NM State Aggies vs Prairie View A&M Panthers Baseball 3-5-22 Game 1

Every time I think I’ve seen everything on a baseball field, something weirder happens.  However, today’s game is going to be hard to top.  I shudder to imagine the unimaginable that could make the end of this game seem pedestrian.  We’ll get to that.

 

The series opener on Friday (which I listened to some of over the radio before I went to work) was an Aggie loss to Prairie View A&M, 7-6.  I blame broadcaster Adam Young for the loss.  Looking forward to this series last weekend, he speculated that the run rule might come into play for the Aggies, as he anticipated some easy wins.  The sportscaster jinx is real.  The Aggies did make a furious four-run comeback in the ninth to make the score close.  Gunner Antillon also got four hits in the game. 

 

Today (Saturday) was the Aggies’ only scheduled double header of the season.  Adam said last week that the games were going to be two nine-inning games.  Anthony Rifenburg, who was filling in for him, reiterated that before Game 1.  I finally found out during the broadcast that I’d heard Anthony before.  He’d worked with our old friend, Tim Hagerty, on a few Chihuahuas broadcasts.  I should have gone up and tried to meet him after the game, but after two games, me and Ron, who I went with, didn’t want to stick around.

 

I’d nearly been warned off by the weather forecast.  Friday’s game was marked by 30 mph winds blowing out.  PV’s starter must have been excellent to keep the Aggies from blasting home runs left and right.  Saturday’s forecast was also for winds, but it turned to be mostly a light breeze.  Otherwise, it was sunny and clear—beautiful baseball weather.  The crowd for this series turned out to be kind light compared to last weekend, but was officially over 500. 

 

I did a double take watching the Aggies take infield.  The team’s ball boy, who I’m guessing is Coach Kirby’s son, was out taking grounders at second with the players.  He took ‘em like a pro, too.  This kid is going to have future in baseball.  I wonder if they let him take batting practice.  On the way to our seats, a lady dropped a bunch of glass beads.  I helped to pick them up and later regretted it.  She was PV’s most indefatigable fan mom and was shaking the beads in a plastic bottle to make noise throughout the game. 

 

A big, tall former MLB player threw out the first pitch.  Unfortunately, I didn’t catch his name from the PA with the radio call in my ears.  He bounced it and laughed afterward.  Just to mention again, a black visiting player knelt for the Anthem a couple of weeks ago.  PV had several black players on the team and none of them knelt.  It might be worth noting that PV’s head coach and several assistants were also black and looked be very no nonsense sort of men. 

These scorecards look a little incomplete.  We’ll discuss that later.  Pablo Cortes was our Aggie starter for Game 1.  I learned that he pitched for my alma mater, El Paso Community College.  It is a bit odd that EPCC has a baseball team, while UTEP does not.  The Panthers swung early and often and Cortes finished the inning in five pitches.  He also made a good play on a bunt attempt. 

 

Athletic Director Mario Moccia came by the MLB player and they sat nearby in the grandstand.  Mario still looked unhappy, perhaps from the Men’s Basketball team loss on Wednesday to SFA.  That snapped a couple years-long home conference winning streak.  And that came after a shocking loss to Chicago State with on and off-court controversy.  Tonight, the team would still be playing for a share of the conference championship and the number one seed in the WAC tournament.  The Aggies came through with a convincing win over Utah Valley, who’d beaten them earlier in the season.  Hometown hero and star, Johnny McCants played (likely) his final game at the Pan Am Center.  After the game, he proposed to his girlfriend on court.  Ahhh.

 

After that digression, we return to the baseball game.  The Aggie offense started off the bottom of the first with an easy popup dropped by the PV shortstop.  In fairness, there was traffic around him with the third baseman and the umpire that probably distracted him.  Kevin Jimenez came up third in the inning.  He slapped a hard foul as some foreshadowing, before banging a liner over the right field wall for a two-run homer.  When KJ returned to the dugout, he was crowned with a sombrero.  Ron told me that PV players hitting home runs yesterday were given a cowboy hat to wear.  Obviously some quick improvisation was required to keep up with the player celebrations.  2-0 Aggies.

 

The PV fans below were cheering so much, I was afraid was going to start joining them by the end the game.  Cortes worked another quick inning the second.  He’d now thrown 12 pitches.  In the bottom, catcher Ryan Grabosch got on the hard way getting hit by a pitch.  With a hit and run on, Nolan Funke doubled him in from first as the ball rolled to the wall.  The catcher has some wheels.  3-0 Aggies.  Mario walked by.  I smiled, waved, and said, “Hi, Mario.”  He waved back and gave me a jaunty smile.  Maybe he wasn’t in a bad mood.

 

Cortes knocked out the first two batters of the third with looking strikeouts.  Preston Godfrey in right made a diving effort on a foul ball during one of the at bats.  Good effort.  In the bottom of the third, there was a t-shirt toss into the crowd.  After a single and a walk, Logan Galina came up to the plate with bad intent and hammered the first pitch over the right field wall for a three-run homer.  This precipitated another t-shirt toss into the crowd for the homer. 

 

Edwin Martinez-Pagani (new nickname: EMP) came up and sent another deep fly to right.  Tre Turner made a good play at the wall.  Grabosch, in a contrary fashion, blasted a home run shot to left center.  Next, Funke gave one a ride back to right.  It really wasn’t that windy out.  Turner made the defensive play of the game by going over the wall and bringing it back.  7-0 Aggies.

 

Turner came up in the fourth and dropped in a double for the Panthers’ first hit.  Cancel the no-hitter press conference.  Cortes struck out the next two batters to end the threat.  The inning breaks were really short, like about a minute and a half.  It was really helping to move the game along.  On the downside, a couple of times, the radio call came in late.  In the case of the bottom of the fourth, it was after the first pitch/first out.  Gunner later tripled off of the center field wall, before KJ doubled him in.  After a wild pitch and a walk, a new pitcher came in to finish the inning.  8-0 Aggies. 

 

The top of the fifth began with the I Scream contest between two little boys screaming for an ice cream gift certificate.  Would I do that for free ice cream?  I decline to answer on the grounds that it might embarrass me.  Cortes gave up a single.  Cal Villareal dropped a fly ball in center to put two on.  In fairness, he had to run in to have a chance on it and two infielders were right next to him as he reached for it.  Cortes got a strikeout and made a putout to end the inning.  The Aggies went down in order in the bottom.

 

In the sixth, Turner hit another double.  This one was a high bouncer over third.  Cortes came back with two strikeouts.  He finished the inning with a great offspeed pitch.  In the bottom, a kid with the PV fans ran out to go get a foul ball.  He came back with it, showed it to dad, and then returned it to the pressbox for whatever sweets they’re giving away for balls.  What a polite fan.  The Aggies went down in order again in the bottom.  On a popup by Brandon Dieter, all four infielders and the pitcher converged on the ball before the third baseman made the play.

 

To the top of the seventh and Cortes was still working.  I didn’t see it, but Anthony said on the radio that the first batter tripped and fell over first base running down the line.  There was an infield single afterward.  KJ made a slide stop on the ball and a nice try on the throw.  Gunner made a good running throw from third for the final out.  Time to stretch.

 

While I was standing and singing, there was a bit of a commotion on the field.  The umpires were leaving.  Coach Kirby was trying to stop them, but to no avail.  The PA then started playing the Aggie fight song like they do at the end of a game.  Game over, man.  Game over.  Both the teams thought they were playing nine innings, but the umps disagreed and that was that.  A befuddled Anthony came back from commercial break and had to explain that Game 1 was suddenly done.  He had no explanation.  Ron was standing and mad.  He wanted more baseball.  I was nearly doubled over laughing at these preposterous events.

 

So, the Aggies won 8-0.  I suspect both coaches would have been playing this game differently if they’d known it was only going to last seven innings.  Our gameballs go to Pablo Cortes for his unexpected complete game shutout.  He only gave up four hits with no walks and six strikeouts.  (And he got the WAC pitcher of the week award.)  Kevin Jimenez went 3 for 3 with 3 RBI’s.  If Adam had been doing the game, he would have been infuriated.  KJ didn’t get the opportunity to come up and hit a triple and finish the cycle.  (I know Adam obsesses over things like that.)  Logan Galina gets a nod for his three-run homer.  For the Panthers, Lorenzo Hardit pitched well in relief for two and 1/3 innings.  Tre Turner had a pair of doubles and did well on defense.

 

Ron was getting a little steamed at my chuckling as we left the grandstand for the half hour break.  I picked up a small popcorn at the concessions that I’d been craving and we snacked in his car on fruit and snackbars.  I checked the time.  This game ran about an hour and 30 minutes.  Wow!  No wonder Ron felt a little cheated.

 

We waited for Game 2 to start.