I feel like I really earned this giveaway. I’d been lusting after one of these black and
white baseball hats since last year.
Since the Men’s Basketball
game where they were going to give these out was canceled, I’d been hoping
they’d give them away at baseball or softball.
They’d been throwing them to crowd at Softball, but I can’t jump up and
down for giveaways since there are so many other fans that want them more.
I didn’t even know the hat was a giveaway tonight until this afternoon, so I was lucky there that I’d taken the day off for the game. I guess for an odd Thursday night game, they wanted a good promotion to get a crowd, especially after having to postpone the Lobo game due to high winds on Tuesday (which I had scheduled to take off). My time off was nowhere near as good as a co-worker, who went to a Savannah Bananas game over the weekend. She was beaming and said, “You have to be there. Video doesn’t do it justice.”
Unfortunately, Ron forgot he had a class today. He’d be able to go, but we had to cancel
getting lunch. Then he showed up early
enough to go for lunch anyway, but we’d already both eaten. It was a bad foot to start off on. (I hate to admit that I wanted the meal out
about as much seeing the game.) I had a
meal at home and corn-in-a-cup at the ballpark.
We arrived at the stadium and received our giveaway
hats. Mission accomplished. We received them from the hot Pan-Am girl
intern. Bonus. A couple of Volleyball girls were there too, though I didn’t see them again
inside. As it turned out, there was a great
turnout of female Aggie athletes at the park tonight.
Most notably, the Women’s
Basketball team came in lead by Coach
Adams. I smiled and waved at her as
she went by and gave her a “thumbs up.”
I was very happy with their effort and results this season. (I was told their tournament wins were the first postseason/conference
tournament wins for the program.) She
threw out the first pitch with the team behind her. They all left right afterward. That was probably a good move. (Meanwhile, I was checking the Men’s
Basketball roster page recently. It was
empty, except for the new coach.
Housecleaning has begun.)
While it seemed like a pleasant night out, there was a
cold, stiff wind blowing in. Though I
was wearing three layers and a jacket, it was miserable to sit in. This ended up being reason why I decided to
go back to work on Friday, instead of coming to another night game. Still, there were plenty of attractive young
women in little cutoffs and exposed midriffs at the game. Mostly, they went to go get blankets
later. One beautiful blonde girl and her
friends, while walking at the foot of the stands, did all stop for the
Anthem. I was touched by their decorum.
CBU was
in blue and white striped pajamas for the game.
It didn’t affect their playing. Kevin Jimenez made a great play on the
first batter. He made a flat-footed
throw from second base to get the runner at first. Treyjen
Meza, the Aggie starter, gave up a double, but struck out the next two
batters. On the final batter, the ball
hit the knob of the bat and he was ruled out for leaning into the pitch.
Between innings, the Pan-Am Girl tossed t-shirts to the
crowd. She seemed to be enjoying
it. It was the first time, I’d seen her
doing her job with a smile. Some members
of the Softball team came during the
next toss. They almost came to blows
over a souvenir, but Jillian Taylor’s
sure hands came away with the prize. She
also had to leave early, because she was in shorts and probably freezing. (I thought I saw players working out at the
Softball field next door, but maybe it was something else.)
In the bottom of the first, the wind knocked down two sure
home run balls, but a bunt, a wild pitch, and a sac fly brought in Keith Jones II after he’d singled to
start the inning. 1-0 Aggies. Meza notched two more K’s in the second. Damone
Hale made a great leaping catch in center for the final out.
Volleyballer Ryleigh
Whitekettle came in with pitcher Jordin
King. They greeted the other
Softball players, who were sitting below us, but didn’t sit with them. I eventually identified one of the softball
players as catcher, Kendal Lunar. She was sporting a huge bruise on her
thigh. Ron remembered her taking a hard
foul ball last weekend (though I didn’t
record that). Some Soccer girls came in. I
think I saw Xitlaly Hernandez with
them. She wasn’t wearing a leg
brace. That’s good news.
The Aggies busted out in the bottom of the second. Nolan
Funke doubled. Connor McGuire made a nice smother on a grounder at second for an
out, but it moved Funke to third. Edwin Martinez-Pagani beat out an
infield hit by diving for first and drove in Funke. Two more batters got on via a single and a
walk to load the bases. Hale drove in a
run on a fielder’s choice by hitting the pitcher, Spencer Bengard, on the leg.
Spencer came out. After a walk, Nick Gore singled to drive in two more
runs. The Aggies added four for the
inning to make it 5-0.
Unfortunately, Meza had a bad inning, as well, in the
third. He gave up two walks (including a
pinch hitter for McGuire), a single (which brought in a run), and hit a
batter. Mitchel Simon came up with the bases loaded. He’s the conference leader in home runs. Meza struck him out. The next batter, Dustin Garcia, was number two in homers, but tied Simon with a
monster grand slam blast to right center.
The wind couldn’t stop that one.
Meza finished the inning with another batter ruled out for leaning into
a pitch. 5-5.
There was a senior lady in the next section, who was
cheering the team and calling them by name.
She was doing a great job. Funke
led off the bottom of the third and singled.
After a strikeout, EMP doubled.
Funke rounded third and headed home, but was nailed on a couple of great
relay throws and the catcher’s tag.
After that, EMP made it to third on a wild pitch. A can-of-corn fly ball to center by Hunter Antillon should have ended the
inning, but Clank! The centerfielder dropped it and EMP
scored. Ryan Delgado was brought in and got the last out. 6-5 Aggies.
Meza and Delgado both worked a one-hit inning in the
fourth. Simon, wanting his home run lead
back, blasted a leadoff homer to left in the fifth. The wind was still blowing in. Meza got another strikeout, but gave up a
double. He caught a grounder off the
next batter and threw out the lead runner at third. Meza made several tosses to first and nearly picked
off that runner, but was taken out before pitching to the next batter. He was at 107 pitches. Hayden
Walker came in and finished off the inning.
6-6.
The crowd was bleeding out as the sun went down and the
temperature dropped. The Softball girls
stuck it out. They were dancing to the
PA music and doing homework on their laptops or watching videos on their
phones. Delgado only gave up a single in
the bottom of the fifth. Walker worked a
1-2-3 top of the sixth, which included another pinch hitter in the 9-hole. In the bottom, shortstop Josh Paino made all three putouts for CBU. On the last, he slide across second to field
the ball.
To the top of the seventh, Walker got in trouble with a
single and a hit batter. He was relieved
by Matthew Maloney, who induced a
6-4-3 double play to end the inning. The
CBU manager did challenge the call, but the umps upheld it. Delgado worked a quick bottom, as did Maloney
in the top of the eighth. The Aggies had
three groundouts in the eighth, including another good play by Paino and Jake Skipworth at first.
The Aggie dugout was loose in the ninth. They were head bobbing and waving their arms
to Miley Cyrus’ Party in the USA over
the PA. The inning began with yet
another pinch hitter in the ninth spot. When
that batter walked, he was replaced by a pinch runner, whose number wasn’t
listed on the roster. That’s five
players used in that position. (Now I
know what those extra slots are for on the scorecard.)
The runner was sac’d to second and moved to third on a
fielder’s choice. Simon came to
bat. Both dugouts were yelling encouragement. On the last pitch, Maloney let out a massive
grunt. Simon made a huge swing, missed,
and let out a curse as the crowd roared.
Maloney pounded his glove and stormed off the field to his cheering
dugout.
Still tied in the bottom of the ninth, KJII worked a walk
to start the inning. Hale came up and is
probably the best bunter on the team. He
fouled off the first pitch. The ump
called an outside strike on the next, as Hale let it go. The dugout started chirping and the ump
turned and gave them a warning. With two
strikes, Hale was still bunting. He
missed and struck out.
KJ came up and singled to left. After a slight bobble, KJII took off to the
third. About halfway there, Ron and I
both put our hands up over our faces and shouted, “No!” Jones found the ball waiting for him. Kevin, meanwhile, attempted to take second
during the play and was nailed there.
Instead of having two on with one out, it was an inning-ending double
play.
With the cold, the last thing the remaining crowd wanted
was extras, but we were all deeply involved now. As of the ninth, the Softball girls had put
away their electronics and were intently watching. Noah
Estrella relieved Maloney for the tenth.
Dustin Garcia singled to start the inning and stole second. Noah got the next two outs, but then walked a
batter. Paino came up and hit one up the
middle. The ball hit the mound and
squeaked past a diving KJ. That drove in
the run that put CBU up 7-6. Apparently
out of bench players, the 9-hole batter did bat for himself for the final out.
Delgado was finally off the mound and Jacob Wilson came on. Gore
led off with a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Funke attempted to bunt. It went to Wilson, who spun and threw out
Gore at third. It wasn’t the Aggies’
night for bunting. It also deflated the
rally and the game ended with two strikeouts.
Lancers win 7-6.
Partisanship aside, it was an aesthetically interesting
game and perfectly heartbreaking for a fan otherwise. I was glad I got to see it. Adam
Young’s comment after the game on the radio broadcast was spot-on, “CBU is
a team that won’t beat themselves.” The
Aggies had their chances, but didn’t execute on the little things they needed
to do to beat such a well-coached team.
For Gameballs, Dustin
Garcia gets one for his near back-breaking grand slam. Ryan
Delgado did actually crush Aggie batting for over 6 innings with no runs
allowed. (That said, the Lancers had 15
strikeouts and the Aggies only had 5. Treyjen Meza had 8 of those K’s.) For the Aggies, Nick Gore gets a nod going 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s. Hayden
Walker and Matthew Maloney
teamed up for over 4 innings of scoreless pitching and kept the Aggies in
it.
The game took 3 hours. That’s pretty good for 10-inning game. Thank goodness for new pace-of-play rules. This would have been 3:45 last year, easy. Attendance was listed at 603, which seems high. By the end of the game, it was way less. I can’t even remember doing anything when I got home, other than warming up. (And the wind outside picked up and got worse.) Sometimes, you suffer as a fan, even for a good game.
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