NM State Aggies vs Prairie View A&M Panthers Baseball 3-5-22 Game 2

Continued from Game 1.

 

Ron and I had warning that Game 2 was about to start.  That warning was hearing the PA announce the lineups while we were still outside the stadium.  Hey, we were busy stuffing snacks into our faces during the break.  Needless to say, I didn't get my scorecards filled out before play began.  We were also distracted by a gorgeous blonde by the entrance, who also seated down below us.  We'd seen her there before and assume she's a player girlfriend.  The crowd thinned out a bit from the first game (and she left early as well).  With that, we began play.

The Aggie dugout started off the game good and loud.  Cade Swenson made his first start of the season.  He gave up two singles in the first.  One of the runners was rubbed out on a pitch out when he tried to steal second.  Nolan Funke made a sliding catch in left for the final out.

 

In the bottom, Brandon Dieter led off with a walk.  Next, Gunner Antillon was hit and had no reaction to the ball striking him.  Kevin Jimenez had an infield single to load the bases.  There were three Panther players around the bag, but none of them were covering it.  Preston Godfrey singled in a run and Logan Galina followed with a two-run single.  The ball was hit deep, so Galina went for a double, but Godfrey had already stopped at second.  The throw went to first, but again, no one was covering.  Everyone advanced on the error.  There was nearly another error on the next batter when the shortstop made a bad throw to first, but the runner was tagged going by.  3-0 Aggies after some shaky PV defense.

 

The Panthers went down in order in the second.  Gunner made a good play down on a knee on a hot shot to third.  Right to the bottom, the Aggies loaded the bases on a walk and two more hit batters.  Galina took three huge swings and struck out to end the inning.  Ron and I talked about his swings afterward.  He was even going down to a knee ala Vlad Guerrero.  As we saw in Game 1 and later in this game (spoilers), that's his strategy, all or nothing, and it works for him.  On the other hand, maybe take a little off to focus more on contact than raw power.

 

After a quick What's in Your Pocket Contest, we went to the top of the third.  Swenson got a looking strikeout on the second batter of the inning, but the third strike was dropped.  Catcher Hunter Antillon started to throw around the horn anyway.  The batter stood around confused.  Lucky, Hunter's brother, Gunner at third, alertly threw the ball to first to complete the out.  I barely noticed a 5-3 putout on a strikeout, after what had happened at the end of the Game 1.  There was a single next, but Hunter took out another base stealer on a great play to end the inning. 

 

By this point, I had finally finished filling out the line ups on my scorecards.  The Aggies started a two-out rally in the bottom with a single by Funke.  There was more weirdness as Cal Villareal singled and the speedy Funke was waved home.  I could tell it was a bad send immediately and Nolan was dead well before reaching the plate. He stopped.  Inexplicably, the Panther catcher didn't tag him and instead threw to second as Cal tried for it.  He got the out and ended the inning, but not before Funke scored.  4-0 Aggies.

 

Swenson gave up a double that went down the line off of Gunner's glove, but that was all the damage for the top of the fourth.  Gunner worked a walk in the bottom, but that was eliminated on a fielder's choice by KJ.  Godfrey doubled and KJ was waved home on another bad send.  It was pretty easy to see it was too optimistic.  This time the runner going home was tagged out. 

 

Brayden Johnson led off the fifth for the Panthers with a home run to left.  The Prairie View fans went crazy.  The wind might have carried it a bit.  Johnson was awarded with the cowboy hat in the PV dugout.  This was followed up with a double and single.  I was worried the good defensive play would fire up the Panther's offense.  Cade had a wild pitch after, but finished out the inning.  4-2 Aggies.  Anthony on the radio call said that he'd been informed that this game would be nine innings.  This time for sure. 

 

The bottom of the fifth started off with another hit batter.  Next, Edwin Martinez-Pagani accidentally hit the Panther catcher on the back of the helmet on his backswing.  It's a hurtful game.  EMP singled.  Hunter got on via an error, as his bunt attempt was mishandled by the catcher.  The Aggie dugout gave Hunter a cheer.  It was his first time on base this season.  He looked happy to be there.  The wind kicked up and a dust devil blew along the warning track.  PV changed pitchers.  Funke greeted him with a two-run single.  The Aggies then stole another run with a delayed double steal, as Funke let himself get caught in a pickle so that Hunter could score from third.  7-2 Aggies.

 

Swenson gave up a single to start the sixth and was pulled for Brendon Rodriguez.  After a strikeout, he hit Christian Mendez with a fastball on the shoulder near his head.  The ump immediately checked on him, but Mendez was okay.  A double play finished the inning. 

 

Gunner led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple.  Tre Turner in right lost the ball as he was looking directly into the sun on the line shot.  It nearly hit him.  KJ walked and Godfrey sacrificed in Gunner with a flyball.  Galina came up and kept swinging hard and belted the ball to straightaway center for a two-run homer.  I lost track of the ball in flight, but it either went over the batter's eye or into the big tree next to it.  Keanu Maldonado made a good play on an EMP slow roller.  Hunter came up and got his first hit of the season with a double.  The dugout loved it.  There was a walk following that, but a strikeout ended the inning.  10-2 Aggies.

 

Rodriguez got three strikeouts in the seventh, while giving up a single.  A foul ball went into the stands.  The guy retrieving it gave it to the PV fan kid.  The kid, in a further show of politeness since he'd already retrieved one earlier, gave it to another little kid.  Anthony on the radio held his breath after the inning finished, but the umps stayed on field this time and play would continue.

 

Maldonado began the bottom of the sixth with a flashy spin and throw from short to get Brandon Dieter.  Gunner doubled and Godfrey walked to put two on.  Galina made another big swing, but it seemed like the wind knocked this one down.  The centerfielder had to run in to catch it.  Rodriguez worked his third inning in the top of the eighth giving up only a walk.  Gunner got hit in the chest on a bouncer, but stayed with it and threw out the batter for the final out.

 

PV brought out a new pitcher for the eighth.  It was getting a bit cold and I'd left my jacket in Ron's car.  I was kind of rooting for a quick inning, which didn't happen.  A foul ball hit the canopy and rolled off into grandstand.  The crowd cheered a little boy getting it.  The inning started with a strikeout, then a hit batter, then another strikeout.  Kyle Westfall came in as a pinch hitter and the dugout cheered him on.  He was hit for the Panthers' sixth hit batter.  Anthony was shocked by the number of hit batters, but a couple of years ago, I think the Aggies led the nation in that stat. 

 

Maldonado took a tough error on a grounder to short by Dieter.  He made a great stop and threw from his knees, but his throw just missed first base.  Two runs scored.  The official scorer initially ruled them RBI's for some reason.  Turner had a great game in right in Game 1, but Game 2 not so much.  Gunner hit a single to him out in the right, and Turner just let it roll away from him to advance Gunner to second.  This was ruled a double, I guess since the ball wasn't touched.  The inning ended with a strikeout.  Rodriguez finished off the ninth, only allowing a walk.  Aggies win 13-2 in a tidy two-hour 41-minute game.

 

Rorik Maltrud and Sammy Natera took the weekend off, but the pitching staff held up fairly well in their absence.  Zerek Saenz is still MIA.  He's likely lost his job starting.  Also missing were nearly all of the hot player girlfriends in the kiss-and-cry area.  Where were the girls?  With three errors, six hit batters, and some other mishaps, I shuddered to imagine the dressing down, PV’s intimidating-looking coach gave his team after the game.

 

Gameballs to Brendon Rodriguez for four innings of scoreless relief (he also gets a save, even with the score), Gunner Antillon for going 3 for 4 with an RBI, and to Logan Galina for two hits and four RBI's (keep swinging hard, but watch out that pitchers don't start just giving you offspeed junk).  Gunner and Logan also got National Player of the Week awards for their performances this weekend, which is okay, but not as good as one of my Gameballs. 

 

The forecast for the Sunday game was for really bad winds, so I begged off going and listened on the radio (and watched NASCAR).  It was a bit worse than advertised because the wind was also cold.  The Aggies won in an error-filled back-and-forth game 11-9.  It was hard for either team to hold a lead and also their hats.  Hats and even a helmet flew off in the hard breeze.  500 hardy souls (minus Ron, who would have gone, but wasn't able to) braved the elements for two-hours and 46-minutes.  The game felt longer just listening to it.  I can't imagine what it was like to sit in.