodriguez with a bases clearing
double. It was a blooper that three
fielders made a campfire around as it dropped in. Further frustrating, Fonteboa took third as
no one was covering the base. 9-6
Aggies. Suddenly that big lead wasn’t so
secure.
A fan brought in a large shepherd dog. Coincidently, Elvis’ Hound Dog played as the winner of the Pick the Song contest. AD
Mario Moccia had joined Adam for the inning. Mario had some pointed comments for some of
the NCAA’s recent decisions. He also noted the new Vaquero pitcher, Ricky Gerik Jr.’s, long blonde
hair. “Its shampoo commercial
worthy.” After two quick outs, Coach Kirby chewed out Cal in front of
the dugout before his at bat. Adam
wondered if it was some gamesmanship to give the Aggie pitcher a little more
rest, but it worked as Cal hit a double.
The inning ended on a popup to first.
The wind made the play difficult.
Rodriguez had a 1-2-3 inning in the seventh. For the final out, Dieter made a great play
deep in the hole as Smits stretched out for the throw. Adam mentioned his producer was graduating
and wished him well. He mentioned the
son of a co-worker of mine on the crew as well.
His mom told me later, he was going to be promoted next semester. Emerson left the stadium and took my heart
with her. The Aggies did not go down in
order, as Ronnie Allen Jr.
singled. However, he was thrown out
trying to advance on a wild pitch.
Oh come on! The
Vaqueros led off the eighth with two solo home runs. They were making it look too easy. The homers happened on the first and third
pitches of the inning. Rodriguez then
gave up a single and advanced the runner with a bad throw to first. With the score tightening, the crowd got
behind him, and Rodriguez rallied for two strikeouts. But after a walk, Lyle Hibbitts came in. He
hit his first batter to load the bases, but got the last out. 9-8 Aggies.
In the bottom of the eighth, Zerek Saenz grounded out to second again and looked
frustrated. I wonder if opposing
pitchers have found something or if he’s just slumping? KJ drew a walk with two outs. Mann came up and the Vaquero infield put on a
big shift for him. I’m thinking he
should try slapping one the other way.
Thankfully, he went with his own plan.
Mann crushed one to left center.
The ball disappeared over the scoreboard. The crowd erupted for the bash. 11-8 Aggies.
On to the bottom of the ninth, Hibbitts gave up a single
to start the inning. Before you could
even get uncomfortable, RJ Ochoa
mashed a two-run homer. We were back to
only a one-run lead with nobody out. The
crowd really got into it and was clapping on every two-strike count. Hibbitts got a strikeout, but then gave up a
single. A pinch runner came on, but
surprisingly never tried to take second.
Why bother given how the ball was flying out? Out #2 came on a foul popup to first. Finally, Hibbitts got the last out with a
strikeout looking. 11-10 Aggies final. The crowd
let out a cheer.
Let’s give out those gameballs. Cal
Villareal went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI’s.
Ethan Mann went 2 for 4 with
3 RBI’s and his eighth inning homer was the difference. Lyle
Hibbitts got the four-out save in a nail biter. He got too amped up by the crowd on a couple
of pitches, but pulled it out. We hit six home runs! How did we not win? UTRGV
was a bit of a hard luck loser today. RJ Ochoa went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and
two home runs. Jesse Fonteboa had 1 hit, but three RBI’s from it. These two had a couple of clutch hits.
Afterward, I went for ice cream at PQ Treats, but discovered Elvis had left the building. They were no longer offering the Elvis Frozen Tornado. No problem.
I went with the Banana Cheesecake
for the second day in a row. At home, I
called Ron to give him a game update and to see about his dad, who was okay. He’d heard some of it on the radio. It was such a great game, and the weather was
not only not a problem, it made the game more interesting. I was sorry he didn’t see it.
Ron then mentioned the Volleyball girls that were behind
us the day before. He said they were the
girls he’d seen making out on Friday.
I’m going to have to step in to defend the girls’ honor here. I saw and heard nothing untoward from them. Players from different sports do support each
other, but generally hot chicks at the ballpark are all either player
girlfriends and looking to become one.
Of course, I could be totally wrong and it’s none of my business. (You know, if you’re a hot volleyball player
and wanted to get the attention of the guys in the dugout, you could bring a
hot teammate and make out with her.) I’m
still thinking Ron has an overactive imagination.
That was a great game to potentially end my Aggie Sports going on. I heard something at today’s game that makes me think I’m maybe never coming back. We’ll hope it doesn’t happen, since there’s still one more home series left. I’ll comment on it later one way or the other.
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