NM State Aggies vs Sacramento State Hornets Baseball 4-10-22

At the time, I really should have thought to have gotten a selfie with Ron as we watched today’s game . . . from the Diamond Club (slow whispered repeat and fade out).  Yes, we made it into that half-mythical abode of the elites today.  We reached Elysium. 

“We’re going to lose today,” Ron muttered.  Okay, I’d managed to borrow a couple of passes from an officer at work to get into the Diamond Club, where Ron had been obsessing over getting into this season, and this was his level of enthusiasm?  I’m to the point of wishing he’d just go ahead and root for the opposing team.  In any case, on Friday, I was chatting baseball with Jessie at work and mentioned the Diamond Club, and he mentioned that he had passes to it.  Jessie was nice enough to drop them off at the ticket office (along with an extra ticket for me) before the game.      

 

So how was it?  Well, it’s over in left field at field level.  The new batting complex is directly behind it, which turned out to be important.  It blocked out the high wind today.  It did not provide any shade from the hot sun, though.  There were shaded picnic tables away from the field, but you couldn’t see the field while seated at them.  (Though one fan defeated that by sitting on top of the table.) 

 

There was a wooden deck next to the field behind the side wall with plastic rocking chairs, which turned out to be a pretty comfortable way to watch the game.  (Some fans brought in their own collapsible stadium chairs.)  If only there was an awning over them.  There was a grill, unmanned.  There was a bar, unmanned.  Ron and I spoke to fellow fan, Michael, before the game.  He said that the food and refreshments there were dependent upon who there and catering.  Friday night, there was ice cream, for example.  Today, there was nothing, except for the $1 hot dog and Brisk Lemon tea I bought. 

 

I’d sort of hoped for more.  Ron was just annoyed.  At least it was a new perspective on the game at ground-level.  We did stop by the grandstand to talk to Michael.  It was Dog Day at the park.  We met this pretty dog inside.  He had very soft fur, but looked profoundly unhappy.  Also, the pretty Sac State girls from yesterday were there.  They were both in jerseys today, one home and one away jersey.  Michael was interesting to chat with as usual.  He’d spoken to a bunch of the players over time and asked them who their favorite teams were.  They didn’t have one.  They just root for individual MLB players.  That’s kind of insightful.

 

MLB umpire, Tony Randazzo, threw out the first pitch and took a picture with today’s umps.  He lives here in Las Cruces and his daughter works for the team.  Gunner Antillon went out to third and shook hands with the ump there.  There was kind of a light crowd.  The wind might have kept the fans away, though it didn’t really bother the crowd or the players.  Yesterday’s hero, Nolan Funke, was out with an injury.  (Hopefully, that didn’t happen while celebrating with the team.)  Tommy Tabak went out to play left field and got some light-hearted heckling from the regulars in the Club.  He did talk back to them.          

These scorecards added up pretty easily.  I had Adam Young on the radio call helping out today.  There were a lot of runs and some weirdness (you should demand your money back, if you don’t see something weird at the ballpark), but everything was actually pretty straight forward.  Also helping was the Sac State coach not flushing his entire bench and bullpen during the game.

 

My hopes of starter, Ian Mejia, having a good outing evaporated quickly with a three-run homer by Cesar Valero, the third batter of the game.  He picked up right where he left off yesterday with two home runs.  I did have good view of Kyle Westfall in center timing a jump at the wall trying to get it.  3-0 Hornets.

 

The wind picked up to a gusty level in the bottom of the first.  There was a bit of dust, but it cooled things down a bit.  The wind did play with balls in the air, as Martin Vincelli-Simard made a great play on a foul while fighting the wind to end the Aggie half of the inning.  Tabak came up in the bottom of the second.  Judging by the cheering in the Club, he’s a favorite.  Even more so when he put one out to right center with a short, powerful stroke.  3-1 Hornets.

 

The Club fans congratulated Tabak when he retook his position in the top of the third.  Michael mentioned that he’d met him and that Tommy was an international jetsetter.  His mom is in Paris and he often goes overseas.  Randazzo joined Adam on the air in this inning.  Tony is on injury rehab right now with screws in his thumb.  He worked the 2016 World Series in Chicago and called it a career highlight.  Tony stayed through the bottom, since Ian worked a quick top of the inning.  The Hornet defense turned another good play with Nick Iwasa throwing out Gunner at first.  Brandon Dieter came up last in the inning.  One of the Club ladies shouted out, “Let’s go Brandon!”  I’m upset that I didn’t think of that one myself.

In the fifth, former Aggie pitcher, Chance Hroch, joined Adam for a chat.  Him and teammate, Wyatt Kelly, were in town and decided to pop in for a visit.  Congrats to Wyatt.  He apparently wed Softball player, Caity Szczesny.  I just have say, I hope she kept her last name.  I loved writing and saying it so much in her playing days.  Hroch and Adam had a nice conversation about Aggie Baseball memories and scouting out the Hornets.  Chance had gotten to play baseball professionally somewhere after playing at NMSU.

 

Meanwhile back at the game, the Hornets led off with a triple.  It was nearly a home run, but Tabak saved it by knocking it down at the wall.  I swear I saw the ball sitting on top of the wall at one point.  The runner was driven in by a sac fly that was a dying line drive that Tabak caught on a dive.  Needless to say, the Club patrons were cheering up a storm for him.  4-1 Hornets.

 

Mejia finally lost it in the sixth and walked a pair back-to-back, one of whom was driven in on a single, but he did finish the inning.  From the Club, I could finally see who was warming up in the Aggie bullpen.  From the stands and the pressbox, you can only hear someone warming up and see the ball coming back from the catcher.  Also, you can hear some of the chatter from the outfield.  Mostly, it’s encouragement to the pitcher.  5-1 Hornets.

 

Noah Takacs had done a great job for the Hornets through five innings.  His wheels came off in the sixth as well.  After giving up three hits in a row and a run, he was relieved.  Here was some of the weirdness.  Ryan Grabosch had led off with a single.  Dieter doubled to left.  Like everyone else, including Adam, I was watching the ball.  When I looked back to the infield, Grabosch was on the ground along with the Hornet shortstop between second and third.  They’d collided.  The umps gave Ryan third on Interference (though I think the call was actually probably Obstruction).  He likely would have otherwise scored on the play.  Logan Galina drove him in anyway.

 

Tabak then brought Logan and Dieter home with a three-run blast and more controversy.  The ball went out to right center.  The fielder, Valero, went up for it, but didn’t come down with it.  The ball then bounced back onto the field off a tree.  Valero and the Sac State coach complained that the ball had actually hit a branch hanging into the field of play.  However, the first base ump had called it a home run immediately.  A subsequent meeting between the umps didn’t change the call.  Adam thought that as a practical matter, there wasn’t any way of sorting it out if it wasn’t a homer.  Hey, we’re tied at 5.

 

Tabak got another cheer from the club fans as he retook his position in the left.  Well that was about our last opportunity to cheer during the game.  The wind was now gusting hard.  Again, it wasn’t bad for the fans or players, but definitely had its way with balls in the air.  That didn’t matter for the first two Hornet batters of the seventh, who walked, as did the pitcher back to the dugout right after. 

 

The next pitcher, Frank Dickson, gave up a run-scoring double and a three-run homer.  Westfall crashed into the wall in center in a valiant attempt to catch it.  He fell to ground pounding his fist into the dirt.  Ron tossed his pass and wandered off.  I immediately fell on the pass, as I needed to return it to Jessie.  Westfall caught the final out by laying out for it.  Great effort, but the damage had been done.  9-5 Hornets.      

 

This nice dog came into the club and I got to meet him.  Ron returned with a ball.  He’d retrieved the home run ball.  (Why?)  Grabosch homered in the bottom on the seventh.  The ball just stayed inside the left field foul pole.  I had a good view of it going out.  Meanwhile, Dickson, who’d been shagging foul balls to left field before pitching, was still doing it after pitching.  This guy loves to run.  9-6 Hornets.

 

If you still had some hope going into the eighth, forget about it.  Valero crushed his second three-run homer of the day to make it 12-6.  The defense was still there, as Dieter, Kevin Jimenez, and Logan combined on a great inning-ending double play.  In the bottom, Vincelli-Simard made another great running play on a foul ball in traffic even. 

 

I played with the dog in the Club a bit more before the game finished.  He seemed hot and unhappy.  Me, too.  There was a two-run homer in the top of the ninth.  The game ended for the Aggies in the bottom on a double play.  Hornets win 14-6 in two hours and 40 minutes.

 

The Gameballs are easy to hand out for this game.  For the Hornets, Cesar Valero had two three-run home runs in the game.  For the Aggies, Tommy Tabak also had two home runs.  Both were solid on defense.  Overall, this was a pretty crushing defeat for the Aggies, because Ian Mejia was probably their best pitcher left and he was shaky.  Offensively, even with three home runs, the Aggies didn’t do much given the wind.  11 strikeouts didn’t help. 

 

The only good news was that the game finished quickly enough that Ron and I could get an early dinner at Caliches and visit my dad and watch the end of The Masters.  While my croissant sandwich was great, I was again cheated out of the chips my meal should have come with.  At least I got the drink this time, but I’m not ordering that super-tart lemon-lime again. 

 

It felt like this should have been a better day at the park.  We were in the Diamond Club and a good pitcher was on the mound, but things just sort of turned out disappointing.  Ron being so negative didn’t help either.  I’m negative here, but after the fact, not during the game.  I may be looking for excuses to skip out on games for the rest of the season for any reason.