Monday, March 18, 2024

NM State Aggies vs Sam Houston State Bearkats Baseball 3-16-24


I was glad to be at a ballgame today.  Last Sunday, I went to the game and I was sort of sick.  I got over it by Tuesday, but was overwhelmed with work from being out on last Friday.  The weather forecast for today was about a 50% chance of rain.  Thankfully, it was only partly cloudy and otherwise nice this afternoon.  I felt good and was happy to not be at work.  Let’s play ball!

 

Before that, I’ll cover a little Basketball.  The Aggie Women won a game in the C-USA Tournament, but fell in the next game.  The Aggie Men took an early exit in their first game.  I happened to catch the UTEP Miners’ on the radio Friday morning.  (No, I don’t know why they were playing Men’s tournament games in the morning.)  The Miners won it in a thriller and moved on to the championship game, but lost there Saturday night.  When I got home from baseball today, I also caught the New Mexico Lobos winning the Mountain West conference.  So, I still have some regional interest in the NCCAA Tournament.

 

Though it was fairly nice, I think crowd was a bit light, but okay.  I caught up with fan Michael at the ballpark.  He’d been there on Friday.  The wind had been blowing hard and cold for the night game.  Michael had some colorful words to describe the Aggies losing to Sam Houston 10-0 in a run rule.  He also reported that the hot tub in the Student Section was gone.  It was just there as a promotion for a local company.       

 

There was no radio this weekend, so I’d be on my own with the scorecards.  A handsome, well-dressed young man joined Adam Young in the booth today for TV.  Michael identified him as former Aggie pitcher, Marcel Renteria.  “Shouldn’t he be pitching somewhere?” I asked.  He’s on rehab right now. 

 

Yeah, these are in pen again.  Even without the help of the radio and even with some extreme weirdness in the game, it all added up with the scoreboard totals.  As you can tell by the score though, that was a hollow victory. 

 

Josh Sharman started for the Aggies and tossed a two strikeout, 1-2-3 first.  The Aggie dugout was vigorous in cheering throughout these opening innings.  They were determined to avenge yesterday’s humiliating defeat.  The Aggie offense picked it up in the bottom.  Damone Hale singled and Titus Dumitru doubled him in to give the Aggies a 1-0 lead.  It might have been more of a rally, but Titus had a moment of indecision about taking third on a wild pitch and was thrown trying to do it.

 

Mitch Namie at first speared a liner to start the top of the second.  Sharman ran down the line to take the feed from him for the first out.  Josh quickly finished the rest of the inning with a couple of groundouts.  The Aggies also went down in order in the bottom.

 

Michael flagged down the pretty souvenir girl and got an Aggie New Mexico flag for his sister, who wasn’t in attendance.  “She’s going to be so happy.”  The team photographer girl stood in front of us for part of the inning.  She was in her usual tank top, yoga pants, pretty hair, and bright smile.  It was a distraction.  Fan Ken, who was sitting by us, didn’t see any play on the field while she was there. 

 

Sharman cruised through another inning facing the minimum.  I was feeling some optimism or, at least, that game would be quick.  The Aggies tacked on another run in the bottom.  Sheehan O’Connor singled and Hale drove him in.  Unfortunately, the Aggies did leave the bases loaded with two outs.  Caleb Cotton in left field made a great leaping catch on a deep liner by Namie to end the inning.  2-0 Aggies.

 

The second time through the order, the Bearkat batters started figuring Sharman out.  After a strikeout, Walker Janek blasted a solo shot to center.  After a single, there was a popup on the infield that elicited the use of the Infield Fly rule.  Hunter Autrey, with the coolest name in the SHS lineup, then came up and hit a two-run homer to the scoreboard.  Romeo Ballesteros made an errant throw to first on an infield hit, but after a walk, Sharman got the final out.  3-2 SHS.  The ump seemed to be squeezing the strikezone a bit this inning. 

 

The Aggies struck back in the bottom of the fourth.  Preston Godfrey led off with a home run to center on a line drive.  The wind was also blowing out a bit more with some clouds moving in.  The batters were taking advantage of it.  Edwin Martinez-Pagani singled next and Keith Jones would hit a ground rule double over the wall to bring him in later.  4-3 Aggies.  In the inning, O’Connor fouled a ball towards the Press Box.  With the window open, Adam was ready to make a play with his arm out, but it just missed going in.

 

Sharman gave up a double and a single to start the fifth and was lifted.  The Coach was probably trying to get him through five for the win.  Cho Tofte relieved him.  A sac fly brought in the tying run. 

 

Next was the strangest play of the game.  Malachi Lott hit a line drive to the right field wall.  Titus leapt for it as it was going over and fell to the ground.  Where the ball ended up was uncertain for a few moments.  The first base ump eventually signaled home run, however on delay, Lott passed the first base runner.  The call on field would be solo home run and an out (credit 3 unassisted).  Needless to say, everyone was in the dark, but eventually a fan came by with the play call.  5-4 SHS.

 

The Aggies were not about to quit at this point.  After two singles in the bottom of the fifth off a new pitcher, Godfrey doubled them in.  EMP doubled him in.  Romeo came up and took a bad hack at the first pitch.  Hitting coach, David Bellamy, called for time and had a chat with him.  Romeo then smacked a run-scoring double.  Good talk.  The Bearkats brought in another pitcher to finish the inning.  8-5 Aggies.

 

Tyler Hoeft came in for the top of the sixth.  Michael called him a “hard luck case” with his injury history.  The bad luck continued.  Romeo knocked down liner from the first batter, but had no play.  This was followed by another infield hit.  After a walk which loaded the bases, Titus knocked down liner to right and held the batter to a single to just bring in one run.  The next play was a hard grounder to first.  Namie whiffed on it and two more runs scored.                 

 

Hoeft was pulled with two on and without having gotten an out.  Aaron Treloar came in and got a grounder to third.  O’Connor threw home and prevented the run, but wasn’t able to start a run down to get an out.  Treloar struck two with the bases loaded, but then gave up a two-run scoring single.  SHS batted around and tied the score at 8.

 

Hale singled to start the bottom of the sixth.  The Aggies loaded the bases, but would not score, even given an extra out.  The shortstop forgot the number of outs and started to run off the field on a sure double play ball that would have ended the inning.  I think I heard the SHS coach cursing from the dugout.  Ominous clouds were gathering overhead, but we’d stay dry for the game.   

 

Well, the top of the seventh was a complete unraveling.  Hale misplayed a liner to center that went to the wall for a leadoff triple.  Treloar got a comebacker next and underhand tossed it into the opposing dugout.  (I wonder if he’s got one of those yip things about throwing to first, because that’s what it looked like.)  A run scored.  This was followed by five more runs and a pitching change in the middle of it.  The Bearkats ran wild with three stolen bases in the inning.  You know you’re not having a good day defensively when you get a get grounder into a drawn-in infield and still don’t get an out at home.  16-8 SHS.  The Bearkats even left the bases loaded. 

 

New Bearkat pitcher, Wyatt Tucker, struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh.  Okay, now it looked like the Aggies were giving up.  Freshman Ty Acton did come in and get his first career college hit.  The Aggies brought in a new pitcher for the eighth, but the Bearkats were smelling run rule.  Autrey jacked a three-run homer, which would seal it, as the Aggies went down in order in the bottom.  19-8 Sam Houston wins the truncated game.

 

Well, it was a good game until the dynamite went off.  Surprisingly, the game was just under three hours.  More surprising, during those Bearkat rallies, they weren’t getting all that excited.  Usually, there’s a lot a dugout noise in those kind of situations.  It’s like SHS expected to win.  With some costly errors, the Aggies sure helped them out.

 

Here’s some Gameballs.  For the Bearkats, Malchi Lott went 3 for 6 (in an eight-inning game) with two RBI’s and a homer.  Hunter Autrey, get this, 3 for 5, including two homers, for 8 RBI’s!  Wyatt Tucker also pitched effectively for the win in scoreless relief.  For the Aggies, Damone Hale went 3 for 5 with an RBI, Titus Dumitru went 3 for 4 with an RBI, and Preston Godfrey went 2 for 4 with a homer and 3 RBI’s.  The defense was shaky, though there was some good efforts.  Outside of Josh Sharman’s first three innings, the pitching was not asset today.

 

I walked by the umps on the way out.   I thought about saying, “Good game,” but to be honest, I questioned the strikezone.  I did tip my hat to them.  I debated going straight home for dinner out of a can or going to Burger King.  I made the wrong choice and the Whopper was decidedly subpar.  I can see why they’re handing out half-price coupons.  Let’s try this again tomorrow for the finale.     

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