NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos Baseball 4-18-23

At least the meal was good. 

 

The Aggie Baseball games over the weekend were good enough that I felt reasonable over taking a day off to see the I-25 Rivalry against the UNM Lobos.  I even took my cowbell to the game.  Ron was very unhappy that I brought it with me when he picked up me up for dinner before the game.  I told him I’d only ring it on strikeouts, runs scored, and great plays in the field.  I didn’t ring that bell a whole lot during the game.  (Also, I forgot to ring it during great plays.)

 

It's even better-looking in person.

Part of the reason for going for today’s Tuesday evening game was to again take advantage of Ruby Tuesday’s $6 Burger and Fries lunch deal.  We’d done this last year after a morning basketball game.  The burger was great, but visiting the restaurant next to Sam’s Club a couple of days before Christmas was a traffic and service mess.  This time, no problem, and boy, was that burger good.  However, we were seated in the bar area surrounded by TV’s on different stations.  Ron was nearly hypnotized by the Internet bloopers channel.

 

The only thing needed for the meal to make it perfect was ice cream!  We took care of that on the way back to the stadium by stopping by Sonic for Blasts.  (Hey, their machine was working.)  With that, we arrived about an hour before the game.  Some Cheerleaders and Pistol Pete were greeting fans inside for the game.  (They were handing out coupons for something later, but I didn’t get one.)   

 

I picked up a program, but declined the free fanny pack.  I felt like I offended the girl handing them out.  I saw earlier, broadcaster Adam Young (TV only tonight, no radio, which would have been helpful for scoring the game), grabbed a couple of programs.  (He didn’t take a fanny pack, either.)  I had assumed broadcasters was working off a more official roster.

 

The crowd was great for the game.  It was listed at more than capacity at 1,085.  Ron said he only counted three Lobos fans.  There was a couple below us, but I didn’t see many, either.  It was warm and sunny with a pleasant breeze, which helped attendance.  There was a buzz in the air in the crowd.  (The girls behind us were just buzzed.)  A second Concessions area was opened under the stands, which made trips for drinks and snacks much quicker. 

 

We met with fan Michael inside the grandstand.  Strangely, we mostly discussed pizza.  Since we arrived early, we got our usual seats.  Unlike most games, we ended up surrounded by young women.  This description would fit half the crowd.  (I should have called my Casanova co-worker, Taylor.  He could have come and handed out business cards.)  One girl came by that was just barely covering her “D’s” with her tank top.  I averted my eyes as she climbed the stairs next to me.  A high school kid with his dad watched her going all of the way up. 

 

The hot Pan-Am Girl was there, but not working.  Softball was practicing next door, but I didn’t notice if any of them came over to the game.  I saw some very pretty girls from a team, but I couldn’t identify which team.  They looked familiar.  I think Xitlaly Hernandez from Soccer was there.  I’m seeing her everywhere.  There was a guy in the next section over that was also keeping a scorecard.  (I should have asked his opinion on a couple of plays.)          

         

Before the game, new Men’s Basketball coach, Jason Hooten threw out the first pitch.  He looked happy.  AD Mario Moccia was with him and was walking around the crowd later.  He looked like a very troubled man, even before the game started.  [Edit: I found out why the next day.  Two Basketball players accused three other players of raping them.  They’ve filed charges against them, the coaching staff, and the board of regents.  It’s bad.]  Some Little Leaguers joined the Aggies on field.  A high school girl belted out the Anthem and did an excellent job.  

There were some issues with this game in the scoring.  The official scorer may have changed his mind a couple of times.  The scoreboard and the announcements differed.  The official scoring had a couple extra players inserted that I missed, and also missed scoring a couple of players that I scored (and I’m right). 

 

Will Sierra was the somewhat surprise starter for the Aggies.  He led off the game with a walk.  The next batter hit into a tailor-made double play, but the runner from first broke it up.  It looked like it may have been interference with the runner hitting Nolan Funke, but it wasn’t called. 

 

What followed instead was another walk, a run-scoring double, two runs scored on a single, a wild pitch, and run-scoring single for four runs total.  There was a strikeout, so I got to ring the bell, much to Ron’s irritation.  Keith Jones II in right had trouble squeezing the final fly ball.  The sun was setting at the time.  4-0 Lobos.

 

The Cheerleaders and Pistol Pete came out front and led the crowd in a cheer before the bottom of the first.  KJII led off with a near infield hit.  Reed Spenrath at first fell on the ball and managed to slap the base with his glove before Keith got there.  The crowd disagreed with the call.  Two batters later, Kevin Jimenez and Spenrath had the same play, but KJ was called “safe.”  That was it, though.

 

Coach Hooten came out with the Cheerleaders and Pete to toss t-shirts to the crowd.  He seemed kind of amused.  The girls behind us were having a steady stream of interesting conversations after a guy joined them.  They party hard.  Hayden Walker was now pitching for the Aggies to start the second.  He struck out the first batter, but the next doubled.

 

The next field play had a few question marks.  A grounder to Funke was double-clutched and the throw pulled Logan Galina on first off the bag briefly, though he did re-tap it.  The ump ruled the runner safe, but the umps did confer and confirmed it.  The scoreboard didn’t show it as a hit or error until later.  The PA announced it as an error at the end of the inning.     

 

Walker got a groundout next, but then a popup behind first dropped in between Logan and Keith, which became a two-run double.  After another walk, Aaron Treloar was brought in.  He gave up a two-run single before getting a strikeout to end the inning.  8-0 Lobos.

 

(All of Walker’s runs were officially listed as unearned.  I’d love to hear the logic on this.  I am truly confused.  I think the general rule is to reconstruct the inning without the errors to determine whether runs are earned or unearned.  By my count, there were three earned runs, one unearned.)

 

Christian Perez singled in the bottom of the second.  That’s all.  Balls were tossed to the crowd before the third.  That seemed dangerous given the umpiring and the score, but I think they were foam.  Treloar worked a fairly easy inning, only giving up a single.  I got some insightful commentary from one of the girls behind me.  “Why’d you hit it like that?  They’re going to catch it.  What the F!”  And also, “Swing at it!  Are you scared?”

 

The Pocket Contest was before the bottom of the third.  I had none of the items.  They were giving away fanny packs, anyway.  I told Ron that the Aggies needed that little bat boy from the weekend back.  He was their good luck charm.  After I said that, Funke doubled.  Like magic, suddenly the kid showed up to grab bats for the rest of the game.  Unfortunately, that was all the luck he had in him.  (I was also wondering later if it was past his bedtime.)

 

Some of the girls around us left right after the third.  That was dumb.  There was a $1K scholarship drawing before the fourth for the students.  A name was read.  There was a single scream up near the top of the stands, and then a girl came down to collect.  “I’m over this,” said one of the girls behind us, and a couple left after the drawing.  They were smart. 

 

Sakemi Sato worked a 1-2-3 fourth with three grounders.  Perez dropped a grounder at third, but stayed with it and still threw out the runner.  On the last out, Logan jumped up to get a ball on a high bounce.  Sato alertly ran to first and Logan fed him for the out.           

 

More balls were tossed to the crowd before the bottom of the fourth.  After a couple of called third strikes on the Aggies in previous innings, I’m still questioning this.  Back to play, Spenrath whiffed on a grounder by Mitch Namie, who made it to first.  This was scored a hit for some reason on the scoreboard, but as an error by the PA, but then as a hit officially.  Damone Hale legged out an impressive bunt hit and dodged the tag.  And that was it for the rally.

 

The Lobos led off the top of the fifth with a triple.  The outfielder seemed to lose the ball as it hit the wall.  On the next batter, the ball boy came out to retrieve a ball.  The crowd cheered, but then he stumbled getting the ball.  It was that kind of night.  A wild pitch scored the runner from third.  The batter would bunt for a single.  Logan made a great effort on the throw to him to keep the ball from going into the dugout. 

 

A two-run homer followed.  I don’t think either fielder in the area saw it.  Sato came out for Alan Aguero.  He got a ground out and then gave up a walk.  Next, KJ snagged a low liner and doubled off the runner to end the inning.  11-0 Lobos.

 

The Aggies went down in order in the bottom of the fifth.  There was a group of vocal fans up in the grandstand by the Aggie dugout.  They started a wave and got the rest of the stands into it.  The bat boy got a hand for fielding a foul.  What am doing here writing this?

 

There was an unannounced hat toss to the stands for the sixth.  Aguero gave up a leadoff homer and was immediately lifted for Tyler Hoeft.  According to the official stats, this substitution did not happen, but it actually did.  Hoeft began by giving up a monster home run to right.  He came back with a strikeout.  Hoeft got a comebacker next and ran it to first himself.  Finally, KJ dove on a grounder.  He threw from his back side to Logan, who did the splits to get the out.  The boys were playing hard.  13-0 Lobos.

 

Now in run rule territory, Coach Zuniga tossed in the towel in the bottom of sixth and put in three pinch hitters off the bench.  That was a 1-2-3 inning.  Matt Maloney came in for the top of the seventh and gave up a single, but got a couple of strikeouts.  For the Stretch, the girls behind us started singing along.  I was a bit startled. 

 

In the bottom of the seventh, three more pinch hitters came in and two of them got hits (Cal Villareal and Brant Voth).  KJII and Funke struck out to end the game.  One of Keith’s foul balls somehow ricocheted into the center of the stands.  That was about as exciting as it got.  The game was called on a run rule.  Lobos win 13-0.  One of the girls behind us had said the run rule was in effect.  (Those girls were knowledgeable fans.)  I was out of space on my notes page and didn’t want to write more anyway.             

 

If all of the ump’s calls had gone the Aggies’ way, this was still going to be a bad loss.  At least it was quick at two hours and 12 minutes.  For Lobo Gameballs, Dylan Ditzenberger gets one for going 3 for 3, Braydon Runion went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI’s, and starter Jaren Jackson went for 5 scoreless innings and 6 strikeouts for the win.  After Sunday’s bag full of Gameballs, the Aggies get none tonight.  I could hand out a few honorary ones for effort and a couple of good innings of garbage-time pitching, but that might be kind of patronizing. 

 

I told Ron I didn’t think I’d be taking off any more days for weekday games this season.  He didn’t blame me.  I found no relief at home.  The Fernando Tatis Jr.-less Chihuahuas were down 11-2.  They at least mounted a bit of a comeback and actually had the tying run at the plate, but lost 11-7 to Tacoma.  Some days you take an “L” everywhere (except for lunch).