NM State Aggies vs Seattle U Redhawks Baseball 3-13-22

Ian Mejia and his mustache 

“We need a win today,” said Aggie Baseball fan, Michael, at the game on Sunday.  Me and Ron were talking to him before the game.  (I was happy to finally get his name.  I’d talked to him a few times without knowing what it was.)  We’d all been disheartened by the Friday and Saturday losses.  Michael was also unhappy with Coach Kirby’s regime.  He didn’t feel like it wasn’t fan-friendly enough and that the coach was messing with the lineup too much.  He also pointed out that last years’ standout, Zerek Saenz, wasn’t even on the roster anymore (but he’s still on the schedule poster) after a slow start to the season.

 

Meanwhile, Ron was for some reason obsessed with getting into the Diamond Club.  It’s just an open section by left field.  Sometimes, there’s grilling.  Michael said a Mexican food restaurant used to cater for the club.  It’s not even a great view of the field.  Ron was crushed to find out that it was only open to boosters and only by invitation.  I suspect Ron’s going to try to cozy up to a booster to get invited in for a game. 

 

For the first time this season, I decided to partake in Sunday $1 hot dogs.  It didn’t disappoint . . . It was as crummy as I expected.  For the price, while on a stale bun, the wiener was good-sized and had some flavor.  Pity it was served only just above room temperature.  I had a side of Corn-in-a-Cup with it, which was great, and I tried a Lemon Brisk Tea, which was awesome.  Michael, though he’s been a long time fan, said he’d never tried Corn-in-a-Cup.  I recommended it and warned him about the hot dogs.  I saw him later with two hot dogs and no Corn-in-a-Cup.  Nobody listens to me.

 

The game started off sunny, but with a cold breeze.  The wind died down and became pleasantly warm.  There was a light crowd to start, but it picked up steadily during the game.  The time change on Saturday night left everyone a little subdued.  The Seattle U dugout tried to work up some chatter, but the Aggie dugout wouldn’t engage.

Ian Mejia came out to hopefully stop the Aggie losing streak.  He was using his trademark turquoise glove, or rather he wasn’t, as Ian tried to bare hand a ball from the first batter that went up the middle for a single.  Pitchers, stop doing that!  Ian got two strikeouts after.  Kevin Jimenez, who’d had a rough game yesterday, got two balls hit at him.  One was routine.  KJ bobbled the other, but stayed with it for an acrobatic putout.  The Aggies went down in order in their half of the inning.

Sunday is also Dog Day at the park.  I saw a couple of adorable big-eared twin dogs with a couple.  (Not my picture, it’s from the team Twitter.)  The first SU batter of the second tried to take a premature walk, but ended up grounding out to second.  KJ made a flashy running play on the ball.  The next batter also grounded out to second.  A pattern seemed to be developing.  Ian finished off the inning with a strikeout looking.  His fastball was hitting over 90.  In the bottom, KJ beat the shift that was put on him for single, but was left stranded.

 

Some more dogs came in, along with more people.  There was some barking.  That was mostly the dogs.  Kevin caught a liner right at him for the first out of the third.  He also got two more groundouts.  Hmmm.  The bottom third was finally more productive for the Aggies.  The SU pitcher, Brady Liddle, had been tossing between 70 and 80 mph, and the hitters were adjusting to it.  After a flyball out, Cal Villareal hit a comebacker that smacked Liddle on the thigh hard enough that everyone heard it.  He was okay and still made a play on it, but Cal beat out the throw.  The SU coach checked on his pitcher afterward.

 

Tommy Tabak, not cheated of starting today unlike yesterday, came up and singled.  Brandon Dieter followed with a single.  Coach Kirby, in the third base coaching box, waved Cal in and Tabak into third.  The coach dove to ground himself telling Tabak to slide in.  The SU coach checked on Liddle again and left him in.  A single, a double, and a run-scoring grounder brought in three more runs.  4-0 Aggies.

 

For the fourth, once again, three more balls were hit to second.  I think I can see SU’s cunning strategy coming into focus.  This resulted in two more ground outs and me nearly storming the pressbox.  Follow this, KJ had to lay flat out to stop a grounder.  He made a quick throw from his knees.  Nolan Funke wasn’t able to cleanly catch the ball at first, but it didn’t get away from him.  This happened as the runner crossed the bag.  It’s ruled an error. 

 

By the rule book, an error is charged when a play requiring “ordinary effort” isn’t made.  This play would have required more than “ordinary effort.”  If the ball had been thrown out of the play and the runner had advanced to second, it would have been scored a hit and an error.  Moreover, the runner may have beaten the throw, even if it was caught.  I was quietly fuming for the rest of the game.

 

The Redhawks brought in a new pitcher for the fourth.  The Aggies got back-to-back singles, but didn’t score.  Ron noted that Ryan Grabosch always drags his bat to the plate, like a caveman and his club.  The Pocket Contest came during the break.  The items asked for were an air pod, a receipt, and a pen.  A kid jumped in front of an old man to grab one of the prizes.  The Redhawks led off the fifth with a single that hit Mejia on the mound.  Ian came back with a foul out and two strikeouts, so I’d say he was fine. 

 

I noticed a couple of dads at the game with their little daughters.  It was so sweet—daddy/daughter day at the park.  I saw one of the dads giving his girl what looked like a discussion about the finer points of the game.  That’s a good dad.  Logan led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, but was erased on a double play. 

 

There was a family nearby us and the dad there was chatting with another fan (loudly).  He said they were from Springfield, Missouri.  That’s where most of my relatives are.  They let the son pick a trip for his birthday and he wanted to see White Sands and the Gila Cliff Dwellings.  Last year, he’d picked the Grand Canyon.  It was icy and snowing where they were, so the kid probably just wants to be warm.  (Good thing they didn’t come Friday during our freak snow storm.)  They had just gotten into town today and came to see a ball game. 

 

Ian gave up a single in the sixth, but that was all.  There was a foul ball that hit the canopy and rolled into the crowd.  A fan caught it to a round of applause.  KJ led off the bottom with a hustle double, over my objections.  (I didn’t think he could make it.)  Grabosch tried to bunt him over, but instead slapped a hit off the third baseman’s glove (which was not ruled an error by the scorer).  Cal made a sac bunt.  On the play, Kevin aggressively charged home and slid in under the tag.  Dieter came up and singled Grabosch in to make it 6-0 Aggies.

 

Ian was back out for the seventh.  He gave up a double, but finished off the inning with a looking strikeout.  The strikezone was maybe a little questionable there, but nobody complained.  I tried singing the Seventh Inning Stretch as Louis Armstrong with mixed results.  Logan led off the bottom with another single off a new Redhawks pitcher.  Funke drew a walk behind him, as Logan took off for second.  It was either a steal attempt or hit-and-run, but the catcher’s throw went into centerfield and Galina took third.  He came in on a double play (no RBI).  KJ came up and slapped a rare ground rule double over the left center wall.  I’m not even sure I’ve seen that before at the stadium.  7-0 Aggies.

 

Ian was back out for the eighth.  Why not?  He was touching 93, but got a little wild and issued his first walk to the first batter.  He came back and sat down the next three batters.  No problem.  SU came out with another new pitcher.  Tabak doubled.  Then, holy cats!  Dieter came up and hit a bomb to left.  It was obviously out as soon as it left his bat.  It was a majestic arcing shot out into the trees. 

 

There was a home run t-shirt toss into the crowd for that blast.  The daughter with the Missouri family got one.  She’d also gotten a gift bag from the Pocket Contest.  I think the son chased down a foul ball.  It was quite a day at the park for them.  After giving up another hit, SU changed pitchers.  There was another hit.  I briefly realized that with the score 9-0, another run would end the game on a run rule, but a looking strikeout ended the inning.  Once again, the strikezone was a bit wide and this time the crowd complained. 

 

Noah Estrella came in to finish up in the ninth.  The wide strikezone continued as Noah got a couple of looking strikeouts around a double.  The SU first base coach made an impressive leaping catch on a foul, which the crowd applauded.  Aggies win 9-0.

The teams lined up and shook hands afterward.  Ron gave me a little foam finger he’d picked up at Aggie Softball before this game.  I was going to pass it along to the Missouri family kids and chat with the dad for a second, but he left early and I didn’t want to accost the wife.  A frequent fan lady, who I’d run into a Wal-Mart earlier in the week, did come by and ask me how I scored that error play.  Yeah, I wasn’t the only one who was been miffed by that. 

 

It was another tidy game at two-and-a-half hours.  The Saturday and Sunday games were about a combined same length as the Friday game.  Not a lot of drama, but a fine win.  There was a great crowd of over 600.  The Aggies get all of the gameballs today.  Obviously, Ian Mejia’s 8-inning with no runs effort gets one.  Brandon Dieter went 3 for 5 with 4 RBI’s and a memorable home run.  Logan Galina went 4 for 5 with an RBI.  Finally, Kevin Jimenez bounced right back after a tough day yesterday as he went 3 for 4 and had 10 putouts.  Thank you Seattle U for giving KJ some more infield practice to get his confidence back.

    

I left the bathroom after the game and found Ron holding a tray of hot dogs.  Concessions gave away whatever they didn’t sell.  He offered some, but I doubted the stale dogs would taste better as leftovers.  They’d announced during the game that the Men’s Basketball team was having a watch party at a suite in the football stadium for their NCAA Tournament seeding.  Ron was completely uninterested in going.  Darn it, I’ve missed out on all of these NCAA watch parties.

 

We went to Little Caesars for pizza and ate it over at his brother’s house, so we could watch the NASCAR race that was on.  I also checked the official scoring for the game while filling out my scorecards.  KJ’s error had been officially changed to a hit upon reflection.  Thank goodness.  I could sleep easy tonight. 

 

I flipped over to the NCAA selection show, which began at 4:00pm sharp showing the brackets.  The Aggies were seeded immediately (#12 vs. #5 UConn).  I found out later that at the watch party, the team hadn’t even taken a seat yet when they were announced.  I hope they’re better prepared for the game.  I was a bit irritated at Ron, because Pistol Pete and some Cheerleaders were there.  He probably would have wanted to have hung out with them, too.